Another alien species invades Hawai'i

[Miulang]

Agricultural officials now concerned about a new invasive species that has been discovered on Oahu that has the potential of harming Hawai'i's honeybee population. Called the bee mite (http://www.thehawaiichannel.com/news/11719728/detail.html), it thrives by sucking blood from bees and their pupae and larvae.

I didn't realize that honeybees raised in Hawai'i were being used to stock hives around the country. Beekeepers regarded Hawai'i bees as being untainted by diseases because of Hawai'i's geographic isolation. Now that the bee mite has been discovered, however, it means that Hawai'i's bee stocks might not be used in the future to help replenish hives on CONUS and elsewhere, where unexplained losses of millions of bees dying from a phenomenon called colony collapse disorder (http://money.cnn.com/2007/03/29/news/honeybees/) is causing major concern for scientists.

Miulang

[timkona]

Colony Collapse Disorder is likely caused by corn syrup, used to feed the bees, manufactured from GMO corn that contains a pesticide gene.

Bee Mites are currently only on Oahu, which is upwind of Hawaii. Lucky for us.

The lowly bee as the downfall of earth ecology. Sounds like a Koontz novel.

[Miulang]

Colony Collapse Disorder is likely caused by corn syrup, used to feed the bees, manufactured from GMO corn that contains a pesticide gene.

Bee Mites are currently only on Oahu, which is upwind of Hawaii. Lucky for us.

The lowly bee as the downfall of earth ecology. Sounds like a Koontz novel.

And since corn syrup is a pervasive ingredient in many manufactured foods we consume, could we suffer the same fate as the bees?:eek: And this phenomenon, along with the abnormal freezes now going on in the midwest, immediately brought to mind this song (http://www.guntheranderson.com/v/data/naturesw.htm)by Spirit.

Miulang

[Miulang]

Updated story from PBN (http://pacific.bizjournals.com/pacific/stories/2007/04/09/daily46.html?surround=lfn) about the alien infestation of local honeybees: the DoA is now quarantining all local honeybee colonies (commercial or feral) until they have been inspected by ag agents. This particular bee mite has been decimating colonies all over CONUS and Canada recently, and with the double whammy of the disappearance of millions of bees due to colony collapse disorder, is creating major havoc for farmers.

If the mites that are attacking the honeybees are not controlled, not only would Hawai'i's reputation as the premier supplier of honeybee colonies to the world be destroyed, but local crops like cucumber and melons would be adversely impacted.

Miulang

[Menehune Man]

Oh no, this is a bummer.

I wonder how the mites arrived here? By the sounds of it we ship bees out not in, so hmmmm.

[LikaNui]

I wonder how the mites arrived here? Good question, but they sure didn't arrive on the SuperFerry!


:o

[joshuatree]

Good question, but they sure didn't arrive on the SuperFerry!


:o

Does Hawaii import any bees? If no, my next guess would be stowaway bees/insects on shipping containers. Mites, as far as I know (or rather what little I know), has to be around bees and a few other insects.

[timkona]

Such a simple scenario for an informed terrorist to wreak havoc.

Bee mites....in a test tube....who would have thunk????