Disappearing bees

[batwing]

Mainly a problem in America at the moment but signs of the same in Europe now. Interestingly, a mobile phone sales company reports that it me be caused be phone masts but other reports say the reason is not known.

Could mobile phones be killing millions of bees

There are many reports if you google news 'Disappearing bees' .

[Kymba]

There was an item on the news today about Mobile Phones killing the Honey Bee and that they could become an indangered species within 4 years.
Apparently every time you use a mobile phone the signal you send Kills a Honey Bee!! ( I don't know how true this is)

[eeyore]

Originally Posted by Kymba

Apparently every time you use a mobile phone the signal you send Kills a Honey Bee!! ( I don't know how true this is)

sounds like somthing of an exageration to me - if the article batwing put up is correct the radiation isnt killing them per se just causing them to get lost and thus the colony to colapse - however various other causes have also be suggested for CCD including fungal infection, misuse of OP pesticide in feeding areas, and air polution.

[Kymba]

Would us planting more Plants and flowers to attract them help to keep numbers on the up ???

[brainfarmer]

i think this is another sensationalist report that appeals to the technophobe and luddite. ive always been under the impression that honey bees use the sun for orientation between hive and food source and thats the purpose of the 'waggle dance'.
it would seem strange that mobile phones and the masts would affect bees when seemingly high voltage electricity cables dont. im not saying it isnt a possibility just i think its unlikely.
whatever the truth i dont posses a mobile phone so i can feel smug.

[eeyore]

Originally Posted by brainfarmer

i think this is another sensationalist report that appeals to the technophobe and luddite. ive always been under the impression that honey bees use the sun for orientation between hive and food source and thats the purpose of the 'waggle dance'.
it would seem strange that mobile phones and the masts would affect bees when seemingly high voltage electricity cables dont. im not saying it isnt a possibility just i think its unlikely.
whatever the truth i dont posses a mobile phone so i can feel smug.

I think you are probably right - there are far higher sources of electromagnetic radiation in the environment than phone masts. It is just a handy thing to blame CCD on particularly if you want to take the focus off agri chemicals or air polution.

however whatever the cause CCD is indisputably happening and until the cause is nailed down it will be difficult to prevent - by all means plant bee food plants as these are a good idea in any case and a greater food source may help suport a falling population but this will only be a mitigation measure not a cure for the problem

[brainfarmer]

there must be a member on here who keeps bees be interesting to here from them.
i tend to think that certainly in the uk we spray less than we did, gm crops are not widely grown so it could be the effect of monoculture where vasts areas are given over to a particular crop leaving bees with a very short feeding window. its interesting that various uk websites are seeing a big decline in numbers of bumble bees i dont know if the 2 things are connected.

[eeyore]

I think eucera is our resident bee expert - we will no doubt be hearing from him sooner or later

just looking on the net i also found another problem for bees - apparently the Asian Hornet, Vespa velutina is now present in the south of france having been brought from china in a consignment of pottery and can "go through 30,000 bees in a couple of hours" looking for food for its young - this is not good news me thinks

[brainfarmer]

YouTube - Giant Hornets vs Bees in white hive
a short clip of giant hornets in action against honey bees.

[eeyore]

Originally Posted by brainfarmer

YouTube - Giant Hornets vs Bees in white hive
a short clip of giant hornets in action against honey bees.

ooofff - its a good thing those things are smaller than us or we would soooo be in trouble

one thing that seemed odd to me is that the bees are really fighting back , there arent that many hornets so if the bees swarmed and went for them enmasse they could take them out - instead of which they are just crawling about getting eaten one be one

[brainfarmer]

Originally Posted by eeyore

ooofff - its a good thing those things are smaller than us or we would soooo be in trouble

one thing that seemed odd to me is that the bees are really fighting back , there arent that many hornets so if the bees swarmed and went for them enmasse they could take them out - instead of which they are just crawling about getting eaten one be one

YouTube - Giant Hornets vs Bees in white hive
i think this expains it.

[brainfarmer]

ooops ignore that last link its this one.
YouTube - Giant Hornets vs Bees in white hive

[brainfarmer]

can a mod delete my last two post as im making a mess of the links

[brainfarmer]

YouTube - Japanese Bees Swarm Tactic
finally thats the right link.

