Pesticide-Resistant Mites and Viruses Blamed for Honey Bee Die-Off Crisis
Scientists identify culprit behind biggest-ever U.S. honey bee die-off.
The findings, recently published in a preprint on the bioRxiv server, point a very clear finger at a devastating combination of factors: viruses spread by parasitic mites, compounded by the mites’ resistance to the only effective pesticide available. This is a serious situation, and it’s easy to see why. Honeybees are, essentially, livestock in modern agriculture. We move them all over the country to pollinate crops, and the Varroa mite is a highly effective disease vector. This means a highly efficient disease vector is now spreading rapidly among a highly social species being transported across the country.… Continue reading
Matt Underwood