"Update on Colony Collapse Disorder"

It was a mystery that left scientists around the world buzzing for answers. Last year a mysterious and deadly plague silently worked its way through bee colonies, leaving millions of dead bees in its wake. The killer was coined as CCD or Colony Collapse Disorder. It had moved in suddenly and unexpectedly, and left so few clues, experts could not crack the case.

Luckily this past September, there was a big break in the case. A team of scientists led by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), Pennsylvania State University, The Pennsylvanis State Department of Agriculture and Columbia University linked CCD with a virus imported from Australia, IAPV or Israeli Acute Paralysis Virus. Over the past three years, genetic tests on bees collected from stricken colonies around the U.S. found the virus in 96 percent of bees from hives affected by Colony Collapse Disorder.

IAPV had not historically been present in U.S. bees. In fact, it was only discovered in Israel in 2004, the same year American beekeepers started importing packaged bees from Australia. "Before that, nobody knew to look for it," says Jeff Pettis of the United States Department of Agriculture's Bee Research Laboratory. "As people began to look for it, it was found in China, Australia and the U.S."

Though the discovery of IAPV was indeed a big break, the case of CCD was not closed. Scientists have much to learn about how IAPV affects colonies and how it may have brought on CCD. Future studies will tell researchers if they are dealing with just one strain of the virus or if there are other strains to look for. "Discovering the IAPV was a lead but not the end of the story. We're looking at IAPV as a marker. It's there. It's present in colonies but viruses by themselves are not known to be that dangerous," says Pettis. Pettis and other scientists believe that CCD is not caused by one single factor, but by a whole host of forces including pesticides, parasites, poor nutrition, and stress. Any of these may leave bees vulnerable to infection and make IAPV lethal. "We know all of those things have affected bees in the past," says Pettis. "We have to look at combinations of factors."

Researchers at Penn State University and the USDA are planning a complicated set of experiments where they stress bees in certain ways and evaluate the effect on their health. The tests will hopefully indicate whether IAPV causes CCD by itself or if it is triggered by other pathogens and stresses.

Some studies on IAPV have already brought positive news. Israeli researchers say there is a possibility that IAPV-resistant bees can be bred. A third of bees sampled in Israel have incorporated the virus into their genome. In experiments, almost 20% of these bees survived when injected with IAPV.

While the work is ongoing and answers are sought, until the government declares otherwise, the nation's borders remain open for bees. Packaged bees are being brought in from Australia, which has yet to report cases of CCD colonies. Though researchers are still searching for answers, they are considering whether stressors that disproportionately affect U.S. bees such as pesticides, poor nutrition or pests like varroa mites might trigger the virus, making it virulent.

Last year, imports from Australia and New Zealand made up only 5 percent of the bees needed just for almond pollination (though almond pollination represents half of our need for honeybee pollination services).

Case closed? Not yet; but at least the prime suspect is now in custody. In the meantime, beekeepers must take measures to keep bees as healthy as possible. The goal now is improved nutrition, reduced stress, and better overall health for bees...
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Growing flowers for bees... (the bees have been abuzz over the red salvia in my wildflower garden)

...Choose flowers that bloom successively over the spring, summer, and fall seasons such as coreopsis, Russian sage, or germander in order to provide pollen and nectar resources to the native bees of all seasons. If you're not sure what to choose, you can always check with a local garden center for their advice on "bee-friendly" florals. To improve bee visitation, the garden should contain large patches of like flowers planted in close proximity to one another. Diversity is a key factor in keeping bee gardens buzzing. Researchers have found that more bees will be drawn to gardens with ten or more species of attractive plants.

As you diversify your garden, keep part of it wild because bees prefer that to a manicured space. Go for a "planted by nature" effect rather than a perfectly pruned garden. Remember: bees don't discriminate between weeds and cultivated flowers, so let those dandelions grow...

Wildflower Project

(Updated again)


This top photo was taken June 1 - about a month after I planted the wildflower seeds. I planted a clover path to make it easier to walk around in the wildflowers. It took off pretty well.


