[Photo by da100fotos]
CLR INTERVIEW: Rowan Jacobsen is an environmental writer living in Vermont. His most recent book is Fruitless Fall, an investigation into the collapse of honeybee colonies throughout the world. Below is Rowan’s interview with the California Literary Review.
- Fruitless Fall: The Collapse of the Honey Bee and the Coming Agricultural Crisis
- Bloomsbury USA, 288 pp.
For those of us who weren’t paying close attention during biology class, would you give us an overview of flowers, fruit and the role of bees?
Flowers are the sexual organs of plants. Most contain both pollen (plant sperm) and ovaries. For a plant to reproduce, it needs to somehow transfer its pollen to the ovaries of another member of the same species. For hundreds of millions of years, plants used the wind to do this. It’s like Internet spam: send hundreds of millions of flyweight grains of pollen in all directions, hoping that just one or two finds its way by chance to the right ovary. Many plants, such as pine and birch trees and the dreaded ragweed, still use wind pollination.
But about a hundred million years ago, one class of plants hit upon a revolutionary idea: Why not use insects to transport the pollen instead of wind? That way, you can make much bigger, heavier, more sophisticated pollen packages. And you can make far fewer of them if you can rely on the insects to travel more or less directly to another flower of your species. The showy flowers we see all around us are the strategy for making that happen: They are designed to attract insects through form, color, and scent, and they have wells of nectar for the insects to drink when they visit. The insects swoop in for a few pints, get sticky pollen all over their hairy bodies, and inadvertently transfer some of this pollen to the next flower they visit. Wham, bam, thank you, ma’am. The fertilized seed becomes a fruit or nut.
Bees are the world’s pollination masters; they have developed sophisticated sensory apparatus for finding flowers, special bodies designed to collect and transport pollen, and complex social intelligence that allows them to share information and allocate their resources so that a single hive of honeybees can cross-pollinate 25 million flowers in a single day. A good bit of the flowering world (and the animals that rely on the fruits made by this flowering world) have come to depend on them.
Rowan Jacobsen, author of Fruitless Fall
What is CCD? When did it start, and what is the current status of honeybee colonies throughout the world?
Colony Collapse Disorder first showed up in the fall of 2006, though there were a few signs of it in 2005. Honeybee populations, which had been slowly declining for decades, suddenly fell off a cliff. 31 percent of America’s honeybees died that winter, and another 36 percent died last winter. The situation is similar in most other developed countries. No one knows what is causing CCD, though there are a few leading suspects.
What would happen to us if honeybees were to completely die off?
More than 100 crops, about a third of the calories we eat, require cross-pollination by honeybees. The grain staples such as corn, rice, and oats are wind-pollinated, but most of the stuff that adds color to our plates and vitamins and antioxidants to our diets—apples, pears, blueberries, cherries, raspberries, plums, melons, cucumbers, zucchini, almonds, macadamia nuts, and so on—would disappear. Plants like lettuce, carrots, broccoli, and onions, which don’t make edible fruits but need to make seeds for next year’s supply, also rely on bees. Bees also cross-pollinate the forage crops, like alfalfa and clover, that are vital to many dairying and beef cattle operations. And don’t forget honey, of course.
What would be the effect on human civilization? Are we talking mass starvation?
No mass starvation, because the grains that make up the bulk of our diet are not at risk. (Wind-pollinated.) So we’d have corn, bread, oatmeal, etc. And certain fruits, such as grapes, are wind-pollinated or self-fertilizing. And then there’s human pollination, as they’re doing in China. (Take millions of peasants, hand them bundles of chicken feathers, and let them climb through the fruit trees, touching every flower with a bit of pollen from a bucket.) What we’d have is extraordinarily high prices for most of the fruits and vegetables that provide our vitamins and antioxidants, if they could be found at all. And the beef and dairy industry, as Michael Pollan has pointed out, is switching more and more away from natural forage to corn, even though corn makes cattle sick, because it’s cheaper to feed corn and administer antibiotics to sick cattle than it is to use nature pasture. So we’d still have a beef industry, though a freaky one.
But honeybees aren’t on the edge of going extinct. They are, however, on the edge of not being able to provide all the pollination we’ve asked of them.
We’ve read about two possible suspects causing CCD. To start, what do we know about the effect of cell phone towers on bees?
A red herring. This started with a German study of the effect upon bees of electromagnetic radiation produced by cordless phones. The researchers stuck the bases of cordless phones directly into beehives and turned them on. The hives with cordless phone bases in them didn’t prosper as much as the hives that didn’t have cordless bases, but this is kind of like saying “homes with industrial power plants in the living rooms didn’t do as well as normal homes.” The subject of this study then got mistranslated into English as “cell phones” and the media and Internet ran wild with it.
