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Scientists identify culprit behind biggest-ever U.S. honey bee die-off

(www.science.org)
186 points pseudolus | 1 comments | 01 Jul 25 10:35 UTC | HN request time: 0s | source
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GeekyBear ◴[01 Jul 25 15:05 UTC] No.44434645[source]▶
The standard practice for commercial crops is to bring in commercial hives of bees for pollination season that are shipped together via truck from crop to crop and region to region.

https://sweetharvestfoods.com/the-commercial-honey-bee-trave...

That sounds like a great opportunity to spread the resistant parasites from hive to hive and region to region.

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humblebeekeeper ◴[01 Jul 25 15:35 UTC] No.44434963[source]▶
This has been the practice for more than a century. We saw the steepest declines post 2000s. While it almost certainly isn't helping, it's not the one root cause.
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1. GeekyBear ◴[01 Jul 25 16:01 UTC] No.44435263[source]▶
The practice wouldn't be problematic until after the parasites you are shipping with the hives evolve pesticide resistance/immunity.

As soon as that gene arises, spreading it across the country becomes a bad idea.