Where the Bees Aren’t
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Don’t you just love Connie Francis puns?
According to MAAREC (Mid-Atlantic Apiary) at Penn State University, a new link has been found between a virus called IAPV (Israeli Acute Paralysis Virus) and the mysterious CCD (colony collapse disorder) which has been blamed for the rapid and mysterious disappearance of entire bee colonies in the U.S., Europe, and elsewhere in the world.
Since bees are an essential part of the pollination process at virtually all scales of agriculture, the problem is potentially extremely serious and has garnered a large measure of attention internationally.
MAAREC researchers are advising beekeepers that, while IAPV is not yet confirmed as a direct cause of CCD, a new study in Science has found that it is present in all cases of CCD and absent in all healthy colonies that were surveyed. This being the case, IAPV appears to be the most reliable indicator of CCD found to date. The study says that, in the US, IAPV was found in colonies imported from Australia and in royal jelly from China (another Chinese recall? Just kidding, just joshin’.)