This next photo was taken on June 23 - 3 weeks later. Quite a few of the wildflowers were blooming at that point.





These next 2 were taken on July 14 - 3 more weeks.

It's going pretty well. It helps to cut down on weeds to have many desirable plants growing fairly close together.

We've been getting a number of hummingbirds eating from the flowers, as well as goldfinches. And bees and butterflies, of course.
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These last 2 photos were taken around September 2 - about 7 weeks after the 2 previous photos. The hummingbirds at full swing these days. They love the little red flowers (that unfortunately don't show up in the larger view). And the few cosmos and such that are hanging on. I have sugar water out as well - but it's much more fun seeing them flit around from flower to flower - stopping to rest on various dried out plants.

It has really been drying out around here. There had been nearly no rain during August - with highs mostly in the 90 - 100 range. I was out east during the worst of it (enjoying highs in the 60s).

Since I've been back - I was trying to keep some of the trees that I had planted earlier this year from dying with some occasional watering. I think we've lost a lot of them.

Yesterday, it seemed that our well water must be getting low. After quite a bit of watering (between trees and wildflowers and vegetables) - the water from our faucets was coming in rather cloudy.

Here it is September 6th and we finally got a little rain today. I hope we get more soon - we need about 5 inches or more. Crops like corn around here are all dried up. Some may be able to be harvested - but it's surely not growing anymore.

Woodland Wildflower Update

At McCormick's Creek - lots of wildflowers are in bloom or on their way. A lot of white flowers are out - among other things there are Rue Anemone, Bloodroot, Spring Beauty, White Trillium (still - I saw them a week ago). Also many Purple (Prairie) trillium (or perhaps Toadshade)-some with buds. Mayapples on their way - starting to open their leaves, and Trout Lily leaves. Violets - one purple one blooming - a yellow one - almost. I saw one fiddle head.

It seemed early for the amount of flowers that are already blooming or well on their way. But then it's about 20 -25 degrees above average.

I had a tick crawling on my head yesterday. Usually we are free of ticks until after the initial wildflowers come out and we are well into mushroom season - like the middle of April.

Spring

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A Kurdish girl celebrating Newroz - "a new day" - the arrival of Spring.
-Photo by Umit Bektas

Yesterday the Vernal Equinox - with Spring arriving at 8:07 pm.

Our time is all discombobulated with Daylight Savings Time - plus here in Indiana where I am - we are a time zone ahead. By the sun - if we were on Central Standard - that would make the most sense. As it is - the sun is high in the sky closer to 2:00 pm. It rises close to 8 am and sets close to 8 pm. So essentially - we are 2 hours off the sun.

To "celebrate" yesterday - I ordered 340 trees and shrubs from the DNR. Of course they are little trees 1-3 year olds - but thre is quite a variety with the Wildlife Packet and the Outdoor Lab Packet. I am looking forward to planting them. This is the third place we have lived where we have planted trees like this.

I have also ordered over a pound of wildflower seeds - a butterfly/hummingbird mix as well as purple coneflower and various other things (a pound is enough for 2500 sq. feet). The basic thing with the wildflowers is to kill the grass if there is grass - till the soil - perhaps add some other stuff, spread the seeds, walk on them and water occasionally when there isn't rain. This is the time of year to plant them for Southern Indiana - now through April.

So far I have some little iris blooming, some of the daffodils are almost blooming, one of the crocuses is blooming. (Update - that was early in the day - by late afternoon there were 9 crocuses blooming and lots of daffodils in bloom - spurned on by the warm 76 degree day). (2nd update - the crocuses only lasted a day - apparently it was too warm for them to keep blooming and they shriveled up - the daffodils are doing well, though). Some of the lillies I planted last year are coming up - it looks like something - deer? - has been eating the shoots. Hopefully there will be enough other stuff to eat and they will leave them alone now.

In the woods - McCormick's Creek - a week ago - there were white trilliums blooming. I want to get there once a week and watch the progress of the wildflowers in the woods. Today - the purple trillium were sending up leaves. A few "Spring Beauty" were in bloom.