Colony Collapse Disorder Essay

Colony Collapse Disorder is the phenomenon that occurs when the majority of worker bees in a colony disappear and leave behind a queen. The crazy part of this is that there is plenty of food and a few nurse bees left to care for the remaining immature bees and the queen. There has been theory upon theory of why this is happening but no one has the for sure answer. You may be asking why is this such a big deal?! Well CCD (Colony Collapse Disorder) causes significant economic losses because many agricultural crops worldwide are pollinated by western honey bees. Several possible causes of CCD have been proposed but no single proposal has gained widespread acceptance among the scientific community. Some of these theories include infections with Varroa, which are mites that are recognised as the biggest pest to honey bees. Another cause that has been discussed is malnutrition, various pathogens; genetic factors, loss of habitat and so much more. As rural areas become urban, the patches of green space that remain are often stripped of all weeds and their flowers, which bees rely on for food. In addition climate change has been considered as another factor because unusually warm winters have caused plants to shift their schedules. When bees come out of hibernation, the flowers they
Certain pesticides are harmful to bees, more so than others. There have been several incidents of acute poisoning of honey bees covered on the popular media in recent years, but sometimes these incidents are mistakenly associated with CCD. A common element of acute pesticide poisoning of bees is, literally, a pile of dead bees outside the hive entrance. With CCD, there are very few if any dead bees near the hive. Piles of dead bees are an indication that the incident is not colony collapse disorder. It is very important to be able to tell the difference between CCD and another cause of