Bees & Bats

CCD is short for Colony Collapse Disorder which is wiping out honeybee hives.

The Silence of the Bees is a great Nature documentary about this. You can watch the full episode on PBS online.

This film shows that insecticides are a contributing factor contributing to the collapse of honeybees' systems and their deaths. In my opinion, it's also possible that other pesticides affect the honeybees' health too.

In the area where I lived, I've noticed a few bees here and there that seemed to be disoriented or drunk or very inactive. The other day I found and filmed one with my camera. This bee I filmed isn't a honeybee but it's what I believe is a bumblebee. I have seen this in the past quite a number of times but this is the first time that I've filmed it.

We need bees. Yes, there are other types pollinators. But a lot of pollination is done by honeybees which beekeepers bring to crop areas so their health is very important.. Beekeepers also harvest and sell honey that the bees make, but the biggest income for them is renting out their bees to pollinate crops. Unfortunately, whenever bees are brought to a farm for pollination, they are exposed to whatever substances are being used there (including pesticides!) and there is little or nothing that can be done to minimize the risks and resulting casualties.
Other types of pollinating insects include bumblebees, butterflies, moths, ants and beetles. These are also sensitive to whatever pesticides are used.

The documentary that I've linked to shows an areas in China where the people need to manually pollinate their pear trees because they killed off their pollinating insects. Imagine the ramifications of this happening in more regions.

I believe that bees are like a "canary in a coalmine" and we need to sit up and take notice. We need to limit the use of pesticides and start finding ways to work with nature instead of using substances that compromise and destroy it. By pesticides, I am not only saying the insecticides are the only culprit. I believe that the combination of other "cides" might be contributing factors, especially when one considers that a variety of different "cides" are used by large variety of people in agriculture, landscaping and garden maintenance and so on.

What are the "cides" (Short for pesticides)?:
Insecticides: used to to kill insects
Fungicides: used to kill fungus
Herbicide: used to kill plants and these come in a variety of kinds from pre-emergent to post-emergent.
Here's more information on the different kinds of pesticides.

Without nature's very important little helpers, we'll be in a very difficult situation.
We must limit use of insecticides and other pesticides. There are many insects that develop new strains that become resistant but it seems that pollinating insects like bees, especially honeybees are more vulnerable.

Besides bees, I also want to write about bats. Bats are very important because they help keep insect populations under control but they are also under threat.

In United States and Canada, many bats are being killed by a white fungus. There's an article about this with more details. Here's more info with another photo. There has been an increase in fungal infections in humans and now a fungus that's actually killing bats. Millions of them in the United States. The theory is that the fungus actually came from Europe. But it's also possible that the bats' immune systems have been compromised thereby rendering them more vulnerable to this fungus.

It's sad to think that the little brown bat that I remember seeing as a child might be wiped out by this fungus. This same species probably helped to keep mosquito populations under control because they are a main part of its diet.

But I'm wondering if the overuse of fungicides is producing more resistant and deadly types of fungus similar to how the overuse of antibiotics and anti-bacterial agents have contributed to the development of stronger and deadlier bacteria.

I believe that bats like the bees are another type of "canary" for us. Mother nature is giving us more signals that we need to change our practices.