Stuff You Should Know - Why are honeybees disappearing?

Episode Date: January 20, 2010

In this episode of Stuff You Should Know, Josh and Chuck examine the various factors that have caused honeybee populations to decline -- and what you can do to help the honeybees. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Brought to you by the reinvented 2012 Camry. It's ready. Are you? Welcome to Stuff You Should Know from HowStuffWorks.com. Hey, and welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh Clark. There's Charles W. Bryant. This is Stuff You Should Know.

Oh, and hey, Jerry. Sorry, Jerry. Jerry is the unsung hero. Heroine. Yes. Little horse for a little monkey. What? It's an old Mr. Science Theater 3,000 line.

Oh. Oh, you threw me there. I thought she had a little horse and a little monkey or something under her desk. Well, I was about to be like, Jerry, why don't you tell me you had a little horse and a little monkey? She has a pony and a macaque with her. So, yeah. That's how we're starting this one?

Why not? Okay. All right, Chuck. I have a pretty decent intro this time. So let's hear it then. Have you ever heard of the Lost Colony of Roanoke? I have, but I would like you to fill us in. Thank you.

So, back in the, I think, 17th century, the early 17th century, Roanoke was one of the very first colonies, if not the first American colony, in what is now North Carolina, Virginia. And it was thriving for a little while. They had a nice little fort and they used to fight with the Native Americans and pretty normal early American colonial stuff, right? Sure. So, like I said, everything is going happily along. And then about two years after the colony is established, an expedition bringing supplies

comes along and they find the thing totally abandoned. No sign of life. I don't believe there is any dead bodies or bones. And the only trace of anything was the word Croatoan carved into one of the posts that made up the fort. You're kidding. And I think there was some, there was a local tribe called the Croatoan, but they were nowhere to be found.

That's creepy. Isn't it very creepy this whole colony just vanished? Yeah. I thought you were going to say Wolverines was spray painted on the front of it. But they think now that they may have been absorbed by another tribe, the Lumbee, which actually were completely alien to whites until I think the early 18th century or very late, like several decades after the colony at Roanoke vanished, right? And when the whites did encounter them, they said, hey, why does some of you look kind of

white and why are you building two-story thatch houses like we have in England? You know, how do you know how to read the Bible? Sure. Right? Yeah. What's up with this baseball thing? Exactly. They think, so they think that the Lumbee tribe absorbed the colonists at Roanoke.

Wow. But that is among the very few lost colonies of human history. Yeah. Yeah. Sure. And that has tons of lost colonies, bees, dude, best setup ever. Really? Yeah, of course.

Thanks, Chuck. Really, really good. Yes, Josh, we are here today to talk about colony collapse disorder because bees are disappearing at an alarming rate, much like the people of the Roanoke colony. Right. And Chuck, I think that probably most of the people who listened to our podcast said, why do I care that bees are disappearing? I hate bees, they sting me and they chase me in my dreams.

You know why? I do. Why? You want me to tell them? Yeah. Because bees are vital to almost any kind of vegetation you can eat. And not only that, let's say you're like, I don't eat vegetables, I eat meat. That's me all over.

Did you know? Here, let me give you a little scenario that was posed in this article, Josh. Take the almond population, for example. My new favorite nut, as you know, is the almond. I know. Chuck's crazy about almonds. They're so good for you. Beekeepers basically go to California every year with about 40 billion honeybees to pollinate

the almond crop. Right. Every February. Every February. And over those few weeks, 80% of the world's almond crop is pollinated and about a billion dollars in exports are generated. So you might think, okay, well, I don't eat almonds either, tough guy. Those almonds, the almond hulls are sold as cattle feed.

