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Theresa Le

Professor Gregory McClure

Writing 39C

16 February 2017

Bee Colony Collapse Disorder: A Concern to Us All

The number of hives in the United States is now at its lowest

point in the past 50 years
-Jennifer Sass, scientist and lecturer

The bee colony collapse deals with the loss of a mass number of colonies across the globe

in which began not too long ago. Also known as the Colony Collapse Disorder, or CCD, this

dates back to mid-November of 2006, when a professional beekeeper named David Hackenburg,

owner of Hackenberg Apiaries throughout six states in the US, first noticed that a number of his

hives were empty. This caused a lot of concern, and prompted research for the first major

outbreak of the disorder. However, bees had initially already been an issue in 2005, as addressed

in the article, Colony Collapse Disorder: Many Suspects, No Smoking Gun, written by Myrna E.

Watanabe. The scientific author and research associate at the University of Connecticut mentions

how in 2005, the United States government was already taking into consideration possible

solutions to try to alleviate the foreshadowing situation. As I continue with this literature review,

I will be evaluating much of Watanabes publication to understand the origins of the situation and

how it further develops throughout the years. As she mentions, whatever is causing CCD is

likely to be multifactorial (388), so the necessity to consider the varying causes will help you

understand the possible correlation between it all. Even to date, researchers are uncertain of the
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exact culprit of the situation, so I will be discussing the main proposed causes of bee colony

collapse disorder.

As the origin of CCD remains questionable, there are several hypothesized possibilities

that may help explain the drastic changes that have occurred in the past decade. The major

reasons taken into account include parasites, pesticides, disease, urbanization, and climate

change. Parasites, such as Nosema ceranae and the Varroa mite, have been found to be attackers

of bees, which end up killing them. There are pesticides, especially neonicotinoids, that are

designed to kill off insects that harm plants and flowers, but also end up weakening their immune

systems. Diseases harm the bees and affect their work habits and longevity, particularly the

Israeli acute paralysis virus. The urbanization of cities is also greatly affecting bees because of

the lack of rurality that remains, which leaves the bees with no food. In addition, climate change

causes flowers to change their natural blooming cycle, so when bees come out of hibernation, the

flowers have already bloomed and are not at their healthiest form. However, the most prevalent

causes are parasites, pesticides, and diseases, all of which are undergoing research and

examination in which I will later explain further. All these indications emphasize the continuous

desire to uncover the main source behind the situation, but one thing is certain: evidence has

indicated a progression of the issue that will continue to evolve as time goes by. And as life

continues to go on, one will begin to realize that the normalities of everyday life will not be the

same without bees.

Those affected by the bee colony collapse disorder are not only farmers and pesticide

businesses, but also human beings overall because the food we consume is mainly pollinated by

bees. Jennifer Sass, a college lecturer and scientific speaker, explains in her article, Why We

Need Bees: Natures Tiny Workers Put Food on Our Tables, about the alarming amount of impact
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bees have in the human diet, and if no action occurs to try to find a solution, humans will face the

reality of insubstantiality. With these drastic situations, humans must take into account how

much we are damaging the bees, and take respective actions to save society as a whole. All in all,

the bee colony collapse disorder takes a toll on everyone, and increased research is the best way

to alleviate the situations and to find a solution for what is causing the downfall of so many bees.

In response to these possible causes and the arising situation, the US national government

realized the alarming effects and took initiative to try and alleviate the situation. President

Barack Obama issued a document in May of 2015 called The National Strategy to Promote the

Health of Honey Bees and Other Pollinators in an effort to raise awareness and increase

research. This emphasizes the capacity of the situation, to the point where even the White House

has to be involved. The document addresses the goals that the US Department of Agriculture

(USDA) and US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) hope to reach. Bees, who are critical

to the nations economy must be researched and reviewed in order to ensure a beneficial stability

for all. After analyzing the official document, I found critical key points about the planned

solutions in which I will be briefly explaining later on, along with using these justifications to

understand the consequences to whom it applies to. However, before these planned solutions, I

must address the origin of the issue and the initial thoughts of scientists after first realizing the

capacity of CCD.

Bee colony collapse disorder originated more than a decade ago, leading to investigation

by researchers to discover what exactly was causing this unusual phenomenon, such as relating it

to the overturn of the Honeybee Act. In Watanabes article, published by Oxford University Press

for the American Institute of Biological Sciences, she mentions how since the first reported

incident of CCD, some hypothesized ideas, including radiation from cell phones and
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contamination with pollen from plants genetically modified to carry an insecticidal gene

(Watanabe 334) had been ruled out by 2007. Therefore, although the origin of CCD remains

questionable, evidence has indicated a progression of the issue that will continue to evolve as

time goes by. In 2005, US Congress passed an exemption to the Honeybee Act of 1922, which

forbade all importation of honey bees to prevent the spread of disease to US bee colonies (385).

