The Head-Scratching Case of the Vanishing Bees

  NY Times Article and Video         

I read and reviewed an article called “The Head-Scratching Case of the Vanishing Bees” written by a New York Times author named Clyde Haberman.  The article was about the struggles bee keepers have to maintain many healthy colonies of bees.  The bees are dying or leaving the colony due to unknown reasons.  One bee keeper lost 400 colonies in just one day. Across the country bee keepers are losing up to ninety percent of their colonies. The problem is not the queen, but the worker bees that just leave. Over the last two years over 600,000 colonies have been lost or died out.  Also, in the winter, when the bees normally louse five to ten percent of the population, bees have been losing up to thirty percent. In the US people call the problem the Colony Collapse Disorder, while in Britain it is called the Mary Celeste Syndrome. The cause for the bees’ deaths is still undetermined. However, there are many theories. Some say that it is cellphone towers or genetically modified crops. Most, however, blame pesticides. Neonicotinoids or neonics for short is one pesticide most commonly blamed. It is a systemic chemical that goes from the plants base to its flowers. When bees are affected by it, it can cloud their brain and they might forget where home is. The chemical was banned in Europe for the same reason, but France who had already banned it did not see better results with the bees. Other theories include a parasite called Varroa Destructor which can damage a bee’s immune system. An expert, Jeffery S. Pettis, said that Varroa Destructor is a bee plague. A final Theory is that the bees are too tired and stressed from their shipment across the country.

           

This article is very important because it show the problem with the bees. The bees might be a small worry but they help to pollinate a ton of our food. They pollinate apples, blueberries, avocados, soybeans, strawberries and more. According to the US department of Agriculture one third of the food we eat depends on bee pollination. Besides that, there are billions of dollars tied up in to the business which sell and produce the food, every year. Without the bees we would not have many foods that are plants. The bees help to keep business afloat and without them the economy will suffer.  

 

The article was written very well. The article had a nice flow to it and all of the authors thoughts were organized in to neat paragraphs.  The article also had good sentences, which were written in a way that is easy to understand. The author included many facts that were helpful. To improve the article the author could have included more quotes. Overall the author did a good job and helped to keep me informed.