Dark Banquet - Bill Schutt [83]
The original researchers were clearly not amused. According to Dr. Wolfgang Harst, the lead author, “This evolved as a case study for us in the new ‘copy and paste’ journalism.” Harst slammed “the erroneous depiction of our study,” from “faulty facts” about the study itself, to the claim that “handsets are to blame for ‘colony collapse.’” He informed me that the follow-up study is set for publication in the journal Environmental Systems Research and that “although the findings are not so ‘alarming’ or ‘breathtaking’ as in 2005, the differences we found between the full irradiated and non-exposed bees were significant.”
A number of researchers have published studies strongly suggesting that CCD is caused instead by a virus transmitted to bees (and/or activated) by Varroa destructor, the previously mentioned, hemolymph-sucking bee parasite.
Two closely related viruses have been implicated: Kashmir bee virus and Israeli acute paralysis virus.*130 These viruses are thought to be common infective agents within bee colonies (approximately eighteen bee viruses have been described) until stress or another problem (like Varroa) causes them to become epidemic and lethal.
“They’ve been selectively breeding different honey bee strains for years—for traits like mild temper, honey production, and resistance to mites,” said Kim Grant, biologist and beekeeper. “It’s certainly possible they’ve also bred in some things they hadn’t planned on—like susceptibility to some of these bee viruses or compromised immune systems.”
Currently, scientists are trying to determine methods to stop the spread of CCD—many of which involve Varroa. These include the development of new miticides and the introduction of Varroa- resistant bees into European and American bee colonies. Clearly, though, beekeepers and farmers are taking CCD extremely seriously since the potential exists for a global nightmare should the world’s bee populations disappear.
Scientist and New York Times best-selling author Dr. Charles Pellegrino, a polymath whose novel Dust took an apocalyptic view of what would happen should the earth’s insects go extinct, was less than optimistic about the ramifications of a honey bee extinction event.
“So what do you think is causing this?” I asked him in the spring of 2007, as we sat on my favorite bench in Washington Square Park.
“The feeling from people I’ve talked to with the CDC is that weakened bee immune systems seem to be the issue here, with mite infestations more of a secondary symptom.”
“What’s compromising their immune systems—cell phones?”
There was a pause and Dr. Pellegrino frowned. “You’re kidding me, right?”
I shrugged.
“Well, it’s still a bit of a poser,” he continued. “If it’s a viral agent like they’re saying—even something akin to ‘bee AIDS’—then I’m not terribly worried. Viruses usually adapt very quickly to their hosts—and a bad parasite usually ends up dead, inside its dead host. A viral problem can be expected to quickly self-correct.”
“You mean evolve into a nonlethal strain?”
“Right. But if it’s a fungus weakening their immune systems, that could be much more problematic.”
“Why’s that?”
“Fungi adapt more slowly than viruses or bacteria. Plus they’re resistant to all but the sorts of antimicrobial agents that would kill the bees as well as their parasites.”
I figured it was time to bring out the big guns. “What would happen if all the bees went extinct because of CCD?”
Dr. Pellegrino gave a chuckle, but there was no humor