Community | January 09, 2012 | 8 comments

"Zom-bees Take Flight"

source: http://www.montereycountyweekly.com/weblogs/animal-blog/2012/jan/05/zom-bees-take-flight/

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ampersand
If you were looking for more evidence of apocalyptic doom in the early days of 2012, listen for a buzzing noise.
San Francisco biologists published findings Jan. 3 revealing that more than three quarters of honey bee hives sampled in the San Francisco Bay area tested positive for a deadly parasite; the fateful Apocephalus borealis fly was also detected in commercial hives near Bakersfield and as far away as South Dakota.

The parasite, a small fly, embeds its eggs into a bee's abdomen. Then a week after the infected bees die, larvae hatch and emerge from their bellies, adding to the self-propagating zombie-like dimension of this narrative.

Infected bees, which media reports have dubbed "zom-bees," become extremely disoriented. They abandon their hives—often at night although bees aren't normally noctural—and flutter toward lights, where they remain stranded until they die. Researchers first found infected, stranded worker bees within light fixtures on the campus of San Francisco State University.

Infected bees also lost their equilibrium, and became unable to stand on their legs or began walking in circles, according to the study, published in the scientific journal PLoS ONE.

Researchers say it's probable that the parasitic flies have long been present at low levels in hives, but speculate that "something has happened recently that has increased density making [the flies] an emerging threat."

The study could provide a key piece of the puzzle in explaining Colony Collapse Disorder, which has decimated some hives across the country, with beekeepers reporting losses of 30 to 90 percent over the past five years.
http://www.montereycountyweekly.com/weblogs/animal-blog/2012/jan/05/zom-bees-tak...
  1. groups:
    Community,   News and Politics,   Green,   Science,   7 more
  2. tags:
    Colony Collapse Disorder,  Honey Bees
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8 comments // "Zom-bees Take Flight"

  • artemis6
  • Gravity_Man
    • +1
      Gravity_Man  

    • Flies being able to grow inside the stomach happens to people as well as Bees. It's a shortage of Enzymes, that's all. Low Enzymes.

      Nothing to see here => Move Along.

    • 5 months ago
  • remanns
  • ampersand
    • +1
      ampersand  
    • remanns:

      Perhaps just the end of some worlds.
      This may be huge dent in commercial crop production if they can't find and remedy the cause, but, as noted before, the local native bees (at least in my corner of the world) are doing fine.
      However, it has been a phenomenally blazing warm and dry winter and some flowers and fruits here are budding in January--which is freaky.
      That doesn't auger well if there is a sudden cold snap, or the odd lack of rain continues through the next few months.

    • 5 months ago
  • ampersand
    • +1
      ampersand  

    • The cause of the surge in presence of the parasitic fly in honey bee hives hasn't been identified. Many observers postulate that GMO crops and/or herbicides contribute to the weakening of the immune resistance of the the honey bee.
      I couldn't tell from the article if the fly parasite was also gaining ground in native bees as well as in the commercial European hone ybee hives.

    • 5 months ago
  • artemis6
    • 0
      artemis6  
    • ampersand:

      There is a book called " parasite rex " that is very illuminating as to how very big an impact parasites have on evolution and bio-systems in general . Quite a good read .

    • 5 months ago
  • ampersand
  • artemis6
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