this post was submitted on 26 Mar 2025
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Bees and Beekeeping

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This community is all about bees and beekeeping. Your one-stop shop for best beekeeping practices supported by science, exciting new bee research, beekeeping Q&A, etc.

The focus is primarily on keeping Apis mellifera, but discussion of all bee species, even if they aren't managed by beekeepers, is welcome.

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[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 month ago

I mean, maybe it is the thousands (millions?) of gallons of general pesticides sprayed from aircraft over many US counties?

There are mosquito control programs everywhere in the US that use pretty non-selective pesticides and blanket large areas from aircraft. There are better more eco friendly options but the general stuff from fixed wing planes is the cheapest option.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 month ago

My guess is all of the deregulating recently ( cough) GoP (cough) on fertilisers and ground and water pollution.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 month ago

My guess is conservative assholes happened.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 month ago

I'd read, years ago, in the science news-headlines sites, that someone had cracked Colony Collapse Disorder:

They'd said that in ALL the hives which didn't have CCD, there was never the coincidence of both a specific virus and a specific fungus, infecting them.

They'd said that in all the hives which did have CCD, both that specific virus & that specific fungus were in-play.

Apparently, to them, the infection of both of those specific-pathogens, meant that their immune-systems were defeated, & everything else got them, then.


Since I can't find that article, here's a different article which identifies some specific pathogen, which I hope includes both the specific-virus & specific-fungus that the other researchers had found to be the culprit:

https://beeprofessor.com/colony-collapse-disorder/

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 month ago (3 children)

What happened to the hypothesis that it was glyphosate/roundup killing them?

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I asked a beekeper friend and he said it's mostly Neonicotinoids and some new diseases.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I asked a entomology professor and he said neonicotinoids were not good for bees but not bad enough to explain anything

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 month ago

The general theory is that the neonicotinoids weaken the bees enough that they can't fight of the new disease.

Similar to how AIDS doesn't kill you but weakens you so that a cold becomes deadly.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 month ago

While glyphosate has no known biological effect on bees, it can kill off a lot of their food sources. However usage of it hasn't gone up. Insecticide use has gone up in a lot of areas though, and a lot of colonies are getting attacked by parasites. This on top of absolutely awful ground clutter management over wildfire concerns ruins both kept and wild hives.

[–] [email protected] -1 points 1 month ago

There is no biological pathway. Despite what monsato haters want to make you believe