My shiny padlet by Cedric Doguiles

ARS Honey Bee Health

cedricdoguiles — 2023-11-20 02:31:13 UTC

Colony Collapse Disorder is comprised of a wide variety of problems with some problems making others more serious due to weakening the hive. Of these problems the infamous Varroa Mite which feed on the blood of bees weakens the colony and leaves the remaining workers at the mercy of other problems such as hive beetles. Large numbers of these beetles can lay an overwhelming number of eggs in unprotected combs at a time which builds their numbers so high that even strong colonies can be overwhelmed. Pesticides can serve as another death sentence to any hive, especially as the usage increases in areas around them.

Colony Collapse Disorder & Pollinator Health

cedricdoguiles — 2023-11-20 02:42:36 UTC

New diseases such as gut parasites or Acute Paralysis viruses are becoming an increasing problem that need more time and effort to address. The stress of the colony also plays a massive role in the health of the workers overall which is directly affected by mismanagement and practices that try to provide pollination services. These changes in environment make it much harder for the colony to prosper and oftentimes leads to low nutrition and as a result poorer health.

Scishow Colony Collapse Disorder

cedricdoguiles — 2023-11-20 02:54:29 UTC

Economically, bees are one of, if not the most important aspect of modern agriculture with one third of the food that we eat being directly or indirectly pollinated by honey bees and a massive portion of our almond trees alone are supported by honey bee pollination. A collapsed colony will most often show itself as a nearly empty hive devoid of even worker corpses with just a queen, her brood, and maybe some leftover honey. While varroa mites that are found inside the hive are thought to be the main suspect, a wide variety of problems working together is more likely as many pesticides that include neonics made a bee 2-3 times more likely to die messing with their homing capabilities.

The Worsening of CCD in 2023

cedricdoguiles — 2023-11-20 03:02:49 UTC

While Colony Collapse Disorder has been researched for years, the common understanding that Varroa mites and their increasing resistance to chemical treatment was the main culprit, however bloodborne diseases spread by the mites seem to be playing a much bigger role in more recent studies. These diseases and worsening problems caused by climate change such as hurricanes, droughts, and floods increasingly seen all over the world is not helping bees cope. Losses of hives all around the country during the annual almond pollination in California seemed to have doubled, and Hurricane Ian in Florida gave the state it's own array of problems. Yet, he recent cause for the Winter damage of early 2023 is not entirely known despite the growing understanding of CCD.

CCD and bee age impact on honey

cedricdoguiles — 2023-11-20 03:12:31 UTC

A study centered around the differences of colonies affected by CCD and healthy colonies with intense focus on the symptoms of ailing bees in contrast to normal aging. Water regulation was shown to be greatly impacted by CCD affected colonies with a variety of other symptoms that are unique compared to aging such as the fecal quality, venom sac color, and other various anatomical differences. These unique biomarkers can help identify which colonies are in the early stages of CCD to make management of the problem easier and more effective.