honey bees,colony collapse disorder,agribusiness,farming,farmers” width=

 

Beeswax is a major part of farming beeswax. Over a third of crops grown in the US rely on honeybees to pollinate them, which includes apples, cranberries, melons, broccoli, blueberries, and cherries. There is a whole industry surrounding them, in fact, made up of beekeepers who breed them and people who transport them to farms (not to mention the honey they produce). Other insect species are capable of pollinating the same crops, and some can do so more efficiently; however honeybees are by far the most convenient for farmers to use because of the way their hives are structured.

 

Whereas other insect species disperse across an area and flock together in high numbers only rarely, honeybees live their lives in massive colonies and abide by certain hierarchical rules. Each colony has a queen – the only bee that is allowed to lay eggs. These eggs either become fertilized, in which case they become females, or they stay unfertilized, in which case they become males. Females predominantly become ‘workers’ which maintain the hive and produce honey, but some are born in special chambers to potentially become the next queen. Males become ‘drones’ which fight bees from other colonies and fertilize eggs. Males are born with only a single set of chromosomes.

 

Due to their coalescing nature, it is possible to raise a colony of bees which will follow the beehive it grew up in, because their territorial instincts dictate that they will always return to their home. This lets beekeepers raise many colonies in many beehives and then rent out beehives to farmers who need them. It also means they can move their colonies when they are threatened by weather events such as tornadoes. Large plantations do not have the forage elements necessary to sustain beehives of their own.

 

However, the way that bees live also leads to some problems. Disease spreads very quickly among bees as they bunch together in confined spaces. If their queen dies, the entire colony can disappear. Whenever worker bees come in contact with deadly pesticides, the ones who survive long enough carry it back to the hive where it can infect more bees. Furthermore, queens can have birth defects which can lead to entire colonies disappearing. The term for when all of the worker bees leave a colony for no discernable reason is called Colony Collapse Disorder, which has seen rising levels of occurrences in the 21st century.

 

Scientists blame the rise of Colony Collapse Disorder on multiple reasons, including malnutrition, pesticides, parasites, poor beekeeping habits, and devastating winters. The cause could also be a combination of multiple factors. Research has shown that larger beekeeping organizations are at a greater risk for CCD. One theory suggests that transporting bees around the country elevates their exposure to diseases and toxins, in addition to weakening colonies in general. Many groups and coalitions have been formed to study and spread awareness about CCD. One of their main pieces of advice is that, once you identify a colony that is collapsing, you should isolate that hive from the rest. Cell phone towers and genetically-modified crops were suspected culprits of CCD, but supporting evidence has been found for neither claim.