We found out why the bees are dying

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**hotsauceman1**

Turns out it was pesticide and fungicide increasing susceptability to certain parasites
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/126375-Bees-Are-Dying-Scientists-Have-Found-Out-Why

Scientists have finally identified what's causing the mass die-off of bees in North America, and it's worse than we thought.

Since 2006, bees in North America have been dying by the tens of millions from Colony Collapse Disorder; a phenomenon in which all the worker bees abruptly abandon the beehive, leaving only a queen and a few worker bees behind. Scientists have struggled to pinpoint a single cause of the disorder, identifying malnutrition, pesticides and habitat loss as potential suspects. However, scientists at the University of Maryland and the U.S. Department of Agriculture have found that CCD is caused by a combination of factors.

When the team collected pollen from beehives in seven major crops and measured the type and concentration of pesticides within the samples, what they found was a hodgepodge of chemicals. These chemicals, found in widely-use fungicides previously believed to be harmless to bees, increase a bee's susceptibility to Nosema cerenae, a parasite that has been linked to CCD. Bees in colonies with high concentrations of those chemicals were three times as likely to be infected by Nosema.

It's unclear what, if anything, can be done to stop this impending beepocalypse, but it needs to be fixed - and soon.

Read more at http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/126375-Bees-Are-Dying-Scientists-Have-Found-Out-Why#t1iC1F76zpJiwiYR.99

Quite frankly i say let the evil incarnate flying bugs die. We can have the unemployed and children take up the job of pollinating plants

**dementedwombat**

Well darn it. Here we go on the "pesticides are evil" train again. At least we figured it out, now we just have to develop some kind of pesticide that's lethal to the parasite they're talking about and have the bees bring that back to the hive. bee-anbtibiotics!

**LordofHats**

We should fight fire with fire; infect the parasites with a parasite! Oh cruel irony!

**Avatar 720**

No bees = no honey. No honey = no food for the honey badger. No food for the honey badger = rabid honey badger. Rabid honey badgers = end of the world.

Bees are ancient protectors of this Earth, and it is our duty to see that they live on to keep the honey badger threat at bay.

**Ratius**

**timetowaste85**

Find myself agreeing with Hotsauceman. Let the flying bastards croak. Hopefully it kills off all the damn wasps too. Then there will only be one animal left that I fear. The evil, masked trashcan raider.

(that's a raccoon, for those of you not getting the description)

**Forar**

Not exactly a fan of them myself, but bees perform a fairly important role in the ecosystem. Presumably it's unnatural to have so many hives artificially kept in the same area, but I'm not sure a bee-nocidal campaign (intentional or otherwise) is a great idea.

**AegisGrimm**

I personally think it's our job as humans to fix the things that wouldn't be screwed up at all if we didn't exist.

**Kovnik Obama**

timetowaste85 wrote:
Find myself agreeing with Hotsauceman. Let the flying bastards croak.

You sure you want to lose your share of a 1, 200 000 000$ market? To China?

Hopefully it kills off all the damn wasps too.

No good reason why it should, and if it were to happen, it would be a terrible thing. Wasps hunt just about every single pest insect in existence. They are the Insecta's cleaning crew, of sort.

**Cadorius**

Nicolas Cage is behind it.

**hotsauceman1**

So we all agree, Kill the bees.

**Grimskul**

Cadorius wrote:
Nicolas Cage is behind it.

I thought that if anything it would Jerry Seinfeld.

**Jihadin**

Lets keep overlooking the raccoons....only reason they're in Europe is due to the Nazi....well...Goering...brought a few over from the US thinking they make good hunting critters.....

**Ma55ter_fett**

If bee's die off then they'll take the entire farming midewest of the united states with them.

Enjoy the skyrocketing price of gas once ethenol prices go through the roof.

**VermGho5t**

Avatar 720 wrote:
No bees = no honey. No honey = no food for the honey badger. No food for the honey badger = rabid honey badger. Rabid honey badgers = end of the world.

Bees are ancient protectors of this Earth, and it is our duty to see that they live on to keep the honey badger threat at bay.

As funny as this might be, this is a serious problem, as bees are a major pollinator of flowering plants.

**notprop**

Ratius wrote:

DId some one say Badg.....wooooah!

[slowly reverses out of the thread looking at the floor all the time]

**Jihadin**

Well....Supreme Overlord of the Sith Master of the Tenth belt of Quellek by Grabthar's hammer by the Suns of Warvan...shall bow before....the evil red eye Son of a B***h....

**Howard A Treesong**

Bees are very important to the ecosystem and to agriculture. It's best that they don't die off as it could be catastrophic for both wild and cultivated species.

What are the alternatives to pesticides? They could investigate chemical alternatives, or, and this will really annoy some environmentalists, GM. As you can make a plant pest resistant and not have to spray anything into the atmosphere.

