By 112 Study Guide

Silence of the Bees: • How do bees communicate? Bees communicate through dance (the waggle dance). A methodic combination of buzzing, moving the behind in a figure-eight fashion that informs other bees about pollen/ food that is found in a particular area. • Why are bees so important to the U.S. agriculture industry? Honeybees are the most important pollinator on the planet. They pollinate crops, which in turn creates food to eat. What percentage of the industry do bees account for? They account for one-third (more than 30%) of the food that is produced in America. They pollinate at least 100 of our most important crops (cotton, fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, etc.) • What are some natural dangers to the bee industry? Natural dangers to the bee industry would be natural disasters (wildfires, hurricanes, tornados), wild animals (mainly bears) • What is considered adequate pollination?

• What is CCD? Colony Collapse Disorder. This is a phenomenon in which worker bees from a beehive/colony abruptly disappear. When did it become a noticeable problem? Winter 2006 is when the issue was noticed, but it wasn’t until the following spring that it was named CCD and was being researched heavily. • What are characteristics of CCD versus other hive disturbances/illnesses? The bees are completely vanishing, as opposed to a mite infestation where the bees would be crawling on the ground. Also, other insects leave infected hives untouched • What types of crops are affected by CCD? A lot of crops are affected, all the crops that are pollinated by bees! In the video, blueberries, oranges, apples, cantaloupes (travel 55 hundred miles per year). • Where do we get new bee colonies in the U.S. for industry use? We import bees from Australia. The Australian bees are the bees that could have potentially carried CCD to the US. • What are factors thought to possibly contribute to CCD? Pesticides (which impair bees ability to learn causing them to forget their way back