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Please HN, let's be sensible about the bees. This is maybe the tenth story about bees I've seen hit the front page in the last couple of months. People seem to

by Blahah 13y ago

Please HN, let's be sensible about the bees. This is maybe the tenth story about bees I've seen hit the front page in the last couple of months. People seem to be absorbing the alarmist and unfounded opinion that we know what's causing CCD. Truth is, we simply don't know what's causing it. There are many possibilities, and there are hundreds of research groups working on it. It has been shown that some pesticides do affect bees. But it has also been shown that various diseases as well as beekeeping practices have large effects. CCD is complex, and a sky news story about a single incident of a bunch of bees dying is no reason to start jumping to conclusions. It's interesting, sure, but don't assume it tells us anything about CCD.

will_brown 13y ago
>It has been shown that some pesticides do affect bees. But it has also been shown that various diseases as well as beekeeping practices have large effects. There is no direct link demonstrated between neonicotinoids and the honey bee syndrome known as Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD). However, as the most likely candidate, that is why a story like this is important, because it is a case study likely to link the two. Is this story determinative? Absolutely not, otherwise that would be the headline, "Neonicotinoids Proved to be the Smoking Gun in CCD." However, as to the diseases you refer to, recent research suggests that neonicotinoids may make honey bees more susceptible to parasites and pathogens, including the intestinal parasite Nosema, which has been implicated as one causative factor in CCD. (http://www.xerces.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/Are-Neonicotinoids-Killing-Bees_Xerces-Society1.pdf http://www.xerces.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/Are-Neonico...) As to the keepers theory, sure transport and handling may be blamed, but bee keepers have been around since at least the time of the building of the pyramids - in fact many tombs were uncovered with 2,000+ year old honey that was eaten by the discoverers (not a bad shelf life). Nevertheless, significantly well traveled bees tend to die at greater rates, of course this can not account for CCD in wild colonies. I imagine neonicotinoids will prove to be the smoking gun, but more along the lines of nicotine and "third hand smoke" (see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third-hand_smoke http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third-hand_smoke). To complicate matters even further, the neonicotinoids are likely to not directly cause death, but to make bees more susceptible to diseases or parasites (as referenced in the study above), making the diseases and parasites more palatable candidates for the cause rather than an effect of the cause.

by Blahah 13y ago

will_brown 13y ago

>It has been shown that some pesticides do affect bees. But it has also been shown that various diseases as well as beekeeping practices have large effects. There is no direct link demonstrated between neonicotinoids and the honey bee syndrome known as Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD). However, as the most likely candidate, that is why a story like this is important, because it is a case study likely to link the two. Is this story determinative? Absolutely not, otherwise that would be the headline, "Neonicotinoids Proved to be the Smoking Gun in CCD." However, as to the diseases you refer to, recent research suggests that neonicotinoids may make honey bees more susceptible to parasites and pathogens, including the intestinal parasite Nosema, which has been implicated as one causative factor in CCD. (http://www.xerces.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/Are-Neonicotinoids-Killing-Bees_Xerces-Society1.pdf http://www.xerces.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/Are-Neonico...) As to the keepers theory, sure transport and handling may be blamed, but bee keepers have been around since at least the time of the building of the pyramids - in fact many tombs were uncovered with 2,000+ year old honey that was eaten by the discoverers (not a bad shelf life). Nevertheless, significantly well traveled bees tend to die at greater rates, of course this can not account for CCD in wild colonies. I imagine neonicotinoids will prove to be the smoking gun, but more along the lines of nicotine and "third hand smoke" (see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third-hand_smoke http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third-hand_smoke). To complicate matters even further, the neonicotinoids are likely to not directly cause death, but to make bees more susceptible to diseases or parasites (as referenced in the study above), making the diseases and parasites more palatable candidates for the cause rather than an effect of the cause.