They're part of the cattle feed. They're also crushed as shells for betting for livestock. And the almond dust is collected as an additive to the topsoil. So that hamburger has almond juice running through it, which has bee juice running through it. Yeah. And that's just almonds. I think a total of $15 billion worth of agricultural products are pollinated by commercial honeybees

every year. Every year. Honeybees are disappearing, mostly it's honeybees that are disappearing under the colony collapse disorder. Right, Chuck? Yeah. Specifically, that's what we're worried about. So it is important, obviously, honeybees are kept happy and healthy and that they not

mysteriously vanished without a trace. Yeah. It's not just about honey, folks. Although honey is delicious. It is delicious and nutritious. Let's talk about what colony collapse disorder is, Chuckers. Okay. So I think Jessica Tuthman said in this article that attrition rates in a bee colony is normal

because bees do have wings and they will fly away. And about 20% is an average of what you're looking for. I think it's like an average maximum. Average maximum. Yeah. Because I mean when you let the bees out and go pollinate, some are just going to be like, I like this colony or I think I'm going to go hit the road with Neil Cassidy or something. Right.

You know? Yeah, sure. They don't always come back. That's true. Dying as early as 2002 but really in 2006 is when it really peaked or not peaked but when it really showed its ugly face. The bees started leaving and not coming back at it and we suspect dying at a rate of anywhere from 30% to 90%.

90%. That's huge. And do you remember you said a minute ago that every February about 40 billion bees? That's in just one million hives. So if 90% of a hive is dying off or vanishing, that is a lot of bees. In just one hive, which we should probably specify is virtually interchangeable with the word colony. Hive and colony, same thing.

Yeah. You know what's creepy? What? Is sometimes when they come back and they see that all the bees are gone, sometimes you'll just see the queen and larvae and a few younger bees and that's it. And they're like, where is everybody gone? And maybe crow, what's the word again? Crow atone.

They're just like scrawled into the beehive. Yeah. And honey. Yeah. So yeah, that's colony collapse disorder. Most of the time the workers are just gone, vanished or at least 90% of them, right? And I guess another kind of interesting and almost unsettling aspect is that when a beehive gets abandoned and all it's left is like the queen and some larva and especially when

there's tons of honey in it, moths, other kinds of bees, wasps, any other insect with the taste for sweet, sweet honey invades it immediately. Not so with colonies that have been hit by colony collapse disorder. Yeah. They wait a few days, right? Yeah, they do. That's creepy. It's real creepy.

That'd be like leaving some stake out in the hot sun in July and there being like no flies or animals buzzing around. Right. Until like the following Thursday. That's really creepy. Yeah. And it definitely gives you an idea that something serious is up, right? So we have mystery, mystery, mystery, tons of bees dying or vanishing.

And like you said, Chuck, this really stepped up in 2006, 2007 and 2008, right? Yeah. And it's still going on from what I understand. This is not the first time that this happened though. Yeah. You said it was the worst case ever was when? It's not the worst. I think this is the worst case ever.

Oh, it is. But before it's been pretty bad. In 1995, in Pennsylvania, beekeepers reported 53% of their hives just knocked out, just vanished, gone or dead. We have mysterious bee hive abandonments dating back to the 1880s, the early 20th century. And in 1903 in Utah, 2,000 colonies were mysteriously lost. Really? Yeah.

And if you'll notice, it's Utah, Pennsylvania, here or there, you know? With colony collapse disorder, it's spread around. There's evidence of it in Australia, in Europe, in the U.S. Yeah. Actually, Australia said they've been doing okay. Okay. Well, there's evidence of it in not Australia, but in Europe, in the U.S. I apologize.

Australia did say they had reported it, but things seem to be back on track in Australia. So you were right. Should I say it again? No, you should just smack me. All right. So, Chuck, the apiarists, you know, like that? Very nice. This is another word for beekeeper, are getting a little bit concerned.

It's widespread. The numbers are high. It's mysterious. What possibly is going on here? Well, they're not quite sure, Josh. That's why it's a little distressing. I know. This mystery of the vanishing bees is awesome.

Yeah. They do have some ideas. And after reading this article and a few other supplementary articles, my belief is that it's a combination of factors. It's probably not one thing. Yeah. And actually, the USDA Steering Committee on Colony Collapse Disorder, it's a mouthful. They just released their first, I guess, white paper on Colony Collapse Disorder this past

July, and they concluded the same thing. Oh, really? There's a bunch of different factors at work. There were some ideas thrown out, like some unknown organism or pathogen was affecting them. They said probably not. There's a study done in Germany as to whether or not cell phone and cell phone towers were putting off radiation that was screwing with the bees' homing abilities.

