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2010-10-08 08:41:31
Over the past few years, there's been some panic over a dramatic decrease in
the world's honeybee population, an occurrence that has left many experts
scratching their heads. Now it appears as though part of the bee die-off
mystery has been solved.
As reported by Kirk Johnson of the New York Times, a somewhat odd pairing of
entomologists and military scientists has pinpointed likely culprits: a fungus
and a virus, both of which flourish in cool, wet environments. While scientists
aren't certain, they believe the fungus and virus work together to hamper the
insect's digestive system. Each is relatively harmless on its own, Johnson
says, but their combination is deadly.
[Video: Bees swarm Wall Street]
The findings by Army scientists in Maryland and bee experts in Montana are
outlined in a paper published by the Public Library of Science's PLoS One.
The honeybee die-off -- populations in the United States alone are believed to
have dropped 20 percent to 40 percent -- was a source of growing concern
because of the vital role bees play in the food chain. As a 2007 "60 Minutes"
report on the die-off noted, the bees are "crucial to the production of
one-third of the foods we eat" because of their role in pollination.
[You can help: How to design and plant a bee garden]
The phenomenon of entire beehives disappearing has come to be known as colony
collapse disorder.
Informed speculation previously blamed a host of factors for the die-off, such
as pesticides and the cell-phone-driven increase of radiation in the
atmosphere.
Though the identification of a cause is encouraging, scientists still find
reason for concern.
"I hope no one goes away with the idea that we've actually solved the problem,"
Jeff Pettis of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Agricultural Research
Service told MSNBC. "We still have a great deal of research to do to resolve
why bees are dying in the U.S. and elsewhere."