To Infinity And...In Theory: There May Be No Fruit In The Future, And It All Depends On The Future Of Bees

The world is in trouble. And no it isn’t about floods, meteor showers, or some maniacal billionaire with access to a Velociraptor’s genetic material, it’s a problem of a small variety. But this “small” problem has the potential to effect the entire population of the world; we’re talking about a possible extinction level event…

Of us. Yikes!

So what is the crux of this event that could send humans into our oblivion? Is the sun going to explode? Mole men? Dear God, they created the Hulk didn’t they? Actually it’s none of the above; the problem is much more humble than that. Bees. Not hornets, not wasps, just good old honeybees and bumblebees.

“Um…yeah…sure guy…” I know what you’re all thinking. That I’m bonkers, but I’m sure by now at least one of you out there has seen something as you scrolled through your friends Facebook feeds about the link between chemicals and the destruction of bee populations. Some of you may even have seen some of the radical “beemageddon” and “beepocalypse” articles floating around.

Well, I wouldn’t go so far as to coin those last two terms for the problem at hand, but I will acknowledge there is a problem. Bees, since 2006, have been dying off at alarming rates due to a number of factors. Currently the biggest one in question being Neonicotinoids typically used for modern pesticides. But are the corporations and chemical manufacturer’s really to blame this time around?

I hate to admit it, but not really (as much as I love seeing those big suited fat cats get nailed to the wall, alas it isn’t meant to be this time.)

Today at “To Infinity and…In Theory” we’re going to discuss the decline of the bee population as noted early in 2006, Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD), Neonicotinoids, and quite possibly the two biggest culprits in all of this. The Varroa Mite and Mother Nature’s most recent bi-polar cold snap.

Why’s Everybody Always Hatin’ On Bee?

That ugly bloated little bugger is the Varroa Mite Destructor and believe me, it’s earned its surname. Once it attaches itself to a bee and procreates its buddies, it can infect an entire hive. They feed off of the bees bodily fluids, you know, the fluids the bee usually uses to do its bee thing. Without those it dies.

The mite attaches itself to the bee and from there begins to devour the bees Hemolymph, which is basically blood to you and me. But the terror doesn’t stop there. Through a process called Varroosis, which sounds like a Klingon nickname, it transfers RNA diseases such as Deformed Wing Virus (DWV) and Israeli Acute Paralysis Virus (IAPV). Both of these diseases can devastate a colony.

But that’s not all these poor little fellas have to endure. There’s this…

And this crap…

And don’t even get me started on this cheeky little bastard…

Bees are fragile creatures, and they are susceptible to all kinds of immuno-diseases. Predators like bears, birds, and various amphibians will prey on bees. Bears can obviously destroy a hive and kill a queen rather easily, while birds merely pick of stragglers. Animals like the skunk will use their tail to ensnare the bees and pick them off at their leisure like candy, sucking each ones innards dry, leaving behind a ball of skunky style bee poop.

To be entirely honest I doubt that’s skunk feces (didn’t really research it that intensely to find out, sorry fecal enthusiasts.) but nonetheless, it’s a hard knock life for bees and pesticides are just making a substantial problem even more difficult for these delicate little insects.

So by now after all the poo puns and mite-y jokes you’ve got to be asking yourself, “why the heck do I care about bees?” The answer is simple. If you care about what you eat, then you should care about bees, because without bees, you can pretty much say goodbye to all the fruits and vegetables you currently enjoy.

Apples To Ashes, Dates To Dust

The agricultural industry relies heavily on pollinators. Honeybees and Bumblebees are responsible for billions of dollars in revenue every year. Without their efforts yields would be significantly less, or in cases like the almond tree, nonexistent. Almonds rely entirely on bees for pollination during bloom-time. Companies like Hackenburg’s (pictured above) truck bees across the country to these farms in order to meet the demand of pollination.

But it isn’t just almonds, fruits like cherries, apples, blueberries, peaches, and the citrus families are 90% reliant on pollination. Vegetables such as Broccoli, Peas, Squash, Cucumber, and Pumpkins would be a thing of the past eventually as well. Enjoy the taste of a slice of Watermelon on a hot summer day? Better enjoy it while it lasts, because without bees it’s gone too.

