Source: ‘Could become a death spiral’: scientists discover what’s driving record die-offs of US honeybees | Bees | The Guardian . . . A research paper published by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA), though not yet peer-reviewed, has found nearly all colonies had contracted a bee virus spread by parasitic mites that appear to have developed resistance to the main chemicals used to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 – equivalent in size to a dinner plate on a human body – crawl and jump between worker bees. If there are no infections present, they do not typically damage the bee. But if diseases are present, they quickly spread them. While varroa typically infects honeybees, not wild bees, the diseases that they spread can kill other pollinators – research has shown that the viral outbreaks among honeybees often spill over to wild colonies, with potential knock-on effects on biodiversity. . . . This is bad news as some crops are totally dependent on honeybees. Bob Wilson
This was reported on decades ago. Beekeepers have been fully aware of the issue since the 1980s. Mites and these viruses are difficult to 'address'.
In the natural world where the food chain is stable and the entire landscape is dominated by it these challenges create new evolutionary adaptations that make for better bees. But on a planet where humans impose a lifeless agenda on all the most fertile landscapes and the food chain is falling apart in ways that may be irreversible, its hard not to be fatalistic about it all.
