Comments on: Commercially Raised Bees Spreading Disease

By: hilary

hilary — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 17:22:23 +0000

For an in-depth, though slightly dated (March 2007), article on apiculture and European honeybee die-offs, I suggest reading “The Silence of the Bees,” at http://www.hcn.org/issues/342/16891/article_view?b_start:int=0&-C=

By: diesoner

diesoner — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 11:35:22 +0000

i did an internship at a beekeeping-farm. they focus on sustainability. (mellifera)
at this place i got to know them bees entirely… the biggest threat to all – as for humanbeing is monotonous nutrition.

By: Sunlei

Sunlei — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 20:48:05 +0000

For beekeepers info Pear farmers in China have said their bees have been gone for over 40 years.They have to hand pollinate each flower.

The Chinese also produce the bee food “royal Jellie” that bee farmers feed the bees. Someone should look at what virus or disease wiped out the chinese pear bees so very long ago. In my opinion the royal jelly from china spread that disease to all the bees in the world.

Sunlei from Stafford,Texas

By: beekeep

beekeep — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 20:39:42 +0000

Commercial bees are not raised in Greenhouses, and have not been modified or selectively bred to the extent of most other commercial animals or crops. There is no doubt that diseases can and may pass between different populations (wild and farmed), but this article seems to contain a number of factual errors and I\’m not sure the fact that bees are human-kept has as much to with colony collapse or other bee diseases as our system of global trade. The varroa mite, for example, is thought to have been isolated to Siberian populations of honeybees until the trans-siberian railroad opened. Not a very informed article.

By: Charity

Charity — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 14:27:19 +0000

Am I the only person who is blown away by the genius of the bee?

By: edustinc

edustinc — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 12:22:45 +0000

i just don’t understand why we need to be genetically modifying nature. Some things have taken millions of years to perfect. We need to stop trying to make everything “better” and realize some things are the way they are for a reason. We are pushing the bees to hard and nature is fighting back and saying “seriously?”.

By: naomi

naomi — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 03:36:17 +0000

Bumblebees are amazing solitary creatures, able to discover new food sources, settling in Rose of Sharon blossoms before they close at night, so as to have a safe habitat, sealed off from the outside world, opening for them when the first light comes. Honeybees are one of the good things (I think) Europeans brought over from the old world. Indians called them the White Man’s bee. The American continent bee is only active at certain times of year, making a small hold where it creates several chambers. The first few contain females; the last couple have males. That way, if a predator comes, though some males are lost, the females will probably still find other males and procreate to lay many more future bees. I don’t know if these bees are affected by this devastation.

By: leafpure

leafpure — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 22:57:12 +0000

What an un-Inhabitat post I thought when I saw the bee photo, but as I read on, I think it’s right on the subject-design.
It is frightening how quickly we humans can tip the scales towards an ecological disaster if we disturb the ecological system, which we are doing every day.

By: punkerben

punkerben — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 21:54:51 +0000

FYI bumble bees are not honey bees.
And the National Geographic does not refer to them as Bumble so I think it is a mistake for this sites story.