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Is Colony Collapse Disorder a real problem, and if so, is it solvable?

What Is Colony Collapse Disorder?

CCD is a phenomenon affecting adult bees in an otherwise normally functioning hive, and includes the following cluster of symptoms:

• The colony's queen is present.
• There are honey and pollen stores.
• There are brood present in capped cells.
• There is no workforce. If any workers remain, they are young and are not sufficient to maintain the hive.
• The weakened/abandoned nest does not become an immediate target for predators, and may remain untouched for weeks.

Getting to the Root of the Problem

Like all major health and environmental problems that have hit modern civilization, CCD has gone through the following set of steps:

1. Problem is noticed by members of the population and is reported to authorities.
2. Authorities pretend there is no problem.
3. More and more cases are reported until the problem is beginning to have a major impact on the economy and/or population health.
4. Some authorities are forced to act (others still remain in denial for a variety of reasons), and a list of plausible causes is drawn up.
5. The most plausible of all causes is either suspiciously absent from the list, or is present, but not investigated in any serious way. This most plausible cause is almost always a product/process/service provided by a major corporation with strong ties to government.
6. Small interest groups, minor business owners/professionals, and concerned individuals - all without power - protest, collect information, and try to force the hand of government.
7. Most efforts are in vain. As most governments serve corporations, the likely cause of the problem remains active. On the other hand, jobs are maintained and created within academia/research, media, and technology companies looking to provide unnatural solutions to problems in and of nature.

There is an incredible list of potential contributors to or causes of CCD, which are not limited to:

• Cell phones and electromagnetic fields
• Malnutrition
• One of any number of known honey bee diseases
• An unknown viral or bacterial infection or parasite
• Weather/climate patterns and anomalies
• Poor beekeeping practices
• Poor immune function due to poor breeding practices
• Stress due to commercial migratory beekeeping practices
• GM (genetically modified) crops
• Pesticides
• Other chemicals present in the environment because of human consumption/industry

Khoury, D.S., Myerscough, M.R., Barron, A.B. "A Quantitative Model of Honey Bee Colony Population Dynamics." PLoS ONE 6:4 (2011): e18491. Full text available here.

Mullin, Christopher A., Frazier, Maryann, Frazier, James L., Ashcraft, Sara, Simonds, Roger, vanEngelsdorp, Dennis, Pettis, Jeffery S. "High Levels of Miticides and Agrochemicals in North American Apiaries: Implications for Honey Bee Health" PLoS ONE 5:3 (2010): e9754. Full text article here.

Underwood, R.M., vanEngelsdorp, D. "Colony Collapse Disorder: Have We Seen This Before?" Bee Culture 135:7 (2007):13. Full text available here.

vanEngelsdorp, D., Evans, J.D., Saegerman, C., Mullin, C., Haubruge, E., Nguyen, B.K., Frazier, M. Frazier, J., Cox-Foster, D., Chen, Y.P., Underwood, R., Tarpy, D.R., Pettis, J.S. "Colony Collapse Disorder: A descriptive study." PLoS ONE 4:8 (2009): e6481. Full text available here.

vanEngelsdorp, D., Hayes, J., Pettis, J. "Preliminary Results: A Survey of Honey Bee Colonies Losses in the U.S. Between September 2008 and April 2009." May, 2009. Available here.

Watanabe, M.E. "Colony Collapse Disorder: Many Suspects, No Smoking Gun." BioOne 58:5 (2008):384. Full text available here.

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