Mysterious Disappearance of Honeybee colonies

-By Pritam Kashyap, Bsc.Botany (hons.), ANDC, University of Delhi

W hat will happen if the bees are gone? Cretaceous period was the
time when these small tiny little creatures came on planet earth. Their stings
usually bring these insects to our attention. These social insects belong to a very
large order that is Hymenoptera literally means Membrane Wings and these
wings are joined together by the Hamuli. This order, comprising of 115,000
species, and includes wasps, ants, parasitic wasps, honey bee, hornets, bumble bee,
sawflies and horntails. In 115,000 species 30,000 are species of honey bees
discovered so far. Bees live in swarms and show a classic example of division of
labor in colony (eusocial insects). A single hive can have up to 80,000 bees. The
hive is governed by the queen bee and queen bee only lays eggs in the hive. Queen
bee is so special in the swarm she is larger and attractive than other bees in the
colony. She keeps all the bees united together by secreting Pheromone from her
mandibular glands and she also take a check that no other bees lay eggs in the
colony other than her. Drones the male bees dont have sting and they are the
laziest in the colony their purpose is only to mate with the queen and feed
themselves. Lazy is apt for them because they dont even take care of their child
and cant even protect them from predators. But to Gods mercy their number is
less and depends upon the colony size. Be busy as bees these words are only
suitable to the worker bees present in the hive colony. The worker bees are sterile
but they have needle like sting which protects the baby bees and males from
predators not only guarding the colony is their main aim but they also take care of
the babies and do all the hard work like collecting honey and pollen , making royal
jelly , cleaning and storing the useful products for future purpose. Bee hive is
hexagonal in shape this shows a great usage of geometry, area and perimeter
concepts in mathematics not only this, for protection of their hive from natural
climatic conditions they make their hive of Palmitic acid & Myricyl alcohol a
wax substance which act as barrier to the entry of water and leakage of honey
from the hive. Even in the rainfall all the bees are united together and they dont
even move an inch or centimeter from there colony to protect the queen and
developing young babies. This shows a great example of parental care in bees and
shows being small doesnt matter at all.
Now the question is that these tiny little creatures, How they survive on planet
earth? Many of us would know the answers but I doubt still. If you all know how
they survive you will also know what these creatures eat? I think that may be these
little creatures eat pizza in their snack and ice -cream in desert and in morning
they go for skimmed milk with a piece of toast and butter. If you all know what
they eat and where they live then what we are doing in the present era we are just
creating a terrific problem for them by lot and lot of destruction to their habitat and
this impacts loss of food for them and loss of place to live. One day I heard an
anonymous door bell and I looked up and down and found no one but suddenly I
heard the word, Hello my dear! I am HONEY BEE I came from New York in
search of food and I feel thirsty and hungry would you please feed me and
thousands of friend bees and please dont mind us, we would use your home for
staying in it and dont mind we would take money from you for shopping of clothes
dont thing that just to buy few ounces of honey and royal jelly for our survival.
While reading this I found it funny but it is going to be a fact in the near future and
a day will come when the words of Albert Einstein will be apt for everyone. He
said If the bees disappeared off the surface of the globe then man would only have
four years of life left. No more bees, no more pollination, no more plants, no more
animals, no more man. He told this fact in late 19th century and today is 21st
century somehow 2-millennium has passed and we are still incautious and
heedless. We dont have time for them and why do we show sympathy on these
bees, we will destroy them and we are ready to face the consequences, but we
dont know the reality. Honey bees are not present world-wide. It is less present or
absent in extremely cold areas like Antarctica, Upper Russia, Arctic, Iceland and
Greenland and some of their species are becoming extinct from the world without
our awareness.
Bees are of many types like Solitary Bees (e.g. Blue Orchard and Japanese Horn
faced), Mining Bees, Leafcutter, Mason Bees, Honey Bees, Bumblebees, Stingless
Bees, Plasterer, Yellow-faced Bees, Digger Bees ,Carpenter Bees, Sweat Bees etc.
