There is a strange thing called Colony Collapse Disorder happening to honeybees in the US and Europe.  Bee colonies are simply dying off en masse.  You may have heard of it happening in the news, with the requisite hyperventilating speculations of catastrophe and baseless guesses as to what caused it, so often spouted by media. 

That said, it is a serious problem for both beekeepers and farmers, particularly those with orchards.  An Asian parasite that lives off of honeybees is likely the culprit.  The Spanish scientist in the article thinks that Asian breeds of honeybee are better equipped to combat the effect of the parasite, while Western Honeybee breeds have no resistance to the parasite, and that is why they are having such a nasty effect and collapsing whole colonies.

 He hasn't confirmed that this the same problem that the US is facing, but it sounds likely.  If it is, treatment is apparently not that expensive, so hopefully over time, the problem will be dealt with.

Posted by: doubleplusundead at 02:44 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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