The other possibility that has gotten a lot of press is genetically modified crops…
Nope. There’s no correlation between CCD and areas of the country using lots of GMOs. Most GMO crops are not bee-pollinated anyway. In one study that I’ve seen, bees were forced to eat nothing but GMO corn pollen for thirty-five days, and they came out of the study in robust good health.
So based on your research, what do you think is the cause of CCD?
A new class of pesticides called neonicotinoids may well be involved. These pesticides have revolutionized the world of pesticides and are now the most popular on the planet. They are systemics—you coat seeds with them, then the pesticide manifests throughout the growing plant. It can’t be washed off. This is great for farmers, but terrible for bees that get their food from the flowers of the plant. Bee die-offs around the world seem to coincide somewhat with the introduction of neonicotinoids. Now France, Germany, and Italy have banned the chemicals to protect their honeybees.
But the situation is complicated. France first banned some neonicotinoids in 1999, and its bee populations have not improved significantly. And the U.S. maps of cases of CCD and use of neonicotinoids don’t align that well. A recent study of pesticide residues in beehives found 43 different pesticides present, with neonicotinoids down near the bottom. So the bigger conclusion is that we have soaked our landscape in toxic chemicals, many of which can interact to form even more toxic compounds, and there is absolutely no regulation or testing of this mixing. Most beekeepers and researchers I’ve spoken with believe pesticides are one factor, working in conjunction with introduced parasites, viruses, bacteria, and fungi, and quite possibly with deteriorating living conditions for bees. (Poor quality food, too many hours on the backs of flatbeds traveling to the next pollination job, etc.) Bees could handle one or two of these stressors, but not all of them.
On a Connecticut highway, bees being transported by truck for pollination.
[Photo by Emmett Pepper]
Are bees the only insect pollinators? Are other pollinators in trouble?
There are 4,000 species of bees in the United States alone, and thousands of other pollinators, such as flies, beetles, hummingbirds, and even bats. But only honeybees come in convenient, transportable boxes of 50,000 individuals. Our industrial system of agriculture depends on them, and will for the foreseeable future, though moving some of our eggs out of that one basket, and starting to work with other pollinators, is an excellent plan. Evidence is spotty, but it seems like the populations of most wild pollinators are declining, primarily due to habitat loss.
There’s an interesting character in your book named Kirk Webster. Would you tell us a little about him and explain how his philosophy might offer a solution to what’s ailing bees?
Two decades ago, honeybees faced a tremendous threat from the introduction of the varroa mite, an Asian parasite of honeybees. The mites infest hives, sinking fangs into the bees (especially the larvae and pupae), which introduces diseases and reduces their lifespans. To battle the mites, the beekeeping industry came up with some pesticides that could be introduced to the hives. It killed most of the mites, but it also sickened the bees. But beekeepers felt like they had no choice. Well, guess what? The surviving mites quickly developed pesticide-resistant offspring, and within a few short years the mites were virtually immune to the chemicals. Since then, beekeepers have raced to find new chemical cocktails to kill the mites.
Kirk Webster practices holistic beekeeping in Vermont. His specialty is queen breeding, so he wanted no part of the mite treatments, which destroy the fertility of drones (male bees) and queens. He understood that the more we used chemicals to try to treat bees’ ills, the less the bees were going to have to come up with their own solutions, which would be more sustainable (and cheaper!) in the long run. So he simply stopped using chemical treatments of any kind and let 90+ percent of his bees die. Then he took the few survivors, who happened to have some genetic resistance to the mites, and bred them together. Basically, he did to the mites exactly what the mites had done to the beekeepers. After the better part of a decade he had developed lines of bees with strong natural mite resistance. They also seemed to be more resilient toward other factors. They are supremely good survivors, and they are wildly in demand. And all Kirk had to do was go without income for a decade to get there! This is just one area where we can find the answers to problems within natural systems, or impose them from without, which is always a short-term fix.
If you were appointed the world’s “Honeybee Czar” what actions would you take to protect the honeybee?
I’d provide funding for research programs into breeding a more resilient bee. For decades the honeybee industry has been woefully underfunded. And I’d require much stricter testing of pesticides before the EPA approves them. You wouldn’t believe how rudimentary the current testing is. (It’s also all self-reported by the pesticide makers.) But one of the best worldwide things I could do would be to support the development of programs for people to develop industries for their native pollinators. Part of the problem is that we’ve put all our eggs in this one basket, which is never the way it was supposed to be. Many other types of bees make promising pollination partners, including the various bumblebees, the blue orchard bee, and the Asian honeybee. We need much more diversity and resilience in this particular system.
