Pullman, Washington
April 24, 2008
Washington State University scientists and Pacific Northwest
beekeepers are joining forces to find out what is causing the
mysterious Colony Collapse Disorder that has wiped out thousands
of hives throughout the region over the past several years.
Two large beekeepers in the Pacific Northwest – Eric Olson of
Yakima and Tom Hamilton of Nampa, Idaho – have made donations as
seed money for the research. Noyes Apiaries in New Plymouth,
Idaho, the Idaho Honey Association and the Washington State
Beekeepers Registration Fund also have made contributions. With
those donations and dedicated funds from the WSU Agricultural
Research Center, researchers will spend nearly $200,000 over the
next two years to look at causes and possible treatments for the
disease.
“Hive health is critically important to the bee industry in
Washington, and bees are essential to pollinate many of our
important crops,” said Ralph Cavalieri, associate dean in the
WSU College of Agricultural, Human, and Natural Resource
Sciences and director of the Agricultural Research Center. “The
financial partnership with the beekeepers will bolster our
scientists’ work on this urgently important issue. This is a
great start.”
The Washington State Beekeepers Association estimates overall
statewide losses to the disease at between 35 percent and 50
percent in recent years. With eight of 10 of Washington’s most
valuable crops – including apples – being “bee dependent,”
Colony Collapse Disorder left unchecked could jeopardize the
state’s agricultural economy.
Olson, who lost 4,000 hives worth approximately $1.2 million
this spring, said investing in the research and paying for any
treatment that is found will be well worth the expense. “The
most expensive thing I have is a dead beehive,” he said.
Olson said the “smoking gun” for CCD appears to be Nosema
ceranae, a microsporidium that attacks the bee’s ability to
process food. WSU entomology professor Walter (Steve) Sheppard
agrees that Nosema is a likely culprit. The men are working on a
large-scale colony health survey that involves testing bees
every 30 days for several major pests and pathogens. They
started in January.
“We checked 24 hives in January, and it was stunning what we
saw,” Olson said, describing a Nosema build-up in a majority of
the bees sampled. He treated the hive with a mega-dose of the
antibiotic fumagillin. “That should have caused the Nosema to
either disappear or at least go down, but the levels went up,”
he said.
Richard Zack, chair of the WSU department of entomology, said
Colony Collapse Disorder is just the latest in a number of
factors that have threatened the bee-keeping industry for many
years.
“This is a long-term problem that started a number of years
ago,” he said. “The people who can provide commercial
pollinating services are disappearing, and if we solve this
specific problem, another one will come along. The goal of this
research is to build a program that can help the industry become
sustainable again no matter what happens in terms of disease,
nutrition and a thousand other factors.” |
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