#2392884 - 05/14/11 05:43 PM
Your cell phone may be killing the honeybees
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Locksley
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Your cell phone may be killing the honeybees
By Mike Wehner – Fri May 13, 8:23 pm ET
The world's population of honeybees is dwindling, and for years scientists have been trying to discover the cause. Bee researcher Dr. Daniel Favre thinks he may have found the problem, and you, dear reader, might be part of it. The doctor believes that mobile phones may be a major factor in bee colony decline, leading to massive population issues within the species.
His theory is based on several studies he conducted using cell devices placed under beehives. In the course of testing, the researchers observed how the insects reacted when the phone was off, in standby mode, and active. It was found that when the phone was actively transmitting a signal, the bees behaved wildly, letting off alerts that are normally used during swarming. The bees in the study did not actually create a swarm, and within minutes of the phones being deactivated the hive had calmed down. But Favre believes if cell phone signals are in fact causing the bees to act in a hostile manner, it could lead them to abandon their hives.
The evidence, while interesting, doesn't fully explain the growing number of collapsed colonies. For example, many colonies in trouble are located far from any kind of mobile phone activity. There are also other theories on the table as to why the bees are having a hard time, including pesticides and even parasitic mites. But if mobile technology ends up being the culprit, will you be willing to abandon your phone to enjoy some honey?
http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_technews/2...W91cmNlbGxwaG9u
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To know wisdom and instruction; to perceive the words of understanding;"The greatest pain a man can suffer is to have knowledge of much, and power over nothing" - Herodotus
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#2393090 - 05/14/11 09:22 PM
Re: Your cell phone may be killing the honeybees
[Re: Locksley]
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Rob R.
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Registered: 04/25/11
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I'm curious. When did the bee population start dwindling? When did serious numbers of cell phones come into existence?
I'll be sure and not lay my cell phone around any bee hives.
But I may duct tape my cell phone near a wasp nest and see what happens!!
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The four most wonderful words in the English language.....Take me hunting daddy!
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#2393168 - 05/14/11 10:35 PM
Re: Your cell phone may be killing the honeybees
[Re: Rob R.]
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Locksley
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Loc: Antioch TN
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our cell phone may be killing the honeybees
The world’s population of honeybees is dwindling, and for years scientists have been trying to discover the cause. Bee researcher Dr. Daniel Favre thinks he may have found the problem, and you, dear reader, might be part of it. The doctor believes that mobile phones may be a major factor in bee colony decline, leading to massive population issues within the species.
His theory is based on several studies he conducted using cell devices placed under beehives. In the course of testing, the researchers observed how the insects reacted when the phone was off, in standby mode, and active. It was found that when the phone was actively transmitting a signal, the bees behaved wildly, letting off alerts that are normally used during swarming. The bees in the study did not actually create a swarm, and within minutes of the phones being deactivated the hive had calmed down. But Favre believes if cell phone signals are in fact causing the bees to act in a hostile manner, it could lead them to abandon their hives.
The evidence, while interesting, doesn’t fully explain the growing number of collapsed colonies. For example, many colonies in trouble are located far from any kind of mobile phone activity. There are also other theories on the table as to why the bees are having a hard time, including pesticides and even parasitic mites. But if mobile technology ends up being the culprit, will you be willing to abandon your phone to enjoy some honey?
http://tigersmack.com/your-cell-phone-ma...ck+(TigerSmack)
_________________________
To know wisdom and instruction; to perceive the words of understanding;"The greatest pain a man can suffer is to have knowledge of much, and power over nothing" - Herodotus
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#2393170 - 05/14/11 10:37 PM
Re: Your cell phone may be killing the honeybees
[Re: Locksley]
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Locksley
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Loc: Antioch TN
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Bee Decline May Spell End of Some Fruits, Vegetables
John Roach
for National Geographic News
October 5, 2004
Bees, via pollination, are responsible for 15 to 30 percent of the food U.S. consumers eat. But in the last 50 years the domesticated honeybee population—which most farmers depend on for pollination—has declined by about 50 percent, scientists say.
Unless actions are taken to slow the decline of domesticated honeybees and augment their populations with wild bees, many fruits and vegetables may disappear from the food supply, said Claire Kremen, a conservation biologist at Princeton University in New Jersey.
Anecdotes of farmers losing their crops owing to the honeybee shortage appear to be on the increase, Kremen said. Last February, for example, there were insufficient honeybees for all the almond blossoms in California. As a result some farmers failed to meet expected yields.
