Beewitched, Beeothered and Beewildered

Wise at last
My eyes at last
Are cutting you down to your size at last
Bewitched, bothered and bewildered no more

Burned a lot
But learned a lot
And now you are broke, though you earned a lot
Bewitched, bothered and bewildered no more

Couldn't eat
Was dyspeptic
Life was so hard to bear;
Now my heart's antiseptic
Since you moved out of there
(Lorenz Hart/Richard Rodgers, Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered (From Pal Joey))

The bees are coming! The bees are coming! No, wait. That's wrong. The bees are going, the bees are going! I posted about the sudden disappearance of bees reported by beekeepers all across the US and now in Europe. The reports of which are becoming more breathless every day. Today comes this - er - interesting speculation from the Independent. Are cell phones causing the disrupting in beehives everywhere? (And it completely speculative. The "proof" they offer up sounds like a high school level "gee what if….." bull session.

The alarm was first sounded last autumn, but has now hit half of all American states. The West Coast is thought to have lost 60 per cent of its commercial bee population, with 70 per cent missing on the East Coast.

CCD has since spread to Germany, Switzerland, Spain, Portugal, Italy and Greece. And last week John Chapple, one of London's biggest bee-keepers, announced that 23 of his 40 hives have been abruptly abandoned.

Other apiarists have recorded losses in Scotland, Wales and north-west England, but the Department of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs insisted: "There is absolutely no evidence of CCD in the UK."

The implications of the spread are alarming. Most of the world's crops depend on pollination by bees. Albert Einstein once said that if the bees disappeared, "man would have only four years of life left".

No one knows why it is happening. Theories involving mites, pesticides, global warming and GM crops have been proposed, but all have drawbacks.

German research has long shown that bees' behaviour changes near power lines.

Now a limited study at Landau University has found that bees refuse to return to their hives when mobile phones are placed nearby. Dr Jochen Kuhn, who carried it out, said this could provide a "hint" to a possible cause.

Dr George Carlo, who headed a massive study by the US government and mobile phone industry of hazards from mobiles in the Nineties, said: "I am convinced the possibility is real."

Nice sound bites. Great catchy new acronym. Scientific proof: zero. The study showing the bees shun hives when cell phones are near could well be attributable to the fact that the bees aren't taking calls. This sounds snarky - it is - but it could be exactly the same level of scientific rigor as the Independent reports. (We'd prefer the theory that bees are going on spring break to the Gulf Coast to sunbathe in beekinis. But we're funny that way.) Glenn Reynolds has a few very interesting links about this article that are really worth taking a look at. This "new phenomenon" may be nothing of the sort and may, in fact, be nothing - whatsoever - out of the ordinary. Bee vacations have happened, rather often, in the past. Maybe they get a great group rate on travel every now and then.

It may be the end of the world as we know it, but it may have nothing to do with reality of the world. The media's reporting of the real world, as opposed to their interpretation of the world, is a bit spotty at times.

UPDATE: The end of the world as we know it is more apt than I thought. For all the people cheerfully repeating the media shtick about "much of the world's crops" being pollinated by bees, I found this tidbit from Ohio State University. These are some of the crops that rely on bees, according to that respected institution:

Liliaceae (Allium)
Asparagus
Chive
Garlice
Leek
Onion
Malvaceae
Okra
Cruciferae
Broccoli
Brussels sprouts
Cabbage
Cauliflower
Chinese cabbage
Collard
Horseradish
Kale
Kohlrabi
Mustard
Radish
Rape
Rutabaga
Turnip

Nowhere on the list are corn, soybeans or wheat.  (please, do take a look at the full list. Are there things that people would miss - a lot - on that list? Yup. I like asparagus. Would I (or you) starve without it? Not unless you are hopelessly addicted to kohlrabi.

Other Links to this Post

1. Go Pundit Go » Blog Archive » A barrage of bees — Thursday, 19 April , 2007 @ 4:14 pm