Crops like Corn, Wheat, and Soy Beans would fair okay in the event of Apiageddon (see what I did there, clever-clever) but that does little to add variety to our diet. Our nutrition would suffer greatly in the off chance bees should go extinct.

So what’s causing this? An army of birds, skunks, and bears ravaging the land? A mad scientist kidnapping entire colonies overnight? Perhaps it’s…

…nobody can know for sure. But one thing has become extremely prevalent; the colony collapse crisis cannot be ignored. And scientists think they may have found the cause of what is happening to these colonies that seemingly vanish overnight.

The Big Bad Bayer

Well, I guess you’re probably thinking, “What the heck? He lied to us! I thought he said that the corporations weren’t behind the plot!?” Well not exactly. See, when I started this blog I promised not to go into the political realm, but with an issue this divisive it’s hard not to.

Pesticides have been around for a long, long time. And, surprise, surprise, they haven’t always been safe for the workers spraying them, let alone for the environment they’re being applied to. Fortunately safety regulations have come a long way and organizations such as the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) heavily police the products hitting the market.

But sometimes, some things don’t get so heavily policed.

Sometimes things get rushed through.

Everyone makes mistakes. Humans are prone to greed, and while I do not condone their actions it would be wrong to say that they are solely responsible for the decimation of the bee population. That being said, let’s talk about a few of Bayer’s products for pest control.

In the late 90’s a new form of insecticide was introduced in an effort to more effectively kill off the Varroa Mite but to be less harmful to the environment. Enter Bayer’s new line of Neonicotinoids. Closely related to the nicotine family, Neonics behave as a neurotoxin, afflicting the central nervous system of its victims. Neonics are effective, but like everything it seems, come at a cost.

In 1999 France suffered horrific losses to its bee populations. Outraged, they turned to blaming Bayer’s product Gaucho, which contained the Neonicotinoid Imidacloprid. While the population has never recovered even after the ban of the chemicals use, some still blame its continued application to corn seed as it’s known to stay in the soil for a long time.

Germany performed a similar study on its sunflower crop but to no success. The die-off was attributed to disease and/or predation. Europe in December of 2013 put a two year moratorium on the use of Neonicotinoids.

So how did these chemicals hit the market if the EPA and USDA are so good at policing their waters? Unfortunately for one reason or another (guessing lobbyists and corporate greed) the insecticides were fast tracked through the process without extensive testing. In fact, they were on the market for almost a decade before any testing even commenced, leaving unaware consumers oblivious to the fact that they were hurting themselves with every acre of treated seed they planted. So they have to be deadly right?

Well they may not be deadly, but they certainly aren’t helpful to bees. Because Neonics are a neurotoxin they affect areas of the bee’s brain, namely memory. The bee has difficulty performing relatively simple tasks such as, foraging, hive building, or even finding its way home. They have also been linked to lowering the bee’s ability to fight pathogens off.

Studies performed independently seem to skewer the results by exposing the bees to abnormally high levels of the insecticides in their tests. Some findings have been called outright bogus because of this. Other private firms hired by the lobbyists argue that the levels in the soil don’t effect the bee population as much as everyone seems to be concerned about. But their findings are called bogus and embroiled in conflict of interest.

No matter which way the hammer falls there is one question that needs to be addressed and soon. What are we going to do to save the bees?

#SocialBees

In closing bees are some of the most social creatures in the animal kingdom. They are capable of memory and fairly intricate levels of communication (through an albeit adolescent sounding sobriquet called “the waggle dance” I might add) and using these two skills are able to tell the hive where to find the good flowers at. But if Neonics continue to be used it could have highly detrimental effects on their behavioral patterns.

If they can’t remember how to get home due to the exposure to these chemicals this could be leading up to the sudden colony collapse disorder being experienced worldwide. But in some cases mites are also still an issue, spreading disease and killing them off in massive quantities.

We also can’t forget about their massive numbers that dwindle down in the winter due to the extreme cold temperatures experienced. These last two years have been especially hard on colonies and given that anywhere from 20-50% of any given bee colony can die off through the winter that could also be playing a huge role.

Lastly bees have a lot of predators that find them a tasty snack. All of these factors play into the dwindling numbers of bees throughout the world. But if there is one thing you can take away from all this, just remember…