Essay Example Dedicated to Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD)

Life is special when well utilized with all the advantages accrued to it. Supported by the necessary skills, one needs to enjoy life to the fullest. Be it as it may, the little mistakes man make in life, when not corrected can be detrimental to man existence. As a result, when we lose the necessary pillars of life, we begin wishing that had we been keen before such occurrences would be just imaginations. The world exists as a unit of dependence on each item that lives. Therefore, that is, each organism surviving on earth plays a pivotal role in the survival of another organism which is also critical in balancing the ecosystem. This is called biodiversity. The way the ecosystem is poised to ensure maximum survival of man and other organisms. Man needs to be keen on all the issues that could expose the earth to an unfortunate reduction of food. Analyzing significance of Colony Collapse Disorder to the environment, the problems arising from CCD and possible solutions ensures that we understand crucial roles honey bees play in our ecosystem.

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Importance of CCD to an environment

Typically, the world's majority is more concern with the benefits of the bee than its survival on earth. Human being gives little attention to their existence, assuming that being just insects, life is a walk in the park. Bee dictates the life of man in so many ways, and they are essential on the daily routine of man's actions. Just from what the human consume directly, bee plays a crucial role in shaping the entire life on earth According to Thomas, "mans interaction with bees' genesis long before civilization" (Thomas 14). Therefore, it is critical to understand vital details on bees about human activities. The life of any living organism is like a cycle and entails several evolutionary stages. At every stage of life, just like bees, they create a sustainable environment conducive for the survival of other creatures on earth. In addition to that, dependency ration among living organism is paramount in explaining the role played by bees in ensuring an active environment.

In most cases, bees are imperative in the production of food and food reserves for an ecosystem. Engel affirms that Apis mellifera is an essential honey bee's species for agricultural production and contribute immensely to human food (Engel 1). For Honeybee, to survive, they extract pollen grain from plants. In return, they acquire protein and carbohydrate essential for their growth. Bees pollinate flower through collecting grains from the flowers. In the course of this process, they fertilize the same species as they move to other flowers to collect more pollen. Honey bees are the most efficient bee at getting this work done. Many other bee species pollinate, but their pollination is not as adequate as that of the honey bee. Moreover, the bees do not live as long and reproduce as quickly as the honey bee.

In addition to that, most people eat fruits and vegetables daily. However, we still regularly take bees for granted. Furthermore, without bees, there is a reduced supply of fruits and vegetable since they are essential during cross-pollination. In most cases, this results into an increase in prices on the market as a result of the scarcity and increased demand. This also occurs in fewer almonds seeds, insufficient coffee berries and less alfalfa hay needed to feed livestock. A few foods that would be extremely hard to have without honey bees are kiwi, onions, coconut, lemons, and avocados which depend less on pollination. Typically, it is essential to acknowledge that plants pollinated by honeybees majorly contribute a more significant percentage in maintaining the biodiversity of the ecosystem. Therefore emphasis should be laid in the recovery programs.

Issues arising from Colony Collapse Disorder

Currently, the world is alarmed at the rate at which the number of honey bees is reducing. The downward trend in the population of the honeybee as triggered the world's population in understanding how important the bees are in our environment. Scientists have emphasized factors deemed to have direct effects on bees, such as CCD, pathogens, deforestation, and administering of chemicals on farms. According to 7 U.S. Code and 281, this resulted in Congress passing a Honey Bee Restriction Act in 1922 to protect them from extinction. Although the Honey Bee Restriction Act was passed and beekeepers are working hard to protect the honeybees, we are currently having a hard time with this due to our environment and how much we've overworked the bees in the past. It is paramount to create an artificial duration to allow the bees to operate independently to get maximum results. Currently, bees are artificially coerced to reproduce to meet the market demands of the society. This in return affects the bees negatively by reducing their life expectancy.

Scientists and beekeepers have proven that our environment is deteriorating and that if honey bees are beginning to have trouble surviving in our world. This has been established in many situations by the problem of Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD).scientist and beekeepers are unable to identify causes other than the suspicion of our toxic environment. Deforestation is another critical factor caused by humans affecting honey bees. Deforestation is when humans take out an entire forest and renovate what used to be the honey bees home, for urban use. This process plays a significant role in the distress caused to honey bees' lives because of the destruction of their home, therefore, causing a major decrease in the population of bees in the universe.

A major contributor to the problem of honeybees dying is pesticides. Ray notes that pesticides are very toxic to honeybees and contribute to their death (Ray 213). Pesticides when sprayed on farms, when harmful, bees will get into contact with them when crawling or in search of nectar. As a result, the bees will suffocate and die. At the same time when the affected gets into contact with others, the harmful scent will contribute to the death of the other population. Excessive use of pesticides is harmful to all living organisms. Some chemical component from pesticide such as neonicotinoids is known to thrive well in plant nectar. This is very detrimental because however how much the farmer sprays, through wind, the chemical will remain in the nectar. Many homeowners do not even know about the destruction this pesticide can cause to pollinators considering the label mentions nothing about the hazardous effects. Several European countries have already suspended this product to which they believe it to be a significant risk to honeybee populations. Slowly people are beginning to find out about the horrible effects this product creates and are starting to take steps to stop it.

If bees go extinct, this would also cause so many companies to diminish, for instance, coffee companies. Honey bees pollinate coffee beans and companies like Folgers, selling coffee in grocery stores, to companies like Starbucks would close down due to lack of raw material. Coffee companies alone provide several jobs to Americans per year along in addition to other companies that supply products that would not be in business if the honey bees diminish. If we stop to think about this and consider our limited options, it becomes so apparent how essential all honey bees are to our lives and how much we have taken them for granted.

Consequently, the extinction of bees has also led to the loss of biodiversity through the imbalance of the ecosystem. Interference with the food chain affects all the organisms dependent on that particular chain. A lizard that feeds on the bees also faces similar extinction and this cut across the other entire organism. Plants which depended on honey bees for pollination also fail to produce due to little pollination taking place. Furthermore, the yield has also reduced leading to low productivity and few vegetables and fruits for animal and human consumption.

Solutions

Honey bees are essential to our environment, due to extinction; scientists have researched other ways to pollinate our food. There is a bee that is used for crop pollination in Canada, and the Pacific Northwest United States called the Leafcutter. According to William, the Leafcutter prefer pollinating alfalfa seeds to other crops (William 3). However, this bee has not been used in California due to their expensive costs and strict management. Scientists have widened their research on leafcutter to the test to see if the bee could pollinate almonds, boysenberries, kiwis, squash, strawberries, and melons. In this situation, the