Bee Colony Collapse Disorder

From Classbrain.com

Political Cartoons
Bee Colony Collapse Disorder
By Cartoon: O'Farrell, The Illawarra Mercury, Australia
Project: Cynthia Kirkeby, ClassBrain
Nov 4, 2007, 21:15 PST

No More Bees - Bee Colony Collapse Disorder

Bee keepers across the country have been perplexed by the disappearance of their bees. Opening up their hives, they have encountered missing colonies and empty hives with no real explanations forthcoming. The bees have simply disappeared. Bee keepers aren't finding thousands of bees laying around dead, they simply have left their hives and not returned. Since our agricultural crops are dependent on bees for pollination, we may be in real trouble if our bees and other pollinators continue to disappear.

There are some pesticides in use in recent years that are designed to disorient the insects so they can't find their way back to their nests. Unfortunately, bees are also insects, and it appears that they're being effected just as much as the pests.

Questions to Ponder

What will happen if the bees continue to disappear?
Is the colony collapse disorder due to insecticides?
Should Congress intervene and outlaw the use of some of the current pesticides?
Do you think help is coming to late and too little?
If we loose our bee population is there an alternate pollinator?
How would we grow vegetables if there are no bees to pollinate the plants?

Learning Links for the Bee Colony Collapse Disorder

Bee Colony Collapse Disorder
Source: celsias.com
Buzz Kill
Beekeepers discuss what they think may be happening to the millions of bees that have gone missing from their hives.
Source: Washington City Paper
Bee Colony Collapse Disorder
Nicholas W. Calderone, professor of entomology at Cornell University examines the issues surrounding the disappearance of bees across the United States and the phenomenon known as bee colony collapse disorder.
Source: Cornell University