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Everybody loves a bee story these days, it seems.
Especially if it’s about Colony Collapse Disorder, the mysterious vanishing act that’s decimated almost 30 per cent of the northern hemisphere’s honey producers and pollinators since late 2006. In the past two years alone, hundreds of books have been published on the plight of domestic honeybees.
And if, as the saying goes, the sunny little insects are responsible for one forkful of every three bites of food you eat, that doesn’t bode well for the myriad crops in Canada that rely on them for pollination.
Despite this, Ernesto Guzman, an entomological researcher at the University of Guelph, is skeptical that CCD actually exists.
“CCD is an arbitrary name,” he says, “designed by U.S. scientists to define a high mortality of colonies that have no explainable reason.
“Radio waves, even terrorist plots” are among some of the theories.
Bees across Canada have declined by 30 to 40 per cent every spring since 2006. After a busy fall of stashing nectar and pollen for the cold months to come, bee colonies get swathed in thick, black wrap for winter hibernation, only to be found dead in the first melting weeks of February and March.
“If you’re a dairy farmer,” says Tim Greer, president of the Ontario Beekeepers Association, “imagine losing between 30 to 40 per cent of your dairy cows each year. That’s a significant loss.” …
