‘Could become a death spiral’: scientists discover what’s driving record die-offs of US honeybees
Experts scrambling to understand losses in hives across the country are finally identifying the culprits. And the damage to farmed bees is a sign of trouble for wild bees too
Scientists have been scrambling to discover what happened; now the culprits are emerging. A research paper published by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA), though not yet peer-reviewed, has found nearly all colonies had contracted a bee virus spread by parasitic mites that appear to have developed resistance to the main chemicals used to control them.
Varroa mites spreading disease.
Is this news? I thought these mites were already on beekeepers radars
Further down the article they quote someone saying they don't think this is the actual cause. Apparently the mites and virus are in most hives, so they're not convinced it's the cause of the die off rather than just a symptom of a weakened hive.
Looked into beekeeping on and off and varroa mites are a top consideration in any source I've read.
They're still trying to blame it on pesticides, but because they aren't killing well enough.
You'd think beekeepers would have been noticing an uptick in mites for the last two decades, though. They regularly check for them.
Without beekeeping, wild bees wouldn't be in danger.
at the very least they could stop putting hives on trucks and hauling them between orchards for pollination
Ah yes, because we're not deforesting and clearing land previously habitat for wild bees land at a high rate, and filling that land with suburbs and car parks or agricultural monocultures & pesticides.
It's just beekeeping that's causing issues.
I was talking about the virus but there is more to it:
The best way to help bees? Don’t become a beekeeper like I did
"the main chemicals used to control them."
And here is the fucking problem.
