Vanishing honeybees mystify scientists

[werepossum]

They're not saying this is 100% the cause but it's pretty convincing.

http://www.bulletinofinsectology.org/pdfarticles/vol67-2014-125-130lu.pdf

Cool. Looks like we have enough evidence to begin phasing out these neonicotinoid pesticides.

Gonna say the increased unadultered extreme usage of roundup which is known to kill bees. We can use that and do use that at a scale now when we don't have to care about crops dying from it and it is known to kill insect life where it is used. In almost all nations it's classified as a class 3 toxin, harmful to all plant and animal life but in the US, it's good to go to spray it on consumer foods.

Could be a contributing factor, as could increased use of genetically modified foods producing higher levels of pesticides - especially if those plants are producing chemicals with higher levels of allelochemicals which complement nicotine-based compounds. It's well-established in aquarium plants that certain combinations of allelochemicals can be much more deadly than the effects of either individually. I see no reason this would not be the same for bees just because they are exposed from multiple sources; it's the same principle as two different plants releasing two different allelochemicals into the same water.

 

[DrPizza]

All of my hives, plus 5 wild hives that I'm aware of, show zero sign of bees. Inside my hives, after the winter - just a few dead bees; certainly no sign of the vast majority of them. In 2 of the wild hives, bees early in the spring, then none.

 

[OverVolt]

Pretty sure any 5 year old who has read Dr. Suess knows screwing with nature is a bad idea and yet we do it anyway on a massive scale what could possibly go wrong!

 

[Moe Zart]

What people don't understand is the entire ecosystem depends on fruit. If bees disappear, all the animals/insects that depend on fruit will disappear, and the animals that depend on those animals/insects will disappear. Then man will disappear.
Can't wait. It will be just like Fallout 3.