"These mites decrease the honeybee lifespan to almost nothing," he said. "Many bees never emerge. When they do emerge, they're so weakened or deformed that they're nonfunctional. They don't contribute to the output of the colony, and the whole population crashes and dies.
"If there had been tracheal mites only, there's a good chance the wild honeybee populations could have recovered fairly quickly. But with the combined effects of the tracheal mites and varroa mites, it became too much of a challenge for bee populations to maintain themselves."
Small and medium-sized fruit and vegetable growers and backyard gardeners will likely be hardest hit by the wild honeybee blight, Tew said.
"The decimation of honeybees in the wild means that honeybees are now a scarce commodity," he said. "Large professional growers can still rent colonies of bees for crop pollination and have them trucked long distances. It's small and mid-sized growers who are going to feel the pinch first. They're going to have difficulty competing with large growers for scarce honeybee colonies."
These small and medium-sized growers are also likely to lose out to a safer and more lucrative activity for beekeepers, Tew said -- honey production.
"The price of honey has doubled in the last 18 months," he said. "In many cases, honeybees will be redirected into honey production rather than crop pollination. It's a less risky business decision for the beekeeper."
Backyard gardeners will notice the effects of the honeybee blight
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Contact: James E. Tew
Tew.1@osu.edu
216-345-3684
Ohio State University
11-Jul-1996