In the Book of Genesis, after God created the earth, it was declared good. But this wonderful world has been often abused by God’s highest creation, man himself. In the 1950’s chemicals such as DDT were routinely sprayed in many American cities. When the insects being attacked dropped over dead, man felt assured that his scientific knowledge was nearly infallible. Not until the early 1960’s with the publication of Rachel Carson’s famous book "Silent Spring" did the awareness of the interconnectedness of the environment begin. In the late 1990s a terrible decline in the honey bee population started happening worldwide. Since most fruits and vegetables are pollinated by honey bees, this issue had to be solved. Loree Griffin Burns has written a compelling account of this crisis in the book entitled "The Hive Detectives: Chronicle of a Honey Bee Catastrophe."
The book begins with a fascinating account of a beekeeper’s taking care of a beehive colony. The apiary, as a bee colony is known, is filled with thousands of worker bees bringing nectar back to the hives. There they regurgitate the nectar into the mouths of receiver bees. The honey is then carefully deposited into the honey combs inside the hives. When examining the hives, a beekeeper must be careful not to startle or frighten the bees. Left to themselves the bees will busily work and produce pounds and pounds of wax combs filled with honey.
In the late 1990s, this happy scenario was being severely threatened when a massive worldwide die off of honey bees was discovered. Commercial beekeepers found many productive hives full of honey, but lacking in bee populations. Where were the bees? This caused a worldwide crisis in agriculture since honey bees are responsible for the pollination of many fruits and vegetables. The catastrophe was named Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD.) As beekeepers around the world opened up their hives, they were staggered by the disappearance of the bees. After professional beekeeper Dave Hackenberg discovered that four hundred of his three thousand beehives had no bees, he immediately sought help through the assistance of bee scientists. Some of these experts were university professors and others were state agricultural extension experts. They quickly found that bees with CCD had any number of deadly maladies. The combination of these ailments doomed the bees. Curiously enough, the investigators had initially thought CCD might have been caused by parasites, but it was found that these deadly invaders did not cause CCD. Scientists in France began making progress in identifying the causes of CCD. American researchers used this research and discovered that pesticides commonly used in agriculture had been altered to make them work systemically. This seemed like a simple way to continuously protect plants throughout the growing season. This process allowed the plant to never lack pesticides. Unfortunately for honey bees that also meant that they would never go to flowers and vegetables that were continuously treated with pesticides. At last the scientists felt they were on the edge of a breakthrough with CCD.
Were systemic pesticides found to be the cause of this world wide collapse in honey bees? Were other predators part of the problem as well? Do you like honey, blueberries, almonds and the many other wonderful foods dependent on honey bee pollination? To find out how the scientists contained this apiary plague, go to the library and check out this well written, beautifully photographed book. It has a superb index and the engaging pictures and text draw readers into the story. While this title would be very useful in science classes in Grades 5-7, curious readers will also find the story of bee keeping and the scientific response to CCD interesting. This is a very fine book.
