A Step Forward in Identifying the Causes of Honey Bee Colony Collapse Disorder ─ and a Statement regarding Why Science Is Important

© 2010 Peter Free

 

10 October 2010

 

Knowing what is killing essential pollinators may help manage the disorder

 

For people interested in agriculture, honey bee colony collapse disorder was alarming, when it first gained widespread recognition in 2006.  The problem has not diminished.

 

The U.S. Department of Agriculture estimates that bees pollinate 90 essential food crops. Wikipedia lists some.

 

Jerry Bromenshenk et al. now think they have identified the two main causes of the bee population collapse:

 

These findings implicate co-infection by IIV [invertebrate iridescent virus, Iridoviridae] and Nosema [apis, a microsporidia] with honey bee colony decline, giving credence to older research pointing to IIV, interacting with Nosema and mites, as probable cause of bee losses in the USA, Europe, and Asia.

 

We next need to characterize the IIV and Nosema that we detected and develop management practices to reduce honey bee losses.

 

© 2010 Jerry J. Bromenshenk et al., Iridovirus and Microsporidian Linked to Honey Bee Colony Decline. PLoS ONE 5(10): e13181 (2010) (paragraph split)

 

This group’s work is a small illustration of why science education and funding are important

 

It is easy for us to forget that, not so long ago, civilization did not have the methods or technology to investigate and beneficially direct the natural world.

 

Today’s generally anti-scientific American culture threatens to diminish our progress.

 

Biases that favor ignorance and magical thinking are difficult to teach and productively employ.