Asian parasite killing Western bees: scientist

Asian parasite killing Western bees: scientist

www.reuters.com

MADRID (Reuters) - A parasite common in Asian bees has spread to Europe and the Americas and is behind the mass disappearance of honeybees in many countries, says a Spanish scientist who has been studying the phenomenon for years.

The culprit is a microscopic parasite called nosema ceranae said Mariano Higes, who leads a team of researchers at a government-funded apiculture centre in Guadalajara, the province east of Madrid that is the heartland of Spain's honey industry.

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Bees are disappearing!

Scientists believe they have found the cause for the mass disappearance of bees. Rather more mundane than some of the speculation here on ATS, it is apparently attributed to the nosema ceranae parasite.

www.reuters.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

Originally posted by Implosion Scientists believe they have found the cause for the mass disappearance of bees. Rather more mundane than some of the speculation here on ATS, it is apparently attributed to the nosema ceranae parasite.

Unless, of course, it's all part of an evil scheme to undermine Western agriculture so that we are forced to buy their cardboard-stuffed steamed dumplings. Coincidence? I think not!

Hey, if I'm gonna fall victim to fits of paranoia...it may as well be here on this site, right?

Well this is interesting I hope you can keep us at ATS informed of this. Strange suff strange times!

I read about this on a news site. It is easy to treat the hives for this type of parasite so we'll know if that works in the near future.

If you are a beekeeper and protecting you hives is cheap wouldn't you do it?

I know that I would.

I don't know if it's the bad weather but I can honestly say I've only seen two honey bees this year. The reason I remember them is that the first one was in my way as I tried to get in my shed. It just hovered three feet off the ground and stayed there for the good part of an hour. It was like it couldn't make up it's mind which way to go. The other I remember because it was very small. There does seem to be a shortage IMO.No worries about the bumble bee though, I've seen hundreds.