[Taxacom] honeybees dying off

[Ken Kinman]

Geoff,
     Thanks for the links.  Unfortunately the USDA website does not mention 
Nosema ceranae at all.  And they refer to Nosema apis as a "protozoan", 
which is incorrect (such microsporidians are actually members of 
Eumycota/Fungi).  I've heard that the USDA has started looking into the 
Nosema ceranae problem, but the best available information for North America 
seems to be coming from university agriculture researchers (especially at 
Kentucky State, Penn State, and perhaps Purdue).

    European researchers apparently recognized the problem even earlier 
(perhaps because Europeans named and described N. ceranae back in 1996), not 
to mention Asian workers (where Nosema ceranae actually originated).  As far 
as I can tell, Australia, New Zealand, and Ireland have kept it out of their 
countries so far.  The advantage of being an island in the age of 
globalization (biotic and otherwise)!!

    Anyway, it is still being debated whether Nosema ceranae is actually 
causing these bee colonies to crash, or if they are opportunists attacking 
hives that are already sick from something else.  Since the CDC already 
studies the Nosema species which cause human disease, I would think they 
would be an ideal central repository for information and tracing the spread 
of Nosema ceranae.  If the government doesn't put out good information, the 
vacuum is filled by wild ideas about sunspots and cellphones confusing the 
bees (unless someone can show that the bees in places like New Zealand and 
Ireland are somehow immune to such radiation-induced effects).   :-)
    -----Ken Kinman

*********************************
>From: "Geoff Read" <g.read at niwa.co.nz>
>Reply-To: g.read at niwa.co.nz
>To: taxacom at mailman.nhm.ku.edu
>Subject: Re: [Taxacom] honeybees dying off
>Date: Wed, 25 Apr 2007 18:57:59 +1200 (NZST)
>
>
> >       Correction to my post.  The name is spelled Nosema ceranae (not
> > caranae).  I decided to try searching the USDA website, and no hits 
>there
> > either.  What other government agency might one expect to be involved in
> > this problem?
>
>Dear Ken,
>
>I found some USDA Ag research bee guys info on your Nosema and other probs.
>
>http://www.ars.usda.gov/Services/docs.htm?docid=2851
>
>Some sceptical comment on the phones versus bees at:
>
>http://www.biotunes.org/bioblog/2007/04/cell-phone-use-and-bees.html
>
>Geoff
>

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