Looking for those bees

Scientists are trying to solve a mystery critical to agriculture: Why are honeybee hives failing at a disturbing high rate?Some researchers are studying whether pesticides and other chemicals used in fields and gardens might affect honeybees, as well as bumblebees and other insects that pollinate crops. Other research is focussing on building more habitat — planting trees, shrubs and flowers that pollinators prefer.Bees are vital to U.S. agriculture because they pollinate many flowering crops, including almonds, apples and blueberries. Bee pollination is responsible for $15 billion annually in crop value.Honeybees, a non-native species from Europe, are the pollinators of choice because they are easier to manage and are more plentiful — a single colony can contain 20,000 workers. By comparison, a bumblebee colony may have only a couple of hundred worker bees.The honeybees have taken a hit over the years from mites and, most recently, colony collapse disorder, in which beekeepers have found affected hives devoid of most bees. Bees that remain appear much weaker than normal.Beekeepers in 2006 began reporting losing 30 to 90 per cent of their hives. Since then the annual loss rate has been roughly 33 per cent, according to government estimates.The first case of colony collapse disorder was officially reported in Pennsylvania, and Penn State University has been spearheading research. Maryann Frazier, a senior extension associate at the school's entomology department, said researchers remain concerned about the number and combination of pesticides that have been detected in decimated hives."We realise it's much more complicated than what we thought a year ago," Ms. Frazier said. "From what we know now, it's not something we'll figure out quickly."Native pollinators also are being monitored. The National Academy of Sciences in 2006 found declining populations of several bee species, along with other native pollinators like butterflies, hummingbirds and bats.The report suggested that landowners can take small steps to make habitats more "pollinator friendly," such as by growing more native plants. And that is what scientists appear to be doing on a larger scale across the country in hopes of bringing bees back.At the Environmental Research Institute at Eastern Kentucky University, apiculturalist Tammy Horn oversees an experiment in apiforestation, a term the school describes as a "new form of reclamation focussed on planting pollinator-friendly flowers and trees."The project is in its first year. Mr. Horn is working with local coal companies to plant trees, shrubs and native wildflowers on reclaimed lands, rather than the once-typical scenario of planting only high-value hardwoods to establish a timber industry.

The Hindu, 6^th  January 2009