Colony Collapse DisorderWhy should we care about the loss of honey bees?

By Adam Formica, Rowan Finnegan,Rachel Goodman

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Left:http://blogs.kqed.org/bayareabites/files/2008/04/honeycomb1.jpg

Right: http://tokyogreenspace.files.wordpress.com/2009/11/white_house_bee2_hive.jpg

Definition and Causes

• IAPV

• Varroa mite

• Pesticides

• Stress

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Image:http://media.photobucket.com/image/sick%20bee%20colony/wee-mama-xyz/ColonyCollapseDisorder.jpg

Table: vanEngelsdorp, Dennis, Hayes, Jerry Jr., Underwood, Robyn M., and Jerry Pettis. (2008, December 30). A Survey of Honey Bee Colony Losses in the U.S., Fall 2007 to Spring 2008. PlosOne 3(12), Article e4071.

Decline in and Value of Honeybees• Long-term decline since 1950s

• Industry in decline• Natural pollinators in decline

• CCD exacerbates downward trend in 2006• Honeybees contribute to 1/3 of the food we eat

• McGregor, S.E. 1976. Insect Pollinations of Cultivated Crop Plants. US Department of Agriculture, Agriculture Handbook 496.

• “The Value of the World’s Ecosystem Services and Natural Capital”

• Service of pollination valued at $117 billion worldwide

Decline of Colonies in the US

Source: Honey, February, 2007, Agricultural Statistics Board, NASS, USDA, http://usda.mannlib.cornell.edu/usda/current/Hone/Hone-02-28-2007.pdf

Bees in the Context of Ecosystems• European honeybee colonies brought to Americas in the

16th Century• Few bee species used for pollination in intensive

agriculture – Apis mellifera• Bees one of over a 100,000 species that pollinate flowers

– bats, birds, insects etc.• Wild bee species absent in wall-to-wall agriculture

because of habitat loss• Restructuring Agriculture/Conservation Planning: mosaic

farms, hedgerows, insectary strips, multi-cropping

Commercial Beekeeping

Mono-Cropping

Organic Farm Bat Pollination

Economic Impact• Estimates range from two to four hundred billion. The

journal of Ecological Economics placed the value of pollination services at 153 billion1 (~$228 billion).

• 200 countries, based on the FAO 100 primary food crops used for human consumption.

• 87 crops are pollinator dependent with different dependence ratios

• The true impact is difficult to assess due to the scope of the impact and difficult correlations.

• Feed crops -Alfalfa• Plants used for Ethanol