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Colony collapse disorder (CCD)—the sudden and massive die-off of honeybees—has emerged as one of the most mysterious ecological disasters of the past several years, and one of the most expensive. Around the middle of the last decade, commercial beekeepers began to report that colonies of bees were collapsing without warning, with death rates approaching 30 [...]
From the Nature Is Scary file: researchers from San Francisco State University announced this week in a new study that honeybees are being turned into “zombies” by parasite flies. The fly—known as Apocephalus borealis—deposits its eggs inside the abdomen of a bee. The action is fatal for the bee, as fly larvae eventually hatch and [...]
Scientists call it the Beepocalyspe. (OK, not scientists, but I like to call it that.) In late 2006, whole hives of honey bees began dying overnight for reasons that are still unclear. Scientists called it colony-collapse disorder (CCD), and it’s as scary as it is mysterious. Adult bees simply leave the hive, ostensibly in search [...]
Bees have had it hard for the past few years. Ever since 2006, entomologists and other scientists in the U.S., Europe and Asia have been trying to figure out what’s causing wholesale deaths of of once-healthy hives—an epidemic that’s wiped out from 20% to 60% of colonies in the affected areas. Now, according to a [...]
