Not So Sweet Future For Honeybees

BREAKING NEWS: Some Israeli bees are resistant to the virus

NowPublic Contributors have been following this story for months. For a list of articles, please check out the list below!

Scientists have stumbled onto a virus that could be linked to the massive decline in the global honeybee population. The decline, officially called Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD), has caused a panic with many farmers affected by the population decline.

The research team lead by Dr. Ian Lipkin, Professor of Epidemiology at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health found Israeli Acute paralysis Paralysis Virus (IAPV) in the collapsed colonies. The full report can be found in the journal Science.

UPDATED:[q
url="http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/09/06/tech/main3239856.shtml?source=RSSattr=HOME_3239856"]Sela,
a Hebrew University of Jerusalem professor, said he will collaborate
with U.S. scientists on studying how and why the bee virus may be
fatal. Preliminary research shows some bees can integrate genetic
information from the virus into their own genomes, apparently giving
them resistance, Sela said in a telephone interview. Sela added that
about 30 percent of the bees he's examined had done so. [/q]

Previous fears linked mobile phone signals to the decline, which has since been debunked.

Previous coverage on NP:

• UPDATE: Where have the bees gone?
  
• David Suzuki: Mysterious phenomenon has researchers baffled
  
• Cell Phone Radiation Could Be Killing Bees
• Vanishing honeybees mystify scientists
  
• BEE Afraid, Be Very Afraid! :: Oblate Spheroid
  
• Are Mobile Phones Killing the Bees?
• Where Have All the Bees Gone?
  
• Honeybee Deaths Continue
• Massive Honey Bee Die-Off Threatens US Crops