The Honeybee Act happened during a time in which the Isle of Wight disease concerning

tracheal mites harmed and killed many bees in Europe, so as a precaution, the United States

enabled this act to ensure the nations bee supply were not infected by outside influences. The

overturn alleviates the concerns of almond farmers who were worried about the unsubstantial

number of US honey bees at the time. This concern foreshadows exactly what is happening today

as so many of our bees are dying as a result of a possible cause, the Varroa mite and Nosema

ceranae, also parasites similar to the one associated with the Isle of Wight.

These parasites eventually became a leading focus for researchers, as many came to the

realization that there is a connection between parasites and pesticides the chemicals used to

attack pests were ultimately making the bees less immune to parasites. In July of 2013, Todd

Woody produced a scientific article elaborating on his studies about the contributing effects of

CCD in attempt to find more research and understand further the developments of this situation.

For example, he explained how when collecting pollen from beehives for investigation,

researchers were able to detect several pesticides, fungicides, and insecticides within a sample.

Additionally, from those various chemicals, they identified eight agricultural chemicals

associated with increased risk of infection by the parasites, particularly Nosema ceranae and

Nosema apis. Further research indicated that bees that ate the contaminated pollen were three

times as likely to be infected by the parasite (Woody 53). As bees are pollinating from crops and
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plants that contain pesticides used to

benefit humans, they are in turn

damaging themselves. Those that are

infected with the parasites ultimately

result in disjointed wings and swollen

abdomens, leading to their inability to

pollinate and survive for longer. In

addition, when one bee gets infected, it

Published in the American Bee Journal by Randy
Oliver, a professional beekeeper and biological
can spread to other bees within the hive,
scientific writer in August of 2011 based off the
research by Bart Smith, a technician at the USDA.
so the parasites weaken both the
Illustrates the correlation between CCD and Nosema
individual bee the hive as a whole. This emphasizes the correlation between the two topics,

which particularly demonstrates a possible connection among not just pesticides and parasites,

but also other varying factors.

Although parasites are a high possibility as one of the leading factors of CCD, scientists

are still unsure of exactly how and what is making the bees die, but a virus called IAPV has been

taken into consideration. In October of 2007, Diana Cox-Foster, a Penn State entomologist and

US Department of Agriculture researcher, and her team of researchers investigated the effect of

Israeli acute paralysis virus on bees. IAPV was first identified in Israel in 2004, and was later

found in beekeeping operations on the East Coast of the United State and parts of Canada.

However, Cox-Foster believes it is highly questionable how exactly the virus emerged into

America, especially through an unidentifiable origin. IAPV was also discovered on cockroaches

that had infested bee colony equipments that were affected by bee colony collapse disorder.

Subsequently, they held a study where they injected cockroaches and bees with the virus, and
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found them dead four days later. Therefore, this indicates that the virus is capable of causing

disease in insects (Watanabe 386), but it is not sufficient enough to ensure that IAPV is strong

enough to cause CCD, where it could kill off

a whole beehive in such a short amount of

time. Researchers remain skeptical of the

certainty of the association between the virus

and the dying bees, especially since it is

unclear about how the virus came about in Published by Dr. Eyal Maori, a researcher at
Cambridge University, in a CCD article
the United States. Although IAPV has a concerning the effect of IAPV on bees. This is
from a study where bees were infected with
strong impact on other insects aside from various amounts of the virus.
bees, there has not been a substantial amount of reports of the insects infesting bee colonies.

Therefore, as time passes by, more research indicates a stronger inclination to consider other

possible causes. This research is crucial because it allows people to realize the importance of

bees in our society and how crucial it is toward our everyday life.