and all of them are of inestimable value as they help in Cross-Pollination, provide
Honey, Bee wax, Royal jelly, Bee pollen, Bee bread, Propolis or Bee glue and
many plants are entirely dependent on particular kinds of bees for their
reproduction such as Ophrys bombyliflora or the Bumblebee Orchid, which is
pollinated by the Bumblebee, and many other plants like Red Clover etc. Bees are
not only beneficial for commercial purpose but also play a major role in ecology
and they are also in some extent, indicators of air pollution. Researcher from Lund
University (Sweden) have discovered thirteen lactic acid bacteria in the gut of
honey bees and these bacteria mixed into honey, has healed horses with persistent
wounds. Scientists have now suggested that bacteria from bees can be a possible
alternative to antibiotics in the coming years. Agriculture, Horticulture depends
greatly on the honeybees and we all are dependent on bees. With the disappearance
of honey bees, not only farmers and vendors will suffer we all will suffer and die a
dreadful death. Honeybees account for 75-80% of all insect pollination and many
plants are designed that only bee sound can make them bloom and bees can
transfer pollen of one flower to another. Many plants like avocados, soybeans,
sunflowers, apples, almonds etc. depend on them for growth and reproduction. One
of the dynamic features of honey bees are that it also reproduces by a process
called parthenogenesis. It is a natural process in which embryo is formed without
fertilization of ovum. Kenneth G. Eade says, A honey bee queen lays fertilized
female eggs using sperm stored from her mating partner i.e. drones. Only the male
drone eggs which she lays are produced by parthenogenesis, without fertilization.
Drones have a grandfather but not a father. Thelytoky, a type of parthenogenesis,
is seen in Apis mellifera capensis (Cape honey bee). In this process Cape honey
bee workers (sterile) can lay female eggs i.e. females are produced from
unfertilized eggs. Researchers in Brazils have discovered that stingless bee
(Scaptotrigona depilis) feeds its larvae on a special type of fungus grown in the
hive. These bees do not survive without the fungus," says Cristiano Menezes of
the Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (EMBRAPA). This means that if
the bees larvae dont feed on that fungus they will not be able to reproduce and
their species will also vanish this is an example of co-extinction and bee-fungi
relationship is truly symbiotic in nature. This discovery marks the first such
relationship between the social insect bee and fungus and it also create a concern
about the use of fungicides in agriculture field. Bees are economically and
ecologically important creatures and yet they are more prone to extinction than any
other groups of insects on the living planet earth. They are sensitive and unfamiliar
of human impacts to nature. It is good to change the lifestyle and habit for us. But
why we are changing the lifestyle of nature because we are able to adapt to the
change and we can even maintain homeostats so we think everyone can change, we
think these insects can adapt to the change but they are to dying in nature due to
many factors and one of them is Colony collapse disorder (CCD).
When the healthy worker bees disappear from the colony and leave behind
immature bees (underdeveloped young bees), food (honey) and the elegant,
charming queen bee. Now there is no one to take care of the queen and the baby
bees. They also die and thus a colony disappears suddenly. CCD is affecting a
majority of the honey bee hives that we rely on for this nations crop production.
Another reason is the dreadful virus mite named Varroa mites which is affecting
large number of bee populations to some extent. A fungus normally used to control
insect pests may help honey bees protect themselves from a destructive mite by
both infecting the mites and preventing suppression of the bee immune system,
says a Team of Bee researchers, University of Guelph. A pesticide named
Coumaphos, which is made of neonicotinoids that was developed in the mid-
1990s to kill other insects is now a threat to Honey bees. Other pesticides like
Imidacloprid, Thiamethoxam, Clothianidin, Thiacloprid, Acetamiprid and Fipronil
belong to life threating insecticides for honeybee colonies.
If we lose these pollinators, we face crisis of food and life on planet earth.
Therefore it is really important to do something to not let it happen. Another factor
which is a cause of bee decline might be mobile phone signals. This factor was
observed in Germany and Russia. When bees are exposed to signals from cell
phones, they can't find their way. They get no nutrition and consequently die," said
Dr. George Carlo. Many scientists also worked on air pollution components like
nitric oxide and its related components. This pollution alters the components of a
synthetic floral odor blend, which affects the honeybees recognition of the odor.
Like a flower produces a sweet aroma and there is heavy pollution in the
environment, this would suppress the aroma of the flower and now the bee will be
confused and not pollinate the plant due to excess of pollution in the environment.
This could have serious detrimental effects on the number of honeybee colonies
and pollination activity.
Neonicotinoids and Fipronil should not be used in agricultural field as they affect
and kill bee species. Encouragement on the use of Entomopathogenic Fungi as it
could be an effective, biologically-based control method to save bee from dreadful
Varroa mites. Things we can do to Help to Save Bees are: Stop using
insecticides, Plant Bee-friendly plants, use organic foods, Create natural habitat
gardens, Find out about bees, Support your local beekeepers, Make your own 'Wild
bee' house, Become a beekeeper, Sign petitions banning pesticides, Encourage
your local authority to do more to help bees. We need to spread awareness of the
depletion of the honey bees in the world and bees are dying out in rapid scale. Our
lives greatly depend on honey bees and we would cease to exist without them. I
will end by Rachel Carsons quote Along the roads laurel, viburnum, and alder,
great ferns and wild flowers delighted the travelers eyes Then a strange blight
crept over the area and everything began to change. Some evil spell had settled in
the community ... everywhere was a shadow of death.