**grayshadow87**

I hate to say it, but I find myself growing less and less concerned with GM foods. Maybe it's just that I've heard about it often enough that I've become inured to the whole issue, or maybe it's a subconscious desire to develop mutant powers through spliced tomatoes, but regardless I've grown to accept them. If it takes a bit of tinkering to save the bees, that fine by me.

**Orlanth**

Avatar 720 wrote:
No bees = no honey. No honey = no food for the honey badger. No food for the honey badger = rabid honey badger. Rabid honey badgers = end of the world.

Bees are ancient protectors of this Earth, and it is our duty to see that they live on to keep the honey badger threat at bay.

Marauding rapid honey badgers aside a loss of bees results in a steep decline in pollenization, this is a big problem as hand pollenization might become necessary, and that is labour intensive.

**purplefood**

Who dislikes bees?
Bees are cool.

**Soladrin**

hotsauceman1 wrote:
Turns out it was pesticide and fungicide increasing susceptability to certain parasites
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/126375-Bees-Are-Dying-Scientists-Have-Found-Out-Why

Scientists have finally identified what's causing the mass die-off of bees in North America, and it's worse than we thought.

Since 2006, bees in North America have been dying by the tens of millions from Colony Collapse Disorder; a phenomenon in which all the worker bees abruptly abandon the beehive, leaving only a queen and a few worker bees behind. Scientists have struggled to pinpoint a single cause of the disorder, identifying malnutrition, pesticides and habitat loss as potential suspects. However, scientists at the University of Maryland and the U.S. Department of Agriculture have found that CCD is caused by a combination of factors.

When the team collected pollen from beehives in seven major crops and measured the type and concentration of pesticides within the samples, what they found was a hodgepodge of chemicals. These chemicals, found in widely-use fungicides previously believed to be harmless to bees, increase a bee's susceptibility to Nosema cerenae, a parasite that has been linked to CCD. Bees in colonies with high concentrations of those chemicals were three times as likely to be infected by Nosema.

It's unclear what, if anything, can be done to stop this impending beepocalypse, but it needs to be fixed - and soon.

Read more at http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/126375-Bees-Are-Dying-Scientists-Have-Found-Out-Why#t1iC1F76zpJiwiYR.99

Quite frankly i say let the evil incarnate flying bugs die. We can have the unemployed and children take up the job of pollinating plants

I say we don't. I like being alive.

And yeah, what the hell is peoples problem with GM? It fixes a lot of problems... yeah, let's not use this because... why?

**timetowaste85**

purplefood wrote:
Who dislikes bees?
Bees are cool.

Get off my planet....

Bees are a pox among us, a winged terror that deserve to be snuffed out. There isn't a strain called "killer" for no reason-and they look almost identical to honey bees. Don't forget the cross species bed that was genetically engineered that is evil aggression incarnate.

And who said wasps should stay?! You need a good public flogging, sir. Then join purplefood in getting off my planet.

**Minx**

Soladrin wrote:
And yeah, what the hell is peoples problem with GM? It fixes a lot of problems... yeah, let's not use this because... why?

It's got the same problems as all our other attempts to tinker with (too) complex systems, the consequences are not exhaustively researched before widespread use. In the case of GM and other (conventional and ancient) methods of plant breeding the creation of a few short term more successful new breeds can lead to a loss of bio diversity. Long term this carries the risk of increased damage due to diseases or environmental changes.
Those are not problems exclusive to GM and peoples unfavorable reaction to it probably stem from disinformation rather than a logical reason.

**Alfndrate**

Yes there is an evil strain of these little guys and yeah I freak the feth out when a bee flies near me, but id rather let the bees pollinate stuff, because I sure as hell don't want to watch the infrastructure of american facing die because they died. That and who the hell would want to pollinate a field of anything by hand? Let the little buzzing buggers do their job, so let's fix them so they can.

**d-usa**

Can't Oprah just give us more bees?

This bee hate in this thread is pretty weird...

**djones520**

Ma55ter_fett wrote:
If bee's die off then they'll take the entire farming midewest of the united states with them.

Enjoy the skyrocketing price of gas once ethenol prices go through the roof.

Or... we can just quit it with the ethanol crap. That has caused raises in food prices, and it just causes damage to your vehicle at a quicker rate.

**d-usa**

We don't have to worry about it when there is no corn being pollinated to eat or drive with.

**helgrenze**

Loss of Bees Bad for Plants.

Removing just a single bee species from an ecosystem can decrease the ability of the remaining species to pollinate plants.

http://www.the-scientist.com/?articles.view/articleNo/36657/title/Loss-of-Bees-Bad-for-Plants/

**djones520**

d-usa wrote:
We don't have to worry about it when there is no corn being pollinated to eat or drive with.

Well considering corn isn't pollinated by bee's, your point is moot.

Here's a list of crops they are involved in the pollination of.

http://www.aces.uiuc.edu/vista/html_pubs/BEEKEEP/CHAPT8/chapt8.html