And these Germans did that study, and they said, no, not happening. And apparently, the opposite was picked up by the news cycle to the point where the guy who conducted the study wrote the APA letter saying, we found no link between Colony Collapse Disorder and cell phones, anybody who says or writes anything else is a liar. But they were linking that, and journalists were linking that. Journalists loved it. Link stuff. Rabble rouse.

Yeah. It's correlative, not causative. Let's talk about a couple of these things, Josh. All right. Let's talk about the Israeli Acute Paralysis Virus. This seems to be the most important factor. If there's several factors involved in Colony Collapse Disorder, this seems like right at the top.

I would agree. It is a virus discovered by Israeli scientists in 2002, and it causes trembling, paralysis, and death in bees, which just makes me really sad to think about a trembling, paralyzed, and then dying bee. What's cool is that these researchers in the study in 2007, I guess, introduced IAPV into some hives and then kept some other ones separate so that they wouldn't become infected because honeybees are very social and they frequently interact with bees from other colonies. But they infected them in this greenhouse.

This is creepy. And then as the bees were dying, the researchers noted that the healthy bees were dragging the dead ones to the outskirts of the greenhouse as far away from the hive as they could. I know. They were quarantining these dead bee bodies. Isn't that crazy? It is. That seems to me to be a real red flag here.

You know what else is? What? I studied some, there was another study in 2007 that looked at already infected colony collapse disorder hives and then non-CCD hives, and they found that in 96.1% of the infected hives, IAPV was present. But it wasn't in any of the non-CCD hives. So it's definitely a huge factor. Yeah, it seems like it.

But not case closed because there are some other factors that may weigh in as well. Pesticides is a big one. Specifically, Chuck. The neonicotinoid. Nice. If people knew that it took 20 minutes for us to spit that out, they'd laugh. They are neurotoxins, Josh, and they are pesticides, and they're used to protect crops against pests, which all pesticides.

Unfortunately, also honeybees as well. Yeah, and I think the Germans, once again, the beekeepers in Germany are blaming this for massive die-off rates. The same Germans who said that the cell phones had nothing to do with it. So much so that some countries are starting to ban this type of pesticide. Even though I don't think there's been any causal link established, it's the correlations enough that- Right.

You want to hear the saddest factor for me? It's sad, but at the same time, I imagine some bee in like a crumpled fedora carrying a briefcase returning to the hive. Right. Joe versus the bee hive. I love that movie. I do too. Stress, Josh, is what we're talking about, and these poor little bees, because of beekeepers

stretching out the pollination season, basically giving bees less time to recuperate before carrying them around to another crop, they're overworked and they're stressed out, and it could be disrupting their immune systems and killing them off. Right. Sad, sad, sad. And then the last factor in the article that was mentioned as a possible culprit was the Varroa mite. What's the deal with these suckers?

They actually transmit IAPV to bees. Well, there you have it. They're little jerks. Little jerky mites. So like we said, $15 billion worth of agricultural crop products in the U.S. alone were pollinated by commercial honey bees, so you can imagine that the USDA is a little worried about colony collapse disorder, right? Yeah.

They're actually looking to alternative methods of pollinating, like synthetic methods of pollinating plants because of this. Naked guys running through the fields, that's one. And other bees are trying to put other bees to work. Like which one was it? The blue orchard bee? Yeah. They're seeing if that works.

And then, of course, they're also trying to do what they can to take care of the honey bees and restore their population. But it's not just the USDA that has a hand in honey bee repopulation. No. No? No. It's UNI too, Chuck. UNI and Haagen-Dazs.

Oh yeah? Yeah. Let's hear it. Well, we're going to give you some tips here in a minute on what you can do as an individual, but I did want to point out that delicious Haagen-Dazs ice cream has nearly 50% of their all-natural ice creams, it sounds like I'm reading an ad, it's because it's from their website, nearly 50% of them use honey bees in some way, shape or form, to get their ultimate ingredient.