Related articles:
Follow the California Literary Review on Twitter: @calitreview
November 5th, 2008 at 8:53 am
I absolutely agree that pesticides are largely to blame for the current woes of the honeybee. I would only add that Bayer should be forced to pay for the damage it has already done, not only to bees, but to all the other species of insects and birds and soil organisms that its toxic cra*p has poisoned.
November 5th, 2008 at 12:03 pm
Si, un conjunto de causas principalmente los agrotoxicos, neurosensoriales, como las abejas no vuelven a la colmena, esta muere por enfermedades oportunistas, los investigadores no hayan restos de estos pesticidas porque las abejas que han provocado el colapso nunca volvieron a su colmena y prevalece que han muerto por nosema, loque, virus etc. solo enfermedades oportunistas por la falta de abejas para desarrollar las funciones basicas de la colmena.
November 5th, 2008 at 6:30 pm
Whats really scary is to lookup the two most common beekeeper applied
chems and see how toxic they are to humans and the environment.
http://pmep.cce.cornell.edu/profiles/extoxnet/dienochlor-glyphosate/fluvalinate-ext.html
http://extoxnet.orst.edu/pips/coumapho.htm
These chemicals were authorized by the EPA under a section 18 emergency
label 20 years ago! Its sad that we still have an emergency listing for
these toxic materials. Section 18 is used in times of a so called agricultural emergency. In my opinion the emergency now is the massive contamination mentioned in the article below. The legal use of these chems is in the form of a plastic impregnated strip.
Many of the larger beekeepers do not want to pay the high cost for the
strips and buy the raw chem in bulk jugs and make their own shop rag
treatments which is placed in the hives – this is illegal since its not
a listed application and the application is not controlled.
Numerous beekeepers are fined each year in MN, Nodak and Sodak for illegal use of these materials.
The study noted in the interview of chemicals found in beehives neglected to mention that beekeeper applied chems were number 1, 2 & 3 in the amount of chemicals found in bees hives. Bee keepers are killing their own bees! As a professional full time beekeeper for over 30 years, there is no mystery to me why feedlot beekeepers bees are dying!!!!!
http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/1524991/honey_bees_suffer_from_pesticide_buildup/
Honey Bees Suffer From Pesticide Buildup
Posted on: Monday, 18 August 2008, 17:20 CDT
Honey bees industriously bring pollen and nectar to the hive, but along
with the bounty comes a wide variety of pesticides, according to Penn
State researchers. Add the outside assault to the pesticides already in
the waxy structure of the hive, and bee researchers see a problem
difficult to evaluate and correct. However, an innovative approach may
mitigate at least some beeswax contamination.
The researchers presented their analysis of pollen, brood, adult bees
and wax samples today (Aug. 18) at the 236th national American Chemical
Society meeting in Philadelphia. Those results show unprecedented levels
of fluvalinate and coumaphos — pesticides used in the hives to combat
varroa mites — in all comb and foundation wax samples. They also found
lower levels of 70 other pesticides and metabolites of those pesticides
in pollen and bees.
“Everyone figured that the acaricides (anti-varroa mite chemicals) would
be present in the wax because the wax is reprocessed to form the
structure of the hives,” says Maryann Frazier, senior extension
associate. “It was a bit of a shock to see the levels and the widespread
presence of these pesticides.”
or for a video version of Maryann Fraziers important study:
skip the first 40 minutes to get to the beekeeper chemical contamination part of her presentation
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=4115244451959719523
November 10th, 2008 at 10:41 am
The red herring about cell phones is in fact another red herring. The German study was misreported Dr Kuhn only said that his experiment hinted at cell phones as a source of CCD . It did not prove or disprove anything.
Whereas Dr Warnke who does prove that cell phones effect bees has been ignored by the establishment.
http://inthesenewtimes.com/2008/09/29/the-birds-the-bees-and-mankind/
November 11th, 2008 at 12:11 pm
Very informative article. I have a bit of a problem though.I llive in Fl. in the country. My neighbor has honeybees and they are coming to my place leaving pollen on my laundry hanging outside our vehicles and they have stung my dog at least three times. Is there anything I can do so they will leave? The beekeeper came one day and said he followed a line of them heading to my house.What can I do?
February 1st, 2009 at 11:26 pm
Hi Jackie,
I’m sorry you have had a bad experience with your neighbors bees. Unfortunately the “pollen” that you have seen on your laundry is actually bee defication. It is fairly harmlesss but not actractive on clean sheets. I would talk with your beekeeping neighbor and see if he/she can move their hives to an area away from where you keep your dogs and laundry. Please keep in mind that honeybees contribute greatly to all our well being and ask your neighbor to give you a jar of honey for the sacrifice you have made to keeping honeybees alive.
David
April 16th, 2009 at 7:53 am
[...] I just read a great interview with Rowan Jacobsen, the author of Fruitless Fall: The Collapse of the Honey Bee and the Coming Agricultural Crisis, [...]
