The truth about the disappearing honeybees

[Staff]

The truth about the disappearing honeybees
* 26 October 2009
by Marcelo Aizen and Lawrence Harder

The truth about the disappearing honeybees - opinion - 26 October 2009 - New Scientist
excerpt from above:

The idea that bees are disappearing for reasons unknown has embedded itself in the public consciousness. It is also a great story that taps into the anxieties of our age. But is it true? We think not, at least not yet....

[Staff]

The Global Stock of Domesticated Honey Bees Is Growing Slower Than Agricultural Demand for Pollination

http://coloss.org/documents/Aizen-et-al-2009-CurrentBiology.pdf
excerpt from above:

The prospect that a global pollination crisis currently threatens agricultural productivity has drawn intense recent interest among scientists, politicians, and the general public [1–5]. To date, evidence for a global crisis has been drawn from regional or local declines in pollinators themselves [6–9] or insufficient pollination for particular crops [9, 10]. In contrast, our analysis of Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) [11] data reveals that the global population of managed honey-bee hives has increased w45% during the last half century and suggests that economic globalization, rather than biological factors, drives both the dynamics of the global managed honey-bee population and increasing demands for agricultural pollination services [12]. Nevertheless, available data also reveal a much more rapid (>300%) increase in the fraction of agriculture that depends on animal pollination during the last half century...

Please cite this article in press as: Aizen and Harder, The Global Stock of Domesticated Honey Bees Is Growing Slower Than
Agricultural Demand for Pollination, Current Biology (2009), doi:10.1016/j.cub.2009.03.071

[Equilibrium]

I'm waiting for the next "truth" to come out.

[MrILoveTheAnts]

Right because a reasonable amount of beekeepers going out of business won't effect the lives of anyone. No, just anyone can drive a truck load of hives across the country. Don't worry everyone, you'll be paying $5 for a single apple but we'll have plenty of corn.

Yes the media is making this sound like it's more dangerous then it actually is, but that's their job! "Some bees died today" isn't exactly a catchy headline. But this article should be saying the media is hyping it up. And to be honest as a beekeeper I all for it. Yes shower the public with leaflets of the pollinator epidemic. It's made people garden with bees in mind for what seems like the first time in human history.

Going to the garden center we see lables for Butterfly plants... many of whom have nothing to do with butterflies at all. But for the first time people are buying plants "for the bees."

To say the pollination issues really doesn't matter is like saying the all those people who died in the Philippines some years ago didn't matter because India produces that many people in a season.

[Random]

I totally agree with MrILoveTheAnts. Recently I had to explain to two different neighbors that there is a difference between native and non-native plants, what invasive plants are, etc. I don't have a lot of neighbors so two is a good percent.

Both knew what CCD is even though they didn't realize there are native and no-native bees. Marketing is everything. Plenty of outstanding green marketing examples out there which are mostly hooey but are very effective. I'm all for it. I don't give a rip what prompts people to share their space with native creatures and puts a positive spin on issues such as bees.

[CincyGarden]

On top of that, production of many staple foods does not depend on pollinators at all: carbohydrate crops such as wheat, rice and corn are wind-pollinated or self-pollinated. If bees disappeared altogether, global agricultural production would decrease by only 4 to 6 per cent.

What an amazing statement.

I really hope no one believes the net damage is 4 to 6 percent.

[MrILoveTheAnts]

Originally Posted by CincyGarden

What an amazing statement.

I really hope no one believes the net damage is 4 to 6 percent.

"About 70 per cent of the 115 most productive crops, including most fruits and oilseeds, are animal-pollinated. These account for nearly 2.5 billion tonnes of food a year, about a third of global agricultural production. However, few of these crops depend on animal pollination completely, owing largely to their capacity for self-pollination."

There are 70 crops in the US alone that Honey Bees pollinate. I don't think the author understands what Self-Pollination is and how it applies to some fruit trees.

[CincyGarden]

I think we're agreeing with each other, Mr. Ants.

I should have said "only 4 to 6 percent." I can't believe it would be that low, in gross terms.

Beside the actual crop, and it's damage to humans, there's huge collateral damage to everything else. The net damage would be much more significant, if anyone asked me to guess.

[Equilibrium]

I'm still waiting for the next "truth" to come out. We better not make any promises to hold our breath while we wait.

[Prairiefreak]

nothing to see here, move along.

CCD is a myth just like human caused GCC. Move along.