Reblog:Bee Essay

Queen Of the Sun

 

Colony Collapse disorder is the disappearance of the honey bees. The honey bees are dying, because there is not enough food (honey) for the bees. People don't realize that the pesticides such as acetamiprid, clothianidin and imidacloprid, some of the most widely-used pesticides in the world, has roughly tracked rising bee deaths, and those who do notice don't do a thing. Its time they take action, or else we will have no more bees, and what we get from them. 

We don't do anything about this because we think it wont effect us, but it does. People wont do anything about it until bees are actually decreasing, then that is when people will try to do something from stopping Colony Collapse disorder, but it'll already be to late. Farmers, bee keepers, and company workers are noticing how pesticides effect the bees, and plants, such as flowers. And are noticing why we need bees. Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) is a serious problem threatening the health of honey bees and the economic stability of commercial beekeeping and pollination operations in the United States. Despite a number of claims in the general and scientific media, a cause or causes of CCD have not been identified by researchers. The main symptom of CCD is very low or no adult honey bees present in the hive but with a live queen and no dead honey bee bodies present. Often there is still honey in the hive, and immature bees are present. Another harmful issue is Varroa mites ,or mites, a virus-transmitting parasite of honey bees, have frequently been found in hives hit by CCD.

Why should we care about bees you may ask? Bees are  more useful then  you think. They provide foods that we have today. Bees help the flowers, without bees all our flowers will die. Our plants will die, animals, like birds, that feed of plants will die. If they cant complete their jobs our whole ecosystem will fail. Bees are flower feeding insects. Bees need nectar from flowers to survive. We need bees to pollinate flowers for food production. Americans consume 1.5 pounds of honey per person. Bee pollination is responsible for more than $15 billion in increased crop value each year. About one mouthful in three in our diet directly or indirectly benefits from honey bee pollination. Commercial production of many specialty crops like almonds and other tree nuts, berries, fruits and vegetables are dependent on pollinated by honey bees. These are the foods that give our diet diversity, flavor, and nutrition. We look at bees like harmful stingers, and nasty bugs that fly around. We don't look at them as helpers. When really they are. Don't you think its time we help them.

 



Abbie's Seed Story

          Abbie's experience in story of the seed.

Abbie Meyer learned many new things during her experience of story of the seed. She learned that you can grow seeds on just a napkin, and lemon water. Even though Abbie new a lot about planting a seed, she never experienced anything like this. She was surprised how seeds can grow on just a single napkin, and a small amount of lemon water. Watching our collards grow into beautiful plants, really amazed her. Experiencing something like this really got not only Abbie, but the whole team to talk about this amazing experience. Abbie loved the fact that we got to know each other and become not only good teammates, but good friends. Making all those jokes, and talking about our life experiences really gave Abbie a laugh. This gave Abbie a little pause, and started to think about how much more she wants to learn about throughout her years. This is a experience Abbie will never forget.

Blog Post # 8: Reflection of the Year Interview

                                                    Billy's Experience in Story Of the Seed


Billy learned many new things about biology during the Story Of the Seed experience, as well as the others in the group. He learned about plant growth, biodiversity between climates, and how photosynthesis has an effect on the environment. Watching the plants that he and his group started from little tiny seeds on paper napkins to fully grown and beautiful collard plants amazed him. Hanging out with his group while doing fun and interesting labs made the story of the seed experience fun. The events that made him pause and think a little bit deeper was going through the biology and realizing how much he learned of the course of this year. Billy will always remember his experience he had in the story of the seed.

Patricia's Seed Story

Patricia's Story of the Seed Experience

                  While Patricia Silvia already had a tenacious grasp on what biology entailed, in the course of the last semester she found out she had even more to learn. For instance, when we first met and sat down at our lab table for the very first Patricia still remembers the first time we ever laid eyes on out packet of little seedlings. This is when we learn the scientific name and what kind of climate it would need to thrive in. We spent most of that period pouring over the bits of information that the packet had to offer. Moreover onto the actual garden which Patricia remembers enjoying the germination part of the lab because it gave her a chance to really talk with and get to know her teammates. She was moved when our plant first started to grow and we were able to see our product of labor come to life. After that she couldn't help but ask herself are these plants even edible? Patricia remembers silently chuckling to herself and then proceeding back into the classroom. 

                                              

Evolution Webquest

1. Life on Earth began with simple chemistry. But the simple chemistry was not simple. In fact it was very compicated. Life was made from an RNA strand with the code ACUG. A was made through a recipe of life. Part of it joined together on the ground and then it evaporated. When it came down the part joined joined with the other part making A. When A was exposed to sunlight it became U Simple ingredients made these too parts of RNA we just have to find out how C and G were made and then we know how life started.

2.In the evolution in action game it shows clearly how evolution works. If the environment changes to quickly then they cant adapt and they will all die. If they are clumped together they wont be able to feed themselves and they will all die. If they are too isolated they wont wont be able to reproduce well. Without reproduction their species cannot thrive. Only in the right conditions can humans and animals adapt reproduce and thrive. Also genetic variation plays a role because 20 percent of the time a mutation occurs.

