Their disappearance has caused alarm throughout Europe and North
America where campaigners have blamed agricultural pesticides,
climate change and the advent of genetically modified crops for
what is now known as 'colony collapse disorder.' Britain has seen a
15 per cent decline in its bee population in the last two years and
shrinking numbers has led to a rise in thefts of hives.
Now researchers from Chandigarh's Punjab University claim they
have found the cause which could be the first step in reversing the
decline: They have established that radiation from mobile
telephones is a key factor in the phenomenon and say that it
probably interfering with the bee's navigation senses.
They set up a controlled experiment in Punjab earlier this year
comparing the behaviour and productivity of bees in two hives – one
fitted with two mobile telephones which were powered on for two
fifteen minute sessions per day for three months. The other had
dummy models installed.
After three months the researchers recorded a dramatic decline
in the size of the hive fitted with the mobile phon, a significant
reduction in the number of eggs laid by the queen bee. The bees
also stopped producing honey.
The queen bee in the "mobile" hive produced fewer than half of
those created by her counterpart in the normal hive.
They also found a dramatic decline in the number of worker bees
returning to the hive after collecting pollen. Because of this the
amount of nectar produced in the hive also shrank.
Ved Prakash Sharma and Neelima Kumar, the authors of the report
in the journal Current Science, wrote: "Increase in the usage of
electronic gadgets has led to electropollution of the environment.
Honeybee behaviour and biology has been affected by electrosmog
since these insects have magnetite in their bodies which helps them
in navigation.
"There are reports of sudden disappearance of bee populations
from honeybee colonies. The reason is still not clear. We have
compared the performance of honeybees in cellphone radiation
exposed and unexposed colonies.
"A significant decline in colony strength and in the egg laying
rate of the queen was observed. The behaviour of exposed foragers
was negatively influenced by the exposure, there was neither honey
nor pollen in the colony at the end of the experiment."
Tim Lovett, of the British Beekeepers Association, said that
hives have been successful in London where there was high mobile
phone use.
"Previous work in this area has indicated this [mobile phone
use] is not a real factor," he said. "If new data comes along we
will look at it."
He said: "At the moment we think is more likely to be a
combination of factors including disease, pesticides and habitat
loss."
The UK Government has set aside £10 million for research into
the decline of pollinators like bees, but the BBKA claim much more
money is needed for research into the problem, including studies on
pesticides, disease and new technology like mobile phones.
According to the University of Durham, England's bees are
vanishing faster than anywhere else in Europe, with more than half
of hives dying out over the last 20 years.
The most recent statistics from last winter show that the
decline in honey bees in Britain is slowing, with just one in six
hives lost.
This is still above the natural rate of ten per cent losses, but
a vast improvement on previous years.
There has been an increase in the number of thefts of hives
across the world and in Germany beekeepers have started fitting GPS
tracking devices to their hives.
