WEAPONS OF MASS EXTINCTION
Colony Collapse Disorder, or CCD, began sweeping across the United States in mid-2007 and millions of beehives across the country seemingly disappeared overnight. Studies suggest that the bees failed to return to their hives and presumably died in the wilderness, the reason for their disappearance continued to mystify scientists. http://www.ars.usda.gov/News/docs.htm?docid=15572
Theories ranged from attacks by a natural predator, to fear that gas levels in the atmosphere had reached a toxic concentration level. Speculation had even arisen around cell phone usage suggesting that it disturbed the bees’ natural ability to sense direction and find their way home. Today scientists believe the cause of the disappearance was due to the presence of Israel acute paralysis virus, but even with that knowledge, ecologists are concerned that the sudden reduction in the bee population could have lasting effects on our environment.
The impact could be felt as early as this year when crop productivity is expected to suffer from the gap in time without bees assisting crop life cycles. What can we do today to turn the clock back on the recent loss and prevent it from happening in the future?
April 25th, 2008 at 12:44 pm
This is the kind of stuff that has me freaked out about the terrorists, man. There are so many weird little diseases and viruses and chemicals that can hit us without us even realizing we’re under attack. What if this Israel paralysis virus was brought over here on purpose to wipe out our bees and try to starve us out. Don’t we need bees for all of our food, that’s why they truck those bees all over the midwest, right? I heard some article the other day about bee theft being counted as grand theft because of how few good bee colonies are left.