Update on Honeybees and CCD

This week's ARS Newslink, produced by the Agricultural Research Service, has an update on work being done to understand the causes and impacts of Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD). A survey done this year indicated that more than a third of beekeepers in the USA had at least one honeybee colony where all adult bees were lost, a key symptom of CCD. Unfortunately, the cause behind these losses continues to elude biologists. To address this, the ARS Bee Research Laboratory in Maryland has enlisted beekeepers to allow regular sampling of healthy hives, with the hope that studying these hives will help researchers understand what causes CCD when it does occur.

For more information about Colony Collapse Disorder, check out the full article in the May/June 2008 issue of Agricultural Research magazine.