Queen Of The Sun

                                                                Be Essay

 Colony collapse disorder is a term used for the sudden disappearance of the honey bees. The bees are dying and there are many reasons why. There is enough food and honey, so it is peculiar to why the bees are leaving. The main causes Colony collapse disorder are pesticides, and the environment. If we do not pay attention to this, the bess will so be no more, and so would everything we get from them.

       Honey bees are so vital to all living things. These little workers can complete a huge job. Honey bees pollinate over 40 percent of the food we consume. Imagine life without the hiner bees, we would have nearly nothing to eat. If the bees die, so will other insects,and when the insects die, the flowers will die. When the flowers die, the plants will begin to die. When the plants die, birds will die, and the animals will have nothing to eat. If the animals and plants die, we will starve. The honey bees practically control all life. If they cannot complete their job, our entire ecosystem will fail. The honey bees are one the the life’s greatest nurturers and fertilizers. But that’s not the end of it. Not only do the bees complete a job, but their honey is sacred. Honey contains natural enzymes and nutrients. In fact, before we had medicines and topical treatments, people used honey for almost everything. Honey has the ability to help externally and internally.

       Bees are dying because of our careless actions. Most of the honey manufacturers are in it for the money, not for the health of our bees. We now feed the bees high fructose corn syrup to strengthen them, which is not at all  good for them. The honey bee population is also decreasing due to our genetic modification of them. Most are now realizing the negative, long term effects of manipulating nature. But that isn’t even the worst part. They really only care for the Queen Bee, which her main duty is breeding. She can carry more larvae inside her than her own weight. But the honey companies mistreat her a lot. They trap the honey bees in a tiny cage and ship them off to someplace where they get manually impregnated by the sperm that was injected to them in a science lab. So the queen bees are forced to make there own babies.

       Pesticides, parasites, and genetic modification are the main reason to why colony collapse disorder is occurring. We spray the flowers with pesticides to eliminate unwanted pests, but these chemicals are also harming the bees. We need the bees to pollinate the flowers, but now they are dying off. Genetic modification is also a big reason. They genetically modify the plant and flower seeds. When the seeds are modified, so are is the pollen. With the lack of pollen nutrients, the bees become malnourished or even poisoned for the chemicals. Parasites play a big role with the honey bee lifetime. The most known one is the varroa mite. This mite lives off the honey bee and suck it's blood, slowly killing it. The varroa mite is common in honey bees. Varroa mite infestations usually begin with the importing of bees from other countries with different standards. Bee keepers try to rid the varroa mites with chemical sprays but while attempting to kill the mites, more pests breed. The bee keepers are now trying to determine whether the bee and fight off the mite on it's own.

       We can make a change to prevent this from happening, but it wont be easy, especially not by ours self if we get communities to work together, we can improve. We can plant, become backyard beekeepers, and create a bee-friendly garden. These changes will make a better life of the bees. I believe it will be very difficult for America to open their eyes about CCD. I honestly think many just won't care. People nowadays are busy, and not a large amount of people have the time to care for the bees, but he bees care for us everyday, with nothing given in return. America will be stunned once most of our environmental life will have vanished. First, life will decrease, then, we will start losing food, lastly, we will start to die. If you really think about it, bees control everything, we just think of them as stingers, but in reality they are much more!

Queen of the Sun Response

Billy Markham
Per 4

Help the Bees

         Through watching the movie i absorbed new information which I and most of the population of earth had never heard of.  The movie revealed startling and surprising facts the directly affects everyone and yet we are still no nothing of the situation of the bees. We rely on bees for each season of crops and the season after that. Bees are the breeders of the plants and without the bees carrying pollen from flower to flower we would have no next season. Our existence is closely tied with that of the bees. A strange phenomenom has been occurring known as colony collapse where hives of bees are just found dead. Hives carry thousands of bees and thousands of hives have been found vacant and collapsed. If we don't find a way to stop the disappearance of bees then then humans to, will begin to disappear as well.

         Dangerous toxins and poisons are one of the leading attributes killing the bees. Pesticides and fertilizers used on plants directly effect the bee. It is there food source and now with these fertilizer it is a poisoned lethal food that can kill a bee. Plant pesticide can affect the bees memory causing the bee to no longer get back to the hive this happens so often mass numbers of bee have died trying to find the way back. Without enough workers to support the hive the system will fall out of balance and the colony will collapse. We have to take a step back and realize cause and effects a our actions and ask ourselves which is more important. Bees or fertilizers. Well right now fertilizers are needed to guarantee a full crop but eventually bees will decline in numbers and will no longer be there to pollenate the plants.

         A second problem is mites. Mites attach themselves to bees and slowly suck their blood ultimately killing bees. Beekeepers are going to extreme measures by using their own insecticides to kill the mites yet most mites are just adapting to overcome the toxins put in the hives. Most bee keepers are using this method but some believe in letting nature run its course pesticide free.
       A final problem that leads to colony collapse is monoculture. Large fields of a single crops might be beneficial to the bee for one season, but for the rest of the year it is a barren landscape.
         Bees are in grave danger and people need to see this. We cant just throw money at the problem, we need to be interested and get involved. Will we choose to start now and help ourselves by helping the bees or wait too long and go hungry?  If we do not wake up and smell the honey we may lose the precious bee.