There's really a problem with bees and wasps here

Ellipse

Ellipse

The Living Force
FOTCM Member
Actually I'm in the center of France. There's a garden and until last year there was a lot of bees in the flowers. This year
there's only one bee from time to time ! The flowers are the same as last year.

There's a problem with wasps too because the few we see are very lifeless. This is the first year I really see the bees problem by myself. :(
 
I think the concern over colony collapse disorder is warranted when you consider the valuable role pollinators play in our various ecosystems. I recall they originally suspected bacterial or viral infection to be the culprit but as new research emerges, I think the leaning is toward pesticides and EMF radiation, not to mention the effect of the possible upcoming wave and movements of celestial objects. I certainly wonder about the effects of EMF on their navigational systems.

It is interesting to see the various mega-industries scrambling to come up with research that points the blame elsewhere. Who knows what "research"" will emerge next? All I know is that there are not enough bees to keep up with the demand. And that is concerning.

Gonzo
 
I too have noticed personally, that bee`s have all but dissapeared here in south western Ontario Canada, in the last two years. It is disturbing. :scared:
 
It is pretty scary when you think about it. Certain agriculture comes to complete halt without pollinators.

There was recently a story about a bee keeper that brings his hives on the road to whatever farm wants to hire his bees for a period of time.

As I recall, apparently he had been quite busy helping farms out East but was in an accident on the highway while returning home.

His truck rolled and most of his bees escaped. I was amazed to hear he eventually wrangled them back from the fields in which they were swarming, convincing them to return to their hives, once he was able to get the hives from the back of the truck and set up on the side of the road.

As amazing as it was,

We are having a mild recovery in Ottawa. Our front garden had a lot of Queen Anne's Lace growing, which wasps and bees seem to love. This year I had to cut them back because my darling love of my life is allergic to the little beasties.

But what little increase we've had is tiny compared to what was usual only five years ago.

Something interesting though, we've seen a few of those long, black, sleek wasps, the ones where the female has an amazingly long tail (ovipositor?) for boring holes in larvae of other insects and laying her eggs. The wasp is a Pelecinus polyturator (check out lovely picture at _http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pelecinus_polyturator).

Anyway, we aren't that used to seeing this wasp very much until this year. The fact that we didn't get many june bugs might be in part due to the successful laying of wasp eggs in the june bug pupae or larvae.

I'm wondering if, since wasps tend to be territorial, the usual wasps have died back so much that other wasps are displacing them.

So much to worry about these days. Lots of opportunity to practice non anticipation and, of course pipe breathing.

Gonzo
 
there's an indian study fran Panjab University that connects Colony Collapse Disorder with cell phone usage, but this is said to be inconsistent with the fact that there are many rural places with greater loss of bees than large cities as Paris, where the cell phone usage is more common. CCD is also connected to the use of new and very effective pesticides; in the US they started using a particularily effective pesticide in 2004, and 2 years after that the reports on disappering bees started coming.
 
There's one thing that has been bouncing around inside my head ever since the bee colony collapse issues were brought forth, and it is that approximately 70% of all bees are solitary, meaning they don't live in colonies.

I suppose that not much research or observation has been done with respect to solitary bees due to tracking issues. I'm wondering if they have been affected by the same problem that may cause colony collapse.

I live in the same general area as Gonzo and Harold, in the country, and there is no shortage of bees or wasps around here. (In fact, got stung twice within minutes by a bee for the first time in 2 decades!)

That doesn't mean there isn't a problem, only that I'm not so sure that colony collapse can be extended to include all bees and hence the larger problem of loss of pollination.
 
It is very sad to see the bees and wasps dead all over my terrace every day.As Ellipse pointed out few of them
performing their function.
 
From what I've read in articles carried on SOTT the last couple of years, several things are implicated in Colony Collapse Disorder.

EMF generally
Cell phones / towers
GMO's (genetically modified crops)
Pesticides

Maybe it's a combination of all of these and others?
 
SeekinTruth said:
From what I've read in articles carried on SOTT the last couple of years, several things are implicated in Colony Collapse Disorder.

EMF generally
Cell phones / towers
GMO's (genetically modified crops)
Pesticides

Maybe it's a combination of all of these and others?
Click to expand...

I think so. Pesticides are a definite problem. One of our close friends is a beekeeper. He does not spray any of his property for bugs, and his bees are very healthy, and his fruit trees are all thick with fruit. A few of his neighbors get mad at him because he will not put a hive on their properties if they spray. They don't see pesticides as a problem, and are critical of some of the plants on his farm showing signs of bug damage. He's willing to deal with a degree of bug munching to keep healthy hives and good fruit trees.