Ultimately, bees are an essential source of life because of their pollination abilities on

agriculture all across the nation, which emphasizes the fact that without them, human beings

would suffer both agriculturally and economically. Jennifer Sass, a scientist in Washington DC

who focuses on the US chemical policies and oftentimes gives testimonies and scientific

briefings for Congress members and federal advisory committees, wrote an article called Why

We Need Bees: Natures Tiny Workers Put Food on Our Tables in 2011. Also a lecturer at the

George Washington University, she provides a debrief into the whole situation with the CCD and

how much impact bees have on society. For example, she mentions how cross-pollination helps

at least 30 percent of the worlds crops and 90 percent of our wild plants to thrive (Sass 1). This
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demonstrates how much the bees participate in nature, creating a significant role for themselves

as part of the natural cycle. Not only do they help pollinate plants across all fields, but most

importantly, they pollinate our crops that we grow to provide food. This means that as more and

more bees die, more of our crops are dying, so we have less food to substantiate. In addition, this

will cause a loss in the American economy, as Sass states how more than $15 billion a year in

US crops are pollinated by bees and US honey bees also produce about $150 million in honey

annually (Sass 1). Therefore, with such a pivotal impact on the agricultural business, bees are

needed to keep the nation stable and progressive. If bee colony collapse disorder continues to

persist, humans will eventually lose a large

amount of their produce supply, and America

will experience an economic decrease all

because of the little creatures dying. Not only

did humans become aware of this, but the

United States government also realized how

drastic CCD had spread across the nation.
As news of this spread, it reached the
federal government and realizing the
A sample picture of a mass number of dead
bees gathered from a hive affected by CCD,
published by an investigative journalist,
Maryam Henein

alarming consequences of bee colony collapse, they created an official document called The

National Strategy to Promote the Health of Honey Bees and Other Pollinators. This highlights

key goals and increased actions that occurred to attempt to solve the situation. In an article

written by John P. Holdren, the Assistant to the President for Science & Technology and Director

of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, it explains what the EPA and

USDA hope to achieve. He readdresses the idea that I discussed earlier about how pollinators
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are critical to the nations economy, food security, and environmental health, and should

therefore be taken care of to ensure a beneficial stability for all. Attached to his article is

President Barack Obamas official document that encapsulates all the governments detailed

plans for this issue. Overall, the national plan focuses on four main components: Pollinator

Research Action Plan, plans for expanding education and outreach, opportunities for public-

private partnerships, and improving pollinator habitat (16). Each area of focus provides various

goals that pertain to not only the component, but to the general urgency to help the bees. For

example, in the education and outreach program, they hope to create a unified campaign for

National Pollinator Week during June 15-21 (21), which helps spread awareness for the urgent

situation. Other goals include constructing more pollinator gardens, increasing money to develop

more research on CCD, and attempting to decrease the bees exposure to pesticides while still

being able to maintain a control on agricultural pests. All these documented plans and programs

greatly emphasize the progressiveness in bee colony collapse disorder because it ultimately

involved the US federal government, one of the most powerful established systems in the world.

This highlights the importance of the issue, and how critical bees are to society, ultimately

requiring our help in the need for survival. Over the years, bee colony collapse disorder has

caused a lot of concern among several nations, but evidence has significantly indicated how

much could be discovered with the help of professional beekeepers, researchers, scientists, and

established officials.
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Works Cited

Henein, Maryam. "Bees Dying By The Millions As Colony Collapse Accelerates. "HoneyColony.

N.p., 08 Sept. 2014. Web. 10 Feb. 2017.

Holdren, John P. "Announcing New Steps to Promote Pollinator Health." National Archives and

Records Administration. National Archives and Records Administration, 19 May 2015.

Web. 20 Jan. 2017.

Maori, E., et al. "IAPV, A Bee-Affecting Virus Associated With Colony Collapse Disorder Can

Be Silenced By Dsrna Ingestion." Insect Molecular Biology 18.1 (2009): 55-60.

Academic Search Complete. Web. 17 Feb. 2017.

Oliver, Randy. "Sick Bees: Nosema The Smoldering Epidemic." Scientific Beekeeping.

American Bee Journal, Mar. 2012. Web. 07 Feb. 2017.

Sass, Jennifer. "Why We Need Bees: Natures Tiny Workers Put Food on Our Tables." National

Resources Defense Council, Mar. 2011. Web. 21 Jan. 2017.

Watanabe, Myrna E. "Colony Collapse Disorder: Many Suspects, No Smoking Gun."BioScience

58.5 (2008): n. pag. Oxford University Press, May 2008. Web. 15 Jan. 2017.

Woody, Todd. "Colony Collapse Disorder: Bee Apocalypse Now--Scientists Discover What's

Killing The Bees And It's Worse Than You Thought: Crop Pollination Exposes

Honeybees To Pesticides Which Alters Their Susceptibility To The Gut Pathogen Nosema

Ceranae." Pomona 46.4 (2013): 52-60. Academic Search Complete, July 2013. Web. 23

Jan. 2017.