Usually I write the story but since this one is already posted on-line I thought it'd be more effective to bring it to your attention and link to it.The article on the BBC News, UK web site talks about how scientists are discovering that bees' immune systems don't do well when they forage from just a single pollen source. They need diversity.
It makes sense. We know that our health is usually better when we consume a variety of foods - it's part of good nutrition.
Anyway, here's the article.
What are your impressions? In North America especially we've gone monoculture crazy.... Can you imagine what it would take for us to switch and diversify?
In my area, southwestern Ontario, most farmers are sowing corn to make ethanol and bees don't forage that corn - so all those fields that used to have other types of pollen plants are now put to corn.
2 comments:
Thanks for posting the link, Barbara. It's interesting to see this new research on a theme which has been doing the rounds for a while. For sure it's a complex issue. I keep bees in London (no monoculture problems here in such a big city!), and colony loss stories here are common as they are elsewhere, though I don't think there's data of good enough quality for proper comparative studies. It does make sense that monoculture is one contributory factor to honey bees decline, but what's so depressing is that there seems to be so many other causes too.
Have you had a chance to see the film "Nicotine Bees?" It makes a compelling argument that neonicotinoids (synthetic nicotine that is taken up systemically by corn and other industrialized ag plants) are the main culprit for colony collapse disorder. A friend did an informal study, measuring his hives near corn vs. his forest hives, and the forest hives outperformed the "farm" hives dramatically.
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