"There are shortages [like this] that pop up from time to time," Kremen said. "Whether there are more [shortages] than there were 20 years ago, one would guess yes, as there are fewer bees to go around, but it's not well documented."
Maryann Frazier, a senior extension associate in the department of entomology with Pennsylvania State University in State College, said honeybee shortages are not yet impacting commercial producers of crops, but that community farmers "are struggling to get bees for pollination."
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/10/1005_041005_honeybees.html
_________________________
To know wisdom and instruction; to perceive the words of understanding;"The greatest pain a man can suffer is to have knowledge of much, and power over nothing" - Herodotus
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#2393171 - 05/14/11 10:38 PM
Re: Your cell phone may be killing the honeybees
[Re: Locksley]
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Locksley
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Loc: Antioch TN
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Abstract
Honey bees are very important insects for human food production. One-third of the food consumed by humans is pollinated by honey bees, many of them fruits and vegetables. The service of honey bees is valued at $14 billion. Recent declines in honey bee populations, referred to as Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD), have scientists, beekeepers, and farmers searching for causes of the decline. The honey bees leave to forage and do not return to the hive, disappearing entirely. Finding the cause of the decline is important both to the beekeepers, whose livelihood is trucking bees around the country to pollinate crops at the needed time, and to farmers, who depend on the honey bees to ensure all their crops are pollinated. Migratory beekeepers have seen the greatest decline in colony numbers because trucking the hives around the country creates problems. Exposing the hives to thousands of other hives and other areas of the country increases the chances of spreading diseases, pests, and bacteria that other hives carry. It also limits the diets of the bees and exposes them to numerous pesticides. Research has shown that certain pesticides, neonicotinoids, are especially detrimental to the coordination and foraging abilities of honey bees. Even in laboratory studies about exposure levels of honey bees to neonicotinoids, the honey bees did not return to the hive or to the trained place of foraging.
Symptoms of Colony Collapse Disorder
Symptoms of CCD in collapsed colonies (Bee Alert Technology, 2007).
The complete absence of adult bees in colonies, with no or little build up of dead bees in the colonies or in front of those colonies.
The presence of capped brood in colonies.
The presence of food stores, both honey and bee bread,
I. which is not immediately robbed by other bees.
II. attacks from hive pests such as the wax moth and small hive beetle are noticeably delayed.
Symptoms of CCD in colonies actively collapsing (Bee Alert Technology, 2007).
An insufficient workforce to maintain the brood that is present.
The workforce seems to be made up of young adult bees.
The queen is present.
The cluster is reluctant to consume provided feed, such as sugar syrup and protein supplement.
http://kanat.jsc.vsc.edu/student/lees/maincontent.htm
_________________________
To know wisdom and instruction; to perceive the words of understanding;"The greatest pain a man can suffer is to have knowledge of much, and power over nothing" - Herodotus
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#2393172 - 05/14/11 10:41 PM
Re: Your cell phone may be killing the honeybees
[Re: Locksley]
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Locksley
16 Point
Registered: 10/23/01
Posts: 19450
Loc: Antioch TN
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Declining Bee Population Threatens Major Growers
by JOHN NIELSEN
October 18, 2006
The busy bee may be a cliche. But it turns out that bees are very busy on the world's farms, pollinating many of the fruits, vegetables and nuts we eat.
But a major report from the National Academies says bees and other important pollinators are losing out to development and disease. The report's authors warn the losses could have a big impact on some farmers, such as the almond growers of Central California.
Growers there depend on commercial beekeepers to produce their billion-pound nut crop, which is among the state's most valuable agricultural product.
A Beekeeper's Best Friend
Beekeeper Gene Brandi stores some of colonies in large white boxes not far from a sprawling almond orchard near Los Banos.
Last spring, his bees spread pollen from tree to tree in the orchard. Now, giant harvesting machines are moving through the orchard, shaking trees with a crab-like craw and making the nuts spill down to the ground.
Recently, Brandi was getting his hives ready for the winter. He wore a big round hat with mesh that kept the honeybees off his face. To keep the bees calm, he shot puffs of dark gray smoke into the hives, after dropping matches into a beat-up metal box called a smoker. "The smoker is the beekeeper's best friend, other than the bees themselves," he said.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6299480
_________________________
To know wisdom and instruction; to perceive the words of understanding;"The greatest pain a man can suffer is to have knowledge of much, and power over nothing" - Herodotus
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#2393173 - 05/14/11 10:47 PM
Re: Your cell phone may be killing the honeybees
[Re: Locksley]
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Locksley
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Registered: 10/23/01
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Decline of bees, UK and worldwide
The Kompetenz initiative writes urgently to bee associations and beekeepers and explains about EM fields and bee colony collapse
Birds, Bees and Mankind: Destroying nature by ‘electrosmog’, Ulrich Warnke. A very significant researched publication, translated from the German, 2008.
