Mass honeybee deaths go unabated in US hives

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Feb 7: A malady that's killed billions of bees since 2006, threatening about $15 billion in pollinated crops, has been detected again, according to the US Department of Agriculture's top honeybee researcher.

The effects of the renewed onset of Colony Collapse Disorder won't be known until month's end, when California almond growers begin assessing the quality of crop pollination, said Jeffery Pettis, research leader of the USDA's bee laboratory in Beltsville, Maryland. Tests of bee colonies are showing a nationwide recurrence of the disorder, he said.

"We're still losing a great number of bees, and we still don't know why," Pettis said on Wednesday in a telephone interview. "We're still trying to find patterns."

The disorder, characterised by mass disappearances or deaths of bees with devastated immune systems, affected about a quarter of all US hive keepers in 2006 and 2007. Left unchecked, the loss of honeybees may affect the availability and price of pollinated crops such as almonds, the USDA has said.

Almonds were the ninth-biggest US crop in value in 2006 at about $2 billion. The trees bearing the nuts require the services of most domestic commercial hives, as beekeepers truck their colonies cross-country for growers. Farmers have also imported bees from Australia since 2005 to replenish supplies.

Anecdotal reports from growers indicate sufficient supplies of bees this year, said Marsha Venable, spokeswoman for the Almond Board of California in Modesto. The USDA's first report on this year's almond crop is set for release in May.