He keeps enough bees for his farm and doesn't push them to pollinate more than they can handle. I think this is important too. I don't know much about keeping bees, so this can be wrong, but I wonder if the commercial keepers are also pushing their bees too hard to pollinate and end up stressing them. That would make them extra vulnerable to all the stressors you mentioned. All the bees and other pollinators I saw on my friends farm were healthy and quite happily doing their jobs, so much I had to watch where I stood. :D
 
I'm not sure one could over work bees. I could be wrong, but I just don't think they can be forced to do more than they want or can do.

I guess a bee keeper could close off access to the hive until the job was done, but I don't think it works that way. From what I seem to recall, bees come and go, back and forth between the hive and the flora.

It would be pretty cool if you could train a bee. Not only would the roll over, shake a paw, sit pretty, etc. be extremely cute, they would make for a wonderful property protection service.

On a more serious note, there certainly are more pollinators than just bees, that's true. But if large colonies of bees disappear, I imagine the population of other pollinating insects would grow, upsetting a possibly delicate balance and perhaps increasing the amount of infestations that occur from time to time, often with devastating effects on formerly dominant, native species.

Oh, another thought just entered my mind. I wonder what affect global human consciousness has on bees. Is it possible that a rise in human consciousness and awareness can impact bee populations in a positive manner? Sorry for the stream of consciousness, but I had never really considered the effects of human consciousness on biology, both in general as well as on a species-specific basis.

Gonzo
 
Gonzo said:
I'm not sure one could over work bees. I could be wrong, but I just don't think they can be forced to do more than they want or can do.

I guess a bee keeper could close off access to the hive until the job was done, but I don't think it works that way. From what I seem to recall, bees come and go, back and forth between the hive and the flora.

It would be pretty cool if you could train a bee. Not only would the roll over, shake a paw, sit pretty, etc. be extremely cute, they would make for a wonderful property protection service.

On a more serious note, there certainly are more pollinators than just bees, that's true. But if large colonies of bees disappear, I imagine the population of other pollinating insects would grow, upsetting a possibly delicate balance and perhaps increasing the amount of infestations that occur from time to time, often with devastating effects on formerly dominant, native species.

Oh, another thought just entered my mind. I wonder what affect global human consciousness has on bees. Is it possible that a rise in human consciousness and awareness can impact bee populations in a positive manner? Sorry for the stream of consciousness, but I had never really considered the effects of human consciousness on biology, both in general as well as on a species-specific basis.

Gonzo
Click to expand...

Isn't human consciousness grounded in biology? If we are a blend of the DNA of every species here, and gone, and some yet to come, would it not be reasonable to assume our thoughts (coupled with our actions) somehow impact other life forms,? I think it is in our actions that the influence is most observable- I befriend a bird, a bear, and that being excretes seeds in the places we interact, and the resulting plants become new patterns of food sources for the pollinators, that in time, become a part of the local story.
The problem with humans not paying attention to the way things work is that if, by our ignorance, we help destroy a benign life form that exists in nature to help maintain the balance, we usually open a door for something a lot less benign, because we have added a really virulent strain of entropy to the story, OSIT.
The bees come to visit every morning. I give them respect and honor, and we all prosper, mostly, at least here. The flowers bloom, the trees give forth fruit, and life is preserved, for now, at least here. I wish more humans were taught how to be Paleo-gardeners.
 
Does anyone remember the X-Files movie? It touched on bee's, when Mulder went into that building. I forget what it was about, but its seems connected in some way.... I guess I should look it up. :zzz:

I have heard too the story of a 9/11 conspiracy theory, where a group of middle eastern men, rented out office space in one of the towers. That they claimed they were artists, there doing something on the 'bee thing'. In this story (I think it was the Zeitgeist documentary) a connection is made between them and the Mossad(Israeli's secret police). And they moved out just before 9/11. I hope my account here is accurate. I'm using my memory right now at about 6am. I saw my internet was working, and jumped on.

Again from memory here, but is there a connection regarding this dissapearance of Bee's, what Mulder finds in the X-files movie, and the 'Bee thing'?

And then there is the bumble bee.... is it a pendant? The Queen of England wears? I think it can be found on a coat of arms too.

One more thing, I saw a news report(again from memory...sorry :-[) about honey bee's dying from a fungus that grows on their back.

Are the Bee's, as a group, deciding to leave earth? I wonder? I can't really blame them.
 
Hi,

Just reading this I wanted to say that I am very aware of the Bees and Wasps we get here in the S.E England as my son is allergic to Wasps ( Maybe Bees as well but not sure yet).

Anyway we have a large garden with many fruit trees and are lucky to have a lot of bees. Not so many Bumble bees as we usually see but a good population of bees and an even bigger population of Wasps.

They reported in the paper last week that they found a wasp nest the size of a car in the attic of a pub in the UK! I think though that I read that here in the UK the Bee population was down again 17% this year. So it seems here Wasps are doing OK but Bees maybe not so good. :(
 
They seem to be making progress as to the causes of CCD:

_http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0013181
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Trending content

Back
Top Bottom