Cherries, oranges, blueberries, carrots, broccoli, onions, cotton, soybeans, apples and almonds are the top ten crops pollinated by honey bees.

The honey bee visits these crops, seeking the nectar and pollen of the flowers. Pollination is the by-product of the hunt. Pollen grains collect on the honey bee’s body from the flowers anthers, and inadvertently get deposited on the receptive areas of other plants. Fruiting is the result of pollination, and the species of about 100 plants is furthered by the busy honey bee.  

Just as Antoine de Saint-Exupery’s Little Prince discovered that his beloved flower – the rose – had thorns that caused him pain; the honey bee is dealing with similar relationship trouble with flowers of his own. Pollen, clinging to his body like the emotional baggage of a disappointing partner, is ruining a once beneficial relationship with some new, worrisome traits.  

In 2006, the drastic rise in the disappearance of the Western honey bee began. We coin the demise as Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD). Migratory beekeeping, or the business of leasing the honeybee’s pollination services throughout the U.S., could be leading to the devastation of bees due to the spread of diseases and viruses amongst colonies as a result of trucking hives. Extensive movement of hives promotes the introduction of disease via invertebrate pests, such as Varroa and tracheal mites, small hive beetles and wax moths.  If a hive contracts these pests or diseases, in-hive chemical treatments (detrimental to bees) become necessary.

Migratory bee keeping could also result in death by malnutrition. Honey bees normally gather nectar and pollen from a variety of plants. Leasing bees to a farmer growing monocultures severely limits a honey bee’s choices for dinner.  Bees kept strictly for their monoculture crop pollinating services can also be the victims of an overwintering diet of high fructose corn syrup (HFCS). Research has shown HFCS to be an undesirable mainstay for honey bees.

Migratory beekeeping and the pollination of monocultures can result in: direct exposure to conventional crops treated with pesticides and herbicides; and the unknown effects on honey bees from pollinating genetically modified (GM) crops, which are plants that have synthetic, chemical defenses “built-in”.  Honey now contains pesticides, so we know the bees are ingesting chemicals via tainted plants.  Scientists suspect that honey bees immune systems are weakened by pesticide exposure, which makes it harder for a honey bee to survive in a migratory lifestyle. 

Feral or migratory beekeeper bees can carry their GM pollen baggage for up to five miles, not only contributing to the trans-genetic contamination of a variety of pure plants, but unbeknownst to the honey bee, could be carrying its own, deadly silver bullet in the mix of spliced, altered, chemical laden genes present in the pollen grains (and nectar) that are entering its body.

Besides pesticides, other environmental stresses such as drought and temperature could be bringing about CCD.  Electromagnetic radiation from the use of cell phones may also be a contributor. Research of honey bee hives that have succumbed to CCD has revealed a combination of all aforementioned, disabling factors without a clear pattern emerging. 

Will the interdependence amongst people, bees and food supplies spur scientists to seek out a broader perspective while unfolding these ominous food parallels? Due to our common ground need for food via pollination, will science consider more than GM crops and conventional agricultural subsidies as a way of feeding the world?

Now is the time to follow Albert Einstein’s mantra: “We can’t solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.”

Perhaps a totally new angle will bring light to our honey bee plight. Anthropologist Jared Diamond, author of: Collapse: How Societies Choose to Succeed or Fail, could be a valuable, consulting starting point for biotechnologists, beekeepers, USDA, FDA, chemical companies, and agricultural processors. Nature seems to be revealing herself as the biggest stakeholder in this CCD crisis, and as people are a part of nature and not apart from it, Diamond's anthropological perspective could be a lifesaver for us all.

In the meantime, stick like honey to the Examiner as we do a follow up article on our own local, beekeeping group: Burgh Bees. Find out how you can have a positive effect on the Western honey bee.

Can’t wait for the next article? Attend Beekeeping Basics at the Penn State Extension of Allegheny County in Pittsburgh. Details are here.