Colony Collapse Disorder Makes Headlines

In 2007, the media spotlight on Colony Col-lapse Disorder (CCD) raised awareness of bees like never before. CCD created headlines worldwide and made the plight of the honey- bee seem dire. As a corollary, the media also educated the widest audience in history about why honeybees matter.

The Wonders of the Honeybee Brought to Light

The wide press coverage of CCD has brought to light as never before how directly honey- bees are tied into our lives. They are inter-woven with the plant world and our food and oxygen supply so inextricably that without them life on Earth would be drastically different, if not uninhabitable.

What is Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD)?

Colony Collapse Disorder is a little-understood phenomenon in which most or all worker bees from seemingly strong beehives abruptly disappear. Most people explain this disappearance as a malfunction of the honeybees’ navigation system. They are disoriented and unable to find their way back to the hive. Some beekeepers have reported losing 90% of their hives. CCD was originally found in honeybee colonies in North America in late 2006. Some European beekeepers have also observed a similar phenomenon.

The definitive cause(s) of CCD hasn’t altogether been explained. Theories include environmental change-related stresses, mites, pesticides, radiation from cellular phones and genetically modified crops. The most likely cause seems to be a new/adapted virus or some new chemical insecticide.

Has CCD Affected Savannah Bee?

Beekeepers are a hardy and persistent breed. Variables in the weather, blooming plants and in the honeybees themselves instill adaptive behavior into any enduring beekeeper. While our beekeepers continue to face difficult challenges that might destroy other industries, they continue to pro-duce our specialty honeys with little or no interruption. Thankfully, none of them have reported any cases of CCD or problems with their bees disappearing.

What Other Challenges do Beekeepers Face?

We beekeepers are always struggling with some malady. With pests and diseases globalizing, beehives here in the United States have been hit with something new every ten years or so. In the mid-1980s the arrival of mites decimated honeybee hives. By the mid-1990’s the Department of Agriculture was estimating that 90% of our wild honeybees had been wiped out. In the late 1990’s here in Georgia, a beetle arrived from South Africa and began causing serious problems in our hives and then rapidly spreading across the country. In response to these problems, beekeepers began breeding extra hives to make up for losses, re-populating the wilds with escaping swarms that over time have developed a resistance to these ailments.

My Takeaway

I think the world has been given a wake-up call. The intricate web of dependency between species has been reinforced. The major role of the honeybee in our world has been underscored. People often tell me that they never knew that more than a hundred of our foods were dependent upon bees and how closely our lives are intertwined with theirs. Beekeepers have begun to reconsider exposing their bees to the stresses of long-distance travel and medicinal treatments. Because the stakes are so high, I’m confident that we will find a solution to CCD as well as the other challenges we face. Ever hopeful, I see the media exposure to bees and the beekeeping world as a positive awareness-broadening event.

Ted Dennard

Founder & Beekeeper

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