HAARP Transmissions May Accidentally be Jamming Bees Homing Ability, Guy Cramer, 2007
(more on HAARP, what it is and why it presents a hazard)
‘Honeybees will die out in Britain within a decade as virulent diseases and parasites spread through the nation’s hives, experts have warned. Whole colonies of bees are already being wiped out, with current methods of pest control unable to stop the problem.
‘The British Beekeepers Association (BBKA) said that if the crisis continued, honeybees would disappear completely from Britain by 2018, causing “calamitous” economic and environmental problems. ... Last year, more than 11 per cent of all beehives inspected were wiped out, although losses were higher in some areas. In London, about 4,000 hives – two-thirds of the bee colonies in the capital – were estimated to have died over last winter. Of the eight colonies inspected so far this year, all have been wiped out. ...’
Summary
Massive and sudden declines have occurred in bee populations across the world in 2006-2007. Honeybees sustain agriculture through pollination so human food supply depends on their well-being.
Sudden and wholesale loss of bee colonies is described as Colony Collapse Disorder, but does not explain the reason. Primary reasons suggested, and sometimes in the past confirmed, include parasitic mites and consequent viruses. More recently pesticides, GM crop use and climate change have been suggested. However, as this page seeks to demonstrate, the electromagnetic environment is also crucially influential on honeybees, and is undergoing rapid and enormous change from human communications systems.
Infestations such as the varroa mite can be tested for quickly and easily, and could confirm this as the current cause, but this has not been reported this time.
Pesticide use has not been suddenly altered across the world (Switzerland, Poland, Italy, Germany, Greece, the UK and 24 states of the USA).
Agricultural methods are more intensive: hives may be fumigated, electric fan-ventilated, permanently illuminated, bees fed on the wrong sugar solutions over winter, and grown to be over-sized.
GM crops have been introduced, and not always as openly as some would like. These indeed can affect insect balance, but again this has not been evenly building across all the affected areas and would be more localised.
Climate change is undoubtedly altering plant diversity and honeybees can be very specific, but this would suggest more gradual population density movements rather than disappearance.
The sudden declines are marked by bee disappearance rather than just hives full of dead and diseased bees. The empty hives are not plundered by neighbouring colonies and other insects are not filling the pollination gap. This leaves two further possibilities:
the hives are acting as a deterrent to bee return
the bees are losing the ability to navigate or communicate.
Nothing in the bees, hives or honey is pointing to chemical toxicity or bio-predation. Since the studies lower down this page show that honeybees depend on natural electric and magnetic fields, and that they are frequency-specific in their communications, it is urgent that this line of enquiry is opened up.
http://www.hese-project.org/hese-uk/en/issues/nature.php?id=bees
Cellphone transmissions may be responsible for a mysterious, worldwide die off in bees that has mystified scientists. Dr. Daniel Favre, a former biologist with the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne, Switzerland, carefully placed a mobile phone underneath a beehive and then monitored the reaction of the workers. According to a story in The Daily Mail, the bees were able to tell when the handsets were making and receiving calls. They responded by making the high pitched squeaks that usually signal the start of swarming. "This study shows that the presence of an active mobile phone disturbs bees -- and has a dramatic effect," Favre told the Daily Mail. Favre believes this to be evidence of something other scientists have suggested: Signals from mobile phones are contributing to the decline of honeybees. Favre thinks more research could help confirm the link between cell signals and "colony collapse disorder" -- the sudden disappearance of entire colonies over winter -- which has halved the bee population, according to some estimates. R http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2011/05/1.../#ixzz1MGuwVwX6
http://www.tndeer.com/tndeertalk/ubbthre...lat&fpart=1&q=1
Edited by Locksley (05/14/11 10:52 PM)
_________________________
To know wisdom and instruction; to perceive the words of understanding;"The greatest pain a man can suffer is to have knowledge of much, and power over nothing" - Herodotus
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#2394963 - 05/16/11 09:01 PM
Re: Your cell phone may be killing the honeybees
[Re: Locksley]
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Locksley
16 Point
Registered: 10/23/01
Posts: 19450
Loc: Antioch TN
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This story was on the news tonight in Nashville TN.
_________________________
To know wisdom and instruction; to perceive the words of understanding;"The greatest pain a man can suffer is to have knowledge of much, and power over nothing" - Herodotus
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