May 21st, 2009 at 1:55 pm
Jackie,
I see that you wrote back in February; I hope my response gets to you.
Let me start by telling you that I am a beekeeper also.
The honeybee is generally a gentle one, and the act of stinging is a last resort of self, or hive, defense. It is a last resort because it is an act of suicide for the bee. When a honeybee stings, it leaves the stinger and venom sack in place; leaving the bee with a fatal wound. If you have had to remove stingers from your dog, then it was most likely a honeybee. If not, it may have been another stinging pollinator. If they were in fact the honeybees, one would have to ask several questions on why the bees would sting your dog. I intend no offense, but the bees have not targeted your dog, but are responding to an act of aggression. One question would be, “do you and your neighbor live on small lots?”, “where are the hives located with respect to your dog?”, “If they are far away, can he get close?”. All bees are not very excited about loud noises, does your dog bark at the hives? this will incite a negative response. If you are both on small lots, and the hives are along you property line, there should be a barrier to discourage such interactions with the animals or people and the hive. This is just some basic information and just some places to start.
On your other comment,
Having no knowledge of your situation outside your post, I will take your word that the honeybees have honed in on something on your property because the neighbor admitted to following his bees there. This behavior is not uncommon, but is equally unusual. In this situation, the bees have sourced something that they find undeniably tempting. One potential source is water. Do you have a pool or other water source? are they heading there? Does your neighbor have a water source for them? The honeybee needs water to make honey. The water source usually would not end up as a line of bees, but you may see unusual numbers around. It is most likely a food source that they smell. Is there a particular location they are going to? If one can follow the line, one could probably find where they are going. How long has you neighbor had honeybees, and does this happen all the time?, every year around the same time?, or is it a new phenomenon? I see you wrote the post in February. I don’t know where you live, but where I am February is very cold for the Honeybee. Virtually all honeybee activity is halted below 40degrees Farenheight because they cannot move, even if they wanted to. Above that, you may see them active, but I usually don’t see my bees doing too much below 60 degrees. They like to stay in the hive where its warm. If the temperatures where you live are still cool enough to tempt the honeybees to stay inside, then it may be that they were hungry and went looking for food. February is the time of year in beekeeping (in my location) that we check on the hives because they may be running out of their honey stores, and need supplemental food to keep them alive. In my part of the world, if I didn’t feed them the wouldn’t be able to go looking for food and starve to death. If you location is warm enough in February, the bees may risk the temperatures to find food. Under this situation, they may also be a little short on temper because of their hunger (just like humans).
Say for example, your neighbors’ honeybees were hungry, it was warm enough outside to fly, and you were baking tasty treats and goodies in your kitchen that would make any sugar loving, sugar smelling creature come running (especially any men in your life). Suppose your kitchen was warm enough to leave the windows open and a scout from your neighbors hive caught a whiff of the goodies on the wind (the honeybee have a amazing sense of smell). If they had any access to this sweet stuff, the hive would quickly learn of its location and you would see a beeline. I use this example because a beekeeper friend of mine told me this story, it is true. He followed his bees to his neighbors’ kitchen, after the neighbor complained that they were all over the place. The problem was resolved quite quickly by providing the bees with food of their own.
Please don’t despair because there is a solution. It may be something happening at your place, it may be at you neighbors. But like my friends experience, it may be a combination. Again, the honeybee is quite a friendly pollinator. I can sit or stand four feet in front of the entrance to my hives (without protective gear) and the bees fly around me like a tree stump as they head into or out of the hive. They are more interested in collecting pollen and nectar to keep the colony alive than they are in my presence. The honeybee is quite an incredible creature, maybe you should ask you neighbor to bring you to the hives; the more you know, the less intimidating they are. Before I started in beekeeping, I was terrified of bees, hornets, and wasps. I still don’t like hornets or wasps much (mostly because they are MUCH more aggressive, some of them are carnivores, and they sting many, many times). The honeybee I am not bothered by at all.
David is right; a jar of honey is definitely in order for you.
Richard
May 23rd, 2009 at 11:56 am
As the bees are dying from a mixture of pesticidal (killing) chemicals, and numerous chemical poisons are found in their hives, how many chemicals are present in the honey that we consume? What is the toxic load in honey? Doe eating honey add to one’s toxic load?
May 23rd, 2009 at 12:02 pm
I have not seen anyone address the safety of consuming honey considering the bees who make the honey are dying?
Also, since honey bees are not native to the Americas, the Native American diet must have been poor in the variety of fruits. What wild fruits, berries existed prior to honey bees in the Americas?
October 17th, 2009 at 12:30 am
Chemicals in honey? I would be surprised to hear that. Also note…honey never spoils.