Editor’s Note: The study “Honey Bee Pollination Markets and the Internalization of Reciprocal Benefits” is attached here. The Abstract is reprinted below.
The world’s most extensive markets for pollination services are those for honey bee pollination in the United States.These markets play important roles in coordinating the behavior of migratory beekeepers, who both produce honey and provide substitutes for ecosystem pollination services. We analyze the economic forces that drive migratory beekeeping and theoretically and empirically analyze the determinants of pollination fees in a larger and richer data set than has been studied before. Our empirical results expand our understanding of pollination markets and market-supporting institutions that internalize external effects.
September 7, 2012
Editor’s Note: The journal article, “Pathogen Webs in Collapsing Honey Bee Colonies” is attached here. The study’s conclusions are consistent with CRE’s comments to the FIFRA Science Advsiory Panel which are available here.
From: Catch The Buzz
Kim Kaplan, Chief, Special Projects Information Staff
Agricultural Research Service U.S.D.A
Honey bees that succumb to Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) carry a colony-specific group of three or four pathogens that tend to be unique to different geographic regions, according to a new study by Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientists.
September 7, 2012
From: North Carolina State University/The Abstract
by Matt Shipman
Many crops rely on pollination by honey bees and, as a result, there’s a market for the services of professional beekeepers and their bees. And the cost of those services has been on the rise. What’s driven the increase in pollination fees over the past 20 years? A new study from North Carolina State University shows that honey prices, invasive mites and the cost of diesel fuel are key factors.
September 7, 2012
From: Stock & Land
HONEYBEE and pollination-reliant agricultural industries, researchers and government agencies recently came together at a workshop in Melbourne to fine-tune how the new National Bee Pest Surveillance Program will be rolled out to all states.
The program already contributes to surveillance through projects such as Bee Force – which has successfully recruited hobby beekeepers to monitor hives around the Ports of Melbourne and Geelong – and a project developing remote surveillance technology to allow bait boxes to be monitored from a central location.
September 5, 2012
From: Vancouver Observer
In 2006, California’s bee community noticed a phenomenon described as colony collapse disorder, in which honey bee colonies weaken and die for no apparent reason.
The phenomenon remains a concern as the causes are poorly understood. And while colony collapse has not been a major issue for the health of honeybees in British Columbia, it has increased local awareness and interest in bees’ health.
Bee health research at University of British Columbia
At UBC, Dr. Leonard Foster’s lab has focused its attention on honey bee immunology.
September 3, 2012
Dear OPP Staff and SAP Members:
EPA has an excellent record in complying with the Data Quality Act (DQA), thus the first part of this document is aimed at educating the SAP as to DQA’s requirements.
Because the Risk Assessment Framework under discussion is intended to lay the foundation for, or be the first step in, what is almost certain to be a highly influential risk assessment that will eventually be peer reviewed by the SAP, CRE believes that the framework should incorporate, affirm, and apply the requirements of the DQA and its guidelines that apply to scientific assessments which will be disseminated by the Agency and that might eventually be used in regulatory proceedings. Furthermore, since EPA declared that no imminent hazard exists, CRE will not be commenting on this matter.
August 24, 2012
Editor’ s Note: We call your particular attention to this statements in the article:
“A parasitic mite has helped a virus wipe out billions of honeybees throughout the globe.”
” In an infected bee there can be more viral particles than there are people on the planet,” Dr Martin explained”.
By Victoria Gill BBC Nature
The BBC’s Victoria Gill :”The new study has pinned down exactly which virus is the honeybee killer”
A parasitic mite has helped a virus wipe out billions of honeybees throughout the globe, say scientists.
August 16, 2012
Editor’s Note: University of Sheffield study attached.
Science Daily
Researchers at the University of Sheffield have discovered a parasitic mite has caused the deformed wing virus to proliferate in honey bee colonies
This association is now thought to contribute to the world-wide spread and probable death of millions of honey bee colonies. The current monetary value of honey bees as commercial pollinators in the United States alone is estimated at about $15-$20 billion annually.
August 16, 2012
Editor’s Note: Allvoices.com, a citizens journal platform, reports on an article in Science, one of the nation’s premier scientific journals, on the reason for the decrease in the bee population:
“..a small parasitic mite that is known to attack honey bees has been identified as the main carrier of the disease that is responsible for the dwindling of bee populations across the world.”
We encourage our readers to comment on this important finding in the space below or by clicking on the Home page icon in the upper left corner of this page.
June 23, 2012
Editor’s Note: The research described below is that type of inquiry that must be completed before any regulatory actions are contemplated on Colony Collapse Disorder.
Huffington Post: Green Edition/ Scientific American
Bees are making headlines these days, and not in a positive way. Colony collapse disorder has cut through honeybee populations, with some beekeepers reportedly losing up to 90 percent of their stock in recent years. European bee populations are also declining, and so are some species of North American bumblebee. That data is often interpreted to mean that all of the world’s 20,000 bee species are in danger, and that we may be in the midst of a “global pollinator crisis.” But there’s little data to back up those claims, scientists say.
May 16, 2012
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