[puzzler]

Keep our gardens full of flowers and some weeds.... Cathie

[almostnormal]

Originally Posted by eeyore

ooofff - its a good thing those things are smaller than us or we would soooo be in trouble

one thing that seemed odd to me is that the bees are really fighting back , there arent that many hornets so if the bees swarmed and went for them enmasse they could take them out - instead of which they are just crawling about getting eaten one be one

poor little bees! evil hornets.....the only thing i've ever been stung by is a hornet... grr ..not my favourite bug by any means. hmm...the bee tactic doesn't seem to always be all that effective though, is there any other info about why it doesn't seem to work against the evil hornets?

[Beryl]

Every time we use a mobile phone, a signal is emited, perhaps the bees pick up these signals and it causes disorientation and then yes the collapse of colonies

[bardofely]

I have been aware that bees and bumblebee numbers have been declining in recent years but as soon as I heard about this as official news, bearing in mind that America is the source of most of the reports, the answer came to mind immediately as chemtrails being to blame. Chemtrails are being sprayed in all the areas where bees are vanishing and chemtrails not only poison the air with aluminium and barium and other toxic substances but also block sunlight which bees use to navigate!
Chemtrails are being used to block sunlight based on an idea put forward by Edward Keller of using aluminium oxide in jet fuel as a sunscreen.
The reason the mainstream scientists and media reports say they don't know what the cause is is because the mainstream scientists and media do not acknowledge the reality of chemtrails.

For more info I recommend: California Skywatch

[gez]

Wow that clip was hard to watch. ive never seen a hornet up here in newcastle. in a local paper last week it wrote. that albert einstine. (spelling ) stated if all the bees died mankind would be wiped out inside 4 yrs... thats quite something to think about...gez

[honeybee]

I'm sure the radiation and wot nots given off by mobile phones must do some damage somewhere along the line, I hope it doesn't affect bees, that's awful. And we don't want those darn Asian hornets here but if things warm up I spose we might. Harlequin ladybirds are bad enough.
I'm sure there must be other reasons as mentioned above though for the decline in the states but our bees are in serious decline too as we know...
A good thing is packets of flower seeds are being given away in packs of sugar puffs in a bid to get kids to save the bees, think it will need to be done on a larger scale though to make much difference but every bit helps I spose.

[Earth Hart]

This came through over the weekend from Science Daily, ScienceDaily: Bee Colony Collapse Disorder: Could It Be Parasites, Pathogens Or Pesticides?

[Gill Catton]

hello earth hart! good to see you back

Right firstly, I actually saw the whole documentary that the hornet bee vid was taken from (or at least the one I saw a while ago - hornets taking out a whole hive.). Once again this is the fault of the Humans. (i'm sure there was a thread about this documentary just after the programme) Anyway, the documentary I saw was based in Japan, the hornets featured most in this doc are the largest that exist, fantastic animals though deadly to humans apparently. Now the native wild honey bees have evolved alongside these beasts and have evolved a brilliant way of dealing with the hornets, they wait for a scout hornet to be drawn into the hive before smothering it and causing it to overheat and die - the bees being tolerant of temperatures higher than the hornets. But because the wild bees produce less honey and are a little tempremental and likely to leave the hive if they don't feel secure european bees were imported as they have a higher yield. but they haven't evolved to deal with this kind of predator, any scout that finds the hive is easily able to go back and recruit more, the euro bees are never going to stand a chance.. It seemed to me that the Japanese would have been better off selectively breeding the wild bees to become more suitable as domestic livestock.....

Which is what honey bees generally are.

I'm far less worried about honey bees - cared for and husbanded by bee keepers than I am for wild bees who no one looks after. If honey bees are affected in this way by telephone towers, navigation disrupted - then this presumably could be a problem for all bees?

I would be interested in Eucera's opinion, I wonder if anyone british is researching this.....

[Earth Hart]

Thanks m'deer, have been kept busy on dA EarthHart on deviantART for some time now,& due to time constraints have had little time for WAB but now am finding the time to be over here.

[galanthus]

Hmmmm, I think my dog may be responsible for most bee deaths in Mid Glamorgan . He chases them, grounds them and proceeds to eat the whole thing, many taps on nose to no avail. In relation to giant hornets, I suffer from anaphylactic shock if stuck by a weeny vespula vespula, am moving to Iceland

[demicav]

One of my dogs who is seven months old loves to chase bees. The day she gets stung is, hopefully the day she'll learn her lesson.