Casual Analysis M - Grade: B PDF

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Causal analysis of final paper for the semester....

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Katja Gonzalez Sarah Buchmeier English 161 2016/10/25 Problem: Influx in the decline of honey bees Over the past few decades’ farms, instead of having multiple crops, have become only home to one or two producers for that entire farm. However, looking at this from a pollinators’ prospective it is not as simple. In order to maintain a healthy life, bees need to ingest a mixture of plants to attain different pollens. An occurring example of this are watermelon crops. A good example that Bale went over was watermelon crops, they are unable to’ give all the necessary nutrients to the bees however when living in a mono-crop field such as this we are forcing the bees to not obtain all their necessary nutrients. This is due to bees not having any time to forage in surrounding fields to obtain other essential pollens for their health. Thus, leading to their decline in health, making them more at risk for illness. Comparably, those bees that do live on farms with multiple crops are seen to live longer healthier lives. Another reasoning behind why honey bees find it hard to achieve the right amount of pollens can be seen from the fact that they are a nonnative species. This would suggest that they are in competition with our native bumblebees for the best

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pollens.ADD! The second cause of the decrease in bees can be found from what we use to make our plants grow and maintain their health, whether on a mono-crop or multi-crop farm. Pesticides on farms have been used for decades to help prevent unwanted species around crops. A type of pesticide that is widely used known as the neonicotinoids (neonics) have become a great fighter against the lives of honey bees. Compared to normal pesticides, neonics are applied to the seed before they are ever planted into the soil so that the pesticides grow with the plant. According to Brandi of the American Beekeeping Federation when the state of California applied almost 129,000 pounds of neonics, he suffered major losses of his honey bee populations. He suffered these losses because his bees were going to these newly pesticide covered crops and pollinating them. When any insect chooses to eat this plant, they will also ingest the neonic. Neonicotinoid name literally mean “new nicotine-like insecticides” (Insects in the city). Neonnics being similar to nicotine, can block neurotransmitters which would normally allow for enzymes to build in the brain. This leads to an overexcitement of the nerves causing paralysis then death. Per a recent study “nonlethal doses can be seen to wreak havoc on bee’s brains, messing with their sense of direction” (Woodcock). This can make it easier for honeybees to obtain diseases, poor health, and even cause bad

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reactions to cold weather. The most commonly known and studied problem of the bee decline is the parasitic infestation of their hives. The main parasite that affect bees is known as the varroa destructor mite. According to the US Department of Agriculture varroa mites have infested hives all over the globe, deteriorating bees’ immune systems and introducing them to diseases that they would not have obtained by themselves. The things that these mites are capable of are sucking the hemolymph (similar to blood) and allowing passage for over a dozen viruses into colonies. This makes diseases that would normally be easy to control, uncontrollable. The viruses that the varroa mites pass along can cause deformed wings and paralysis. Factors that are considered quite dangerous for bees because they would be unable to forage for their hive. The worst part about these varroa mites are that they develop resistance; this makes way for a wide use of different mite controlling pesticides that can be toxic to bees. The treatment of varroa mites is similar to that of chemotherapy. The chemicals that they have used to kill off the varroa mites will accumulate in the beeswax. A 2006 study from USDA’s Bee Research Laboratory found that with this build up it can cause a weak queen and/or even prevent a queen’s larva from developing. As previously stated without a new queen to take position in the hive, the colony will surely come to be destroyed. When the varroa mites

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are present it is almost sure that the population will not be able to survive what is to come next. The most famous phenomenon is known as the colony collapse disorder (CCD), it is when a bee colony becomes completely helpless and dies. It is a mixture of all the causes that I have mentioned previously; pesticides, poor nutrition, and parasites, in addition to an uncertainty that is at play. These causalities are of the leading factors that scientists have found that led to the drop-in bee colonies. They had dropped from 4 million to about 2.5 million. Research shows that a similar phenomenon such as this happens not only in the US, but also in Europe as well. In fact, hundreds of years back they had a similar occurrence and although that has faded, they have still noticed a decline in their colonies. The belief is that the CCD is caused by a multitude of factors but mainly that of climate change which can alter the susceptibility for bees to gain various types of diseases. This means that when the bees become ill they are much more ill than they would have been if not for being around pesticides, not eating well and being introduced to pesticides.

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Work Cited Bees and Agriculture Editor “Journey with Nature – Bee’s and Agriculture” Nature.org Web. Bale Rachel “Everything You Wanted to Know About the Bee Die-off.” Revealhew.org Web. 20 Feb. 2015 Genetic Literary Project Group “Beeocalypse Myth Handbook: Disseeting Claims About Pollinator Collapse” Genetic Literary Project, 28 July 2016 Pacífico da Silva, Idalécio, et al. "Pesticide Exposure Of Honeybees ( Apis Mellifera) Pollinating Melon Crops." Apidologie 46.6 (2015): 703-715. Academic Search Complete. Web. 15 Sept. 2016. Spencer Michaels, “What’s Behind the Problem of Disappearing Bees?” pbs.org Web. 28 July 2011 Wines, Micheal. “A Sharp Spike in Honeybee Deaths Deepens a Worrisome Trend” The New York Times. May 14, 2015. Woodcock, B. A. et al. Impacts of neonicotinoid use on long-term population changes in wild bees in England. Nat. Commun. 7:12459 doi: 10.1038/ncomms12459 (2016)...