So they've got a little deal going where they... What is the ultimate ingredient? Well, there's 50 of them. Oh, okay. Well, no, 50%, sorry. They have created a special flavor called vanilla honey bee, and they call it a delicious tribute to these essential creatures. And of course, when you buy this kind or any of them that have the ingredients that come

from the honey bee's help, they donate some money, which is pretty cool. And you can donate just straight to a cause via the cause via the Haagen-Dazs site. Or you can be nice to your local apiarists that may be having a bad day and that could just help, right? Sure. That would help. So we have some tips for you, Josh. You want to go over some of these?

My favorite is contact your member of parliament and tell them to start funding bee research more. Chuck, I identify you to contact your member of parliament. They'll throw their wig at me. The number one on the list of... And this is clearly England, but I imagine you can do the same things here. This has become a beekeeper. That's a good one.

Sure. Cool job. The more hives, the better, unless they're infected, and then the opposite is true. Yeah. Another thing you can do is protect swarms. If you see a swarm of honeybees, don't go out there with the can of raid. Or your can of hair net and a lighter. Yeah, that's even a worse idea.

You should contact a local authority and supposedly they will contact a beekeeper that will come and round them up. You want to make sure that they're going to contact a beekeeper. Actually, there's people who do swarm removals and just kill all the bees. Oh, really? You want to make sure that they're going to be taken to a hive by a beekeeper. And then the guy comes out with this can of raid and the lighter, some local redneck. Plant your garden with bee-friendly plants.

This is the biggest one that you can actually make an impact here at home. So we're talking single flowering plants and vegetables. And they recommend the Allium family, mint, beans, except for French beans and flowering herbs. And bees, especially like daisy-shaped flowers. So sunflowers... Sunflowers are big. They're really big for helping the honeybees out.

And if you have your hands in your pockets right now and you're feeling nothing but lint, and you're like, I'd really love to help the bees, but I can't afford any sunflower seeds, man. I'm not rich. You can actually contact a group called the Great Sunflower Project. Yeah, that's cool. And they'll send you some seeds. In return, all they ask is that you spend 30 minutes twice a month.

If you can't swing that, then you need to take stock of your life. 30 minutes twice a month in the garden, noting arrival times, departure times, and whether or not you even see any bees on your sunflowers and sending in the information. Yeah, exactly, because if you don't see any bees, that's really important to tell them as well. Right. And don't use pesticides mid-date, Chuck. Oh, is that a big one?

Yeah, well, that's when bees are most likely to be out foraging. So if you're going to spray any kind of pesticide, don't do it in the middle of the day. It's bad news. You can also say if you're going to use pesticides or pest control to use insect-specific pesticides. So don't buy, kill all. And don't buy kills, honeybees. Yeah, exactly. A few other gardening tips for you, I know you're quite the gardener.

They say if you have space to use 10 or more bee plants in a group, you can group them together. That's a good thing. Sure. It makes pollination easier. Sure. And if not, you know, do what you can, plant as many as you can. They also require water when they're foraging in your garden.

So, you know, put out a little birdbath. And if you don't have a birdbath, maybe just a dish of water in your garden. Didn't know that, did you? I did not. That's a good one. And they also burrow in the ground. So they say not to completely mulch your entire garden to leave some bare areas, maybe where you don't see it, or maybe put a little mound of sand and the bees can comb down in there.

So another little tip you can use. And native plants are always good. If you're a gardener, plant native plants to your state, because bees eat them up. And aside from gardening, you can also buy local honey. You know, I used to know an apiarist. Really? I interviewed him once for the Henry County Times when I edited it. And he sold local honey.

I got stung by a bee, by the way, while I was interviewing him. Really? It hurt, man. And like three years later, I was at someone's house, a friend's house, and they just happened to have honey from this guy's farm. I couldn't believe it. Yeah. If your city is like Atlanta, then they're all manner of farmer's markets.

