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0 pointssmallnamespace9y ago0 comments

https://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R43191.pdf

Page 10

“Long-term population trends for the honey bee, the most important managed pollinator, are demonstrably downward.”

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Cite the whole context of that quote! They're referring to trends since the 1940s.

The varroa mite literally wiped out the feral honeybee population in the US. There are no more North American feral honeybees! Of course the long-term population trend is downward!

smallnamespaceOP9y ago

I'm not an academic researcher so I don't have the raw data that you want, but I think it's worth not missing the forest for the trees.

Bee populations have been demonstrably stressed for a very long time, and CCD and other more recent developments are yet another sign.

The need for beekeepers to aggressively split hives is a sign that things are going very badly for them, even if we manage to raise the number of colonies in the short term.

Note that there are plenty of other parts of our ecosystem that show signs of severe stress as well (e.g. amphibians, coral reefs, etc.); we may very well reach a tipping point where large swaths of various food chains catastrophically collapse.

tptacek9y ago

I'm sorry, but respectfully, you've provided neither forest nor trees. I'm not an academic researcher either, but I feel as if I'm one of the few people on this thread that has heard of a varroa mite, or knows apis mellifera's actual role in the North American ecosystem. All I did was look stuff up. Can't everyone else do the same thing?

The 2006 date cited for CCD isn't the government acknowledging CCD. It's the first published reports of CCD in commercial colonies. It's not a giant conspiracy.

It's also worth knowing that overwintering losses stabilized after 2006, and commercial populations hit record numbers afterwards.

Clearly, there are bee stressors other than "colony collapse disorder". But beepocolypse advocates use the term "CCD" as a cudgel in any discussion about stressors or population losses. No, can't do that.

I don't need perfect data. Any data will do.

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tptacek9y ago

Cite the whole context of that quote! They're referring to trends since the 1940s.

The varroa mite literally wiped out the feral honeybee population in the US. There are no more North American feral honeybees! Of course the long-term population trend is downward!

smallnamespaceOP9y ago

I'm not an academic researcher so I don't have the raw data that you want, but I think it's worth not missing the forest for the trees.

Bee populations have been demonstrably stressed for a very long time, and CCD and other more recent developments are yet another sign.

The need for beekeepers to aggressively split hives is a sign that things are going very badly for them, even if we manage to raise the number of colonies in the short term.

tptacek9y ago

The 2006 date cited for CCD isn't the government acknowledging CCD. It's the first published reports of CCD in commercial colonies. It's not a giant conspiracy.

It's also worth knowing that overwintering losses stabilized after 2006, and commercial populations hit record numbers afterwards.

I don't need perfect data. Any data will do.

2 more replies

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse