Category: Pollinators

Over at The Daily Kos Devilstower has produced an entertaining and (I think) fair and honest appraisal of the hypotheses swirling around colony collapse disorder. What I found most interesting about the summary is that Devilstower gives his/her own estimates of each one being right or wrong and then offers a poll where readers can give their own estimates. When I voted, the results were:

• The way commercial hives are handled 10% 785 votes
• Infection & Infestation 22% 1731 votes
• Pesticides 19% 1487 votes
• GM Foods 9% 741 votes
• Drought & Bad Weather 4% 324 votes
• Global Warming 12% 946 votes
• Electromagnetic pollution 14% 1134 votes
• Other 6% 499 votes

That strikes me as eminently sensible (because it fits with my own prejudices, obviously). But what would have been really neat — though perhaps impossible to do on Daily Kos — would have been a before and after poll. Give and estimate before reading the piece, then after reading the piece, and see whether all that fine work by Devilstower had any impact. I would hope it did, but a skeptical voice deep within whispers “no”.

On Gristmill, a brief answer to the question “are organically managed bees faring any better” in the current outbreak of Colony Collapse Disease. My summary: maybe.

The New York Times has a fascinating article about the shortage of bees caused by colony collapse disorder. Bees Vanish, and Scientists Race for Reasons is that rare thing in science writing, a story about process rather than results. So there’s not a lot actually to say, other than noting that around 60 experts gathered for a two-day meeting to assess the possibilities and plan their investigations. The most likely suspects — according to these mainstream scientists — are “a virus, a fungus or a pesticide”. Not cell phones. We shall see.