>Find the where abouts of the dead or relocated queens and I think you
will be on your way to solving the CCD problem.
The question is not what killed the bees, but why are honey bees still
alive at all. What we call a normal healthy organism is actually a
temporary survivor in a pitched battle. Health consists of effectively
holding off a myriad of pests, parasites, and pathogens; ultimately
failing in what we call death. For the past twenty years or so, varroa
have been preying upon the bees in the US. During that time,
beekeepers have had to run faster to stay in the same spot. We have to
be smarter, quicker to respond, open to new ideas. Meanwhile, we have
gotten better bees as well. The worst at coping already died out; new
strains have been imported and developed.
Problem is, all the while varroa have gotten better too. They no
longer drop dead when exposed to the milder chemicals and even the
hard ones don't work as well as they did. Given this race between
beekeepers, bees, and varroa, it would be hard to know on which to
bet. Looking for a "cause" for CCD is worthwhile I am sure, but we
already know our bees are sick and they appear to have everything in
the book. Which points to a compromised immune system. In immune
compromised individuals, even somewhat benign pathogens can push the
organism over the edge to the state of most matter in the system:
dead.
Back in 2005, Xiaolong Yang, and Diana L. Cox-Foster wrote:
This work demonstrated that varroa infestation suppressed
immunity in honey bees by reducing the transcription of genes
encoding antimicrobial peptides and immunity-related enzymes.
Not only the DW [deformed wing] bees but also
the asymptomatic NW [normal wing] bees had
impaired immunity due to the ectoparasitization.
To our knowledge,
this is the first example of an ectoparasite immunosuppressing
its invertebrate host. Given that ticks immunosuppress
their vertebrate hosts, ectoparasites not only immunosuppress
their vertebrate hosts but also immunosuppress their
invertebrate hosts. Thus, immunosuppression of the hosts may
be a common phenomenon in the interaction and coevolution
between ectoparasites and their vertebrate and invertebrate
hosts.
SEE
http://www.pnas.org/cgi/content/full/102/21/7470
--
Peter L. Borst
Danby, NY USA
42.35, -76.50
http://picasaweb.google.com/peterlborst
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