
{"id":546,"date":"2007-07-05T07:36:35","date_gmt":"2007-07-05T15:36:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.carrborocitizen.com\/main\/2007\/07\/05\/what%e2%80%99s-the-buzz-about-bees\/"},"modified":"2007-07-05T07:36:35","modified_gmt":"2007-07-05T15:36:35","slug":"what%e2%80%99s-the-buzz-about-bees","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/2007\/07\/05\/what%e2%80%99s-the-buzz-about-bees\/","title":{"rendered":"What\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the buzz about bees?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.carrborocitizen.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/07\/bees.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.carrborocitizen.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/07\/bees.jpg\" height=\"244\" width=\"279\" \/><\/a><br \/>\n<em>Joe Flowers, a researcher at North Carolina State University, describes the inside of a hive at a recent demonstation at Weaver Street Market. Photo by Kirk Ross<br \/>\n<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em><strong>By Susan Dickson<br \/>\n<\/strong>Staff Writer<strong><br \/>\n<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p>As the number of honeybee hives around the world steadily declines, farmers, beekeepers and scientists are trying to spread the word about the importance of bees and pollination.<\/p>\n<p>Last week was National Pollinator Week, and local beekeepers and experts hosted educational events throughout the area.<\/p>\n<p>At Weaver Street Market on Thursday, onlookers viewed a bee cage and talked with experts from N.C. State University, the North Carolina Cooperative Extension and the Orange County Beekeepers\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 Association.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 <!--more--><\/p>\n<p>Participants also toured the produce section of Weaver Street, while experts explained which crops are pollinated by honeybees and the effects of pollination on the state\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s<br \/>\neconomy.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153About a third of what we eat is reliant on honeybees,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d said David Tarpy, an assistant professor of entomology at N.C. State and an extension apiculturist. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Without the pollination, you don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t get the food.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p>According to Tarpy, the top five North Carolina crops reliant on pollination are cucumbers, apples, blueberries, melons and squash.<\/p>\n<p>However, over the past 20 years, the number of hives worldwide has declined from between approximately 3.5 to 3.75 million to 2.25 to 2.5 million, Tarpy said. Scientists have not yet determined what\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s causing the decline.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153My guess is it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s going to be a combination of different factors and it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s going to be hard to pin down,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Tarpy said. He added that factors including the environment, nutrition, beekeeper management practices and disease and parasites could be causing the decline in hives.<\/p>\n<p>The varroa mite \u00e2\u20ac\u201c a parasitic mite that can only reproduce in honeybee colonies \u00e2\u20ac\u201c has been particularly harmful to bees, and hives of honeybees no longer exist in the wild, Tarpy said.<\/p>\n<p>In addition, entire hives of bees have been disappearing lately \u00e2\u20ac\u201c a condition known as colony collapse disorder. The cause of the disappearance is not yet known, and while bee experts have theories, the disorder is widely debated.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Crucial beekeeping<\/strong><br \/>\nBecause hives are so delicate, beekeepers are extremely important to the survival of the honeybee and pollination, Tarpy said. He encourages people to become beekeepers to help prevent the decline of the pollinator population.<\/p>\n<p>Beekeeping has become more popular in the area in recent years, according to Jack Tapp, owner of Busy Bee Apiaries in Chapel Hill. Tapp, who is an engineer, said he knows beekeepers who are doctors,\u00c2\u00a0 dentists, farmers and students.<\/p>\n<p>In addition, North Carolina has the largest beekeeping association in the country, with more than 1,900 members. The association sponsors beekeeping education classes around the state. New beekeepers can get started with the help of the association and commercial beekeepers, like Tapp\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Busy Bee Apiaries.<\/p>\n<p>Tapp started Busy Bee Apiaries in 1998. He now has 3,300 hives, including 1,000 dedicated to pollination and 2,300 to raise queens. In addition, Busy Bee Apiaries sells beekeeping supplies and honey.<\/p>\n<p>According to Tapp, most beekeepers around here are hobbyists \u00e2\u20ac\u201c meaning they keep ten or fewer hives for pollinating gardens or producing small amounts of honey. Tapp said he himself started beekeeping as a hobby.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I grew up on a farm, and it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s hard to get that out of your blood,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153We have a lot of fun with [beekeeping].\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p>Now Tapp takes his bees to pollinate farms across the state. Many of those farms, he said, are quite dependent on his bees and their pollination.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153A major part of our business is pollination,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153We take bees to the fields, and they do their job.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Once they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve pollinated that crop, we take them to another crop.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p>Tapp said the biggest part of their business, however, is raising queen bees, which they ship all over the country. Tapp breeds Minnesota hygienic queens, which tend to keep the hives clean and are more resistant to mites.<\/p>\n<p>Even if a queen is resistant to mites, Sevin Dust \u00e2\u20ac\u201c a pesticide that resembles pollen \u00e2\u20ac\u201c can destroy the entire hive.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s really detrimental to the beekeeping industry,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Tapp said. Because the dust looks like pollen, the bees pick it up and bring it back to their hives.<\/p>\n<p>Tapp said he hasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t seen any evidence of colony collapse disorder in his hives. He speculated that the disorder was caused by beekeepers feeding the bees too much cornstarch when the bees are unable to get protein through pollen due to drought. The imbalance in diet could have caused the disorder, Tapp said.<\/p>\n<p>However, he added, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153 As long as it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s working the way it is for us, we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re going to keep doing what we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re doing.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Joe Flowers, a researcher at North Carolina State University, describes the inside of a hive at a recent demonstation at Weaver Street Market. Photo by Kirk Ross By Susan Dickson Staff Writer As the number of honeybee hives around the world steadily declines, farmers, beekeepers and scientists are trying to spread the word about the&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-546","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-features"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/546","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=546"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/546\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=546"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=546"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=546"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}