Page 39 - 200806 - The 'X' Chronicles Newspaper - June 2008

Last flight of the honeybee? 39 Last flight of the honeybee? 39 Last flight of the Last flight of the honeybee? honeybee? By ALISON BENJAMIN By ALISON BENJAMIN Dave Hackenberg's bees have been on the road for four days. To reach the almond orchards of California's Central Valley, they pass through the fertile plains of the Mississippi, huge cattle ranches and oilfields in Texas, and the dusty towns of New Mexico on their 2,600-mile journey from Florida. The bees will have seen little of the dramatic landscape, being cooped up in hives stacked four high on the back of trucks. Each truck carries close to 500 hives, tethered with strong harnesses and covered with black netting to prevent the millions of passengers from escaping. When the drivers pull over to sleep, the bees have a break almonds now come from this pocket of the fruit trees, field beans and other crops. In from the constant movement and wind speed, planet. But the supply of almonds in addition, the 5,000 tonnes of British honey sold but there's no opportunity to look around and confectionery, cakes and packets of nuts is now in UK stores generates a further £12m. stretch their wings. threatened by a mysterious malady that is UK farming minister Lord Rooker, Their final destination is some two hours causing honeybees to disappear. however, warned last year that honeybees are in north of Los Angeles. As the sun begins to fade Hackenberg was the first beekeeper to acute danger: "If nothing is done about it, the over the vast, flat terrain, the convoy slowly report that his bees had vanished. On a honeybee population could be wiped out in 10 snakes through orchards filled with row upon November day 18 months ago, he checked the years," he said. Last month, he launched a row of almond trees stretching as far as the eye hives in his Florida bee yard to find they were consultation on a national strategy to improve can see. Every February, the valley plays host to empty. "They weren't dead, they were just and protect honeybee health. billions of honeybees as trees burst into gone," he recalls. People's initial response to the idea of a blossom, blanketing the landscape in a soft, Since then, close on two million bee-less world is often either, "That's a shame, pinkish hue which extends to the horizon. colonies of honeybees across the US have been I'll have no honey to spread on my toast" or, The sandy loam and Mediterranean wiped out. The strange phenomenon, dubbed "Good - one less insect that can sting me." In climate are perfect for the cultivation of colony collapse disorder (CCD), is also thought fact, honeybees are vital for the pollination of almonds, but that's where any comparisons to to have claimed the lives of billions of around 90 crops worldwide. In addition to picturesque orchards of Spain or Italy end. honeybees around the world. In Taiwan, 10 almonds, most fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds Here, there are no verdant weeds, wild flowers million honeybees were reported to have are dependent on honeybees. Crops that are or grass verges to please the eye, just never- disappeared in just two weeks, and throughout used as cattle and pig feed also rely on ending trees that form what looks like an Europe honeybees are in peril. honeybee pollination, as does the cotton plant. outdoor production line. In Britain, John Chapple was the first to So if all the honeybees disappeared, we would In the cool hours after sunset and before raise the alarm. In January 2007, he lost all of have to switch our diet to cereals and grain, and sunrise, more than one million hives are the 14 colonies in his garden in west London. give our wardrobes a drastic makeover. unloaded at regular intervals between the trees "It's too cold at that time of year to open the According to Albert Einstein, our very by commercial beekeepers such as Dave hives," he says, "so I always check on the bees existence is inextricably linked to bees - he is Hackenberg, who have travelled from the far by giving the hive a thump and waiting for what reputed to have said: "If the bee disappears off corners of the US to take part in the world's sounds like a roaring sound to come back. But the surface of the globe, then man would only largest managed pollination event. The there was nothing, just silence." When he have four years of life left." mammoth orchards of Central Valley stretch the opened the hives to see what had happened, he Bees are a barometer of what man is distance from London to Aberdeen, and the 60 found them practically empty. Examination of a doing to the environment, say beekeepers; the million almond trees planted with monotonous further 26 hives scattered across the capital canary in the coalmine. Just as animals behave uniformity along the 400-mile route require half revealed that two-thirds had perished. weirdly before an earthquake or a hurricane, of all the honeybees in the US to pollinate them "I was completely shocked," says cowering in a corner or howling in the wind, so - a staggering 40 billion. Chapple, who chairs the London Beekeepers' the silent, empty hives are a harbinger of a By February 16, National Almond Day Association. "I could attribute some losses to a looming ecological crisis. But what is causing in the US, the trees are usually covered in failing queen bee or wax moths, but there were them to vanish - pesticides, parasites, pests, flowers and humming with the sound of busy a few I could find no reason for. There was a viruses? No one knows for sure. The more bees. Attracted by the sweet nectar that each healthy queen and a few bees, but nothing else." fanciful theories when CCD was first detected flower offers, the bees crawl around on the Chapple's inquiries as to whether the parks included an al-Qaida plot to wreck US petals to find the perfect sucking position. As where he kept some of his hives had sprayed agriculture, radiation from mobile phones and they do so, their furry bodies are dusted with new pesticides also drew a blank. even celestial intervention in the form of beads of pollen. As they fly from blossom to He was not alone. Beekeepers in north- honeybee rapture. blossom in search of more of the sweet energy west London also reported strange losses. drink, they transfer pollen from the male part of Chapple calls the disappearance the "Mary Continued on Page 40 the flower to the female part, and so fertilise it. Celeste syndrome". A year later, a survey of Not long afterwards, the plant's ovaries swell hives by government bee inspectors across WATCH, LISTEN AND CHAT into fruit, which by late August turn into Britain has found that one in five colonies has WITH precious, oval-shaped nuts. perished this winter. THE ‘X’ ZONE NATION Without this army of migrant pollinators There are some 270,000 honeybee hives paying a visit for three weeks every year, the in Britain run by 44,000 keepers, more than TO trees would fail to bear the almonds that are 90% of them amateurs. According to estimates THE ‘X’ ZONE RADIO & TV California's most valuable horticultural export. by the Department for Environment, Food and SHOW Last year, they earned the state more than Rural Affairs (Defra), bees contribute £165m a AT $1.9bn, double the revenue from its Napa Valley year to the economy through their pollination of www.xzonetv.com vineyards. Moreover, 80% of the world's