That story sounded so much more interesting in my head before I spit it out. I thought it was interesting. Thanks. Can you tell, by the way, I just breezed right over here. If Atlanta is like your town, you probably have all kind of farmer's markets, local markets. And I guarantee you there will be somebody with honey at those. And they say if you're into immunology, and you believe that you can immunize yourself

from local allergies using honey, which is yet to be proven, but it makes a lot of sense. You want to buy honey that's created within 15 miles of your house. Right. And buying local is always a good idea. All across the board. And I got one more, unless you have one more. No, I'm done. Okay.

Because I want to finish with this one. It's so good. Under the heading bee friendly, some tips on, you know, if you have bees in your area, don't swat them, don't flap your hands around. Just stay calm and move slowly away into the shade, they say. And bees will lose interest. They also don't have as much interest if you smell like alcohol or leather. And they regard dark clothing as a threat.

So put on some dark leather pants, get drunk and hang out in your garden. Apparently I will never get stung by a bee. Wow. Nice. I'd like to see that. If you want to learn more about this mysterious Colony Collapse Disorder, you can read Jessica Toothman's fascinating article, How Colony Collapse Disorder Works. I imagine if you type in Collapse Disorder or Colony Collapse or Colony Collapse Disorder

into the handysearchbarthousestuffworks.com, it will yield said article. In the meantime, let's do some listener mail. Josh, these are two from two kids and, you know, we like the kid emails because they're always nice and super friendly and cute and not like a cynical old rotten adults. So the first one is from Beto, which I love that name Beto. What is that? Italian? Portuguese?

I would think it's Italian. Okay. Hey guys, my name is Beto, pronounce B-E-T-O. I know you're laughing, so laugh. I have listened to every single one of your podcasts since the eighth grade and I am now a sophomore in high school. Now doesn't that really put it in perspective? I feel old all of a sudden.

People are actually, we're seeing these people grow up. This is, it brings a tear to my eye. You know, when we get a graduation invitation from Sarah, the 11 year old fan, then it's time to hang it up. Yeah. All right. He says, Beto says, after I wake up every morning at 6 a.m. to catch the bus, it's seven, so I can go to a school 30 minutes away from my house.

It's about an hour bus ride, not sure if that works, and all I can do is listen to my iPod every day, I download two or more, and prepare for my day, and you two have become quite possibly my two favorite heroes besides Matt Bellamy, who I had to look that up. Who is that? He's the lead singer of Muse. Oh. So we're heroes along with this Muse dude. Yeah.

Because every morning I am sitting on that crowded bus with loud people and I can listen to you two talk about a random subject, including ones that sound boring at first, but thanks to you I learned something and get a few laughs along the way. You are the coolest guys I know, kind of since I don't actually know you, he says. And I hope that you guys never quit doing this. Your number one fan for real, Beto, he follows up for you specifically. He says, Josh, you're amazing, and I have a man crush on you, but I have a girlfriend, so you know, haha, she doesn't know.

That's what he says. Wow. I know. Wow. Did Beto just come on to me? I think so. All right. Beto actually says he would be in awe shock if you read this on the air, but I doubt you

will. So I'm kind of, I think Beto just used reverse psychology on you. This Beto kid is sharp. Just got punked by a 10th grader. All right. And here's another quickie from Nick and Alfreda, Nick is 17 in Alfreda, Georgia. And he has written this before, but he had a personal tie to Edward of Woodstock from the Mercenaries podcast.

He was his great, great, great, et cetera grandfather. How about that? Wow. Pretty cool, huh? He says, I know this because, well, that's what he put, he didn't know how many greats it was. And he knows this because they have a family tree and he is right near the beginning of it.

And after he was Edward of Woodstock, he became Edward Prince of Wales. Oh yeah. And then, and that's what he says at least, and he goes and details a little bit of Edward of Woodstock's life and just says that thanks for mentioning, he's related to him. Very cool. Right here in Georgia. Yeah. And Alfreda.

He's right up the road, a piece. Right up the road. Well, thank you, Beto and Nick. We appreciate both of you guys for writing in and we love all of you who write in. And by love, I mean really appreciate and are fond of. If you want us to love you, you can send us an email to stuffpodcast at howstuffworks.com. For more on this and thousands of other topics, visit howstuffworks.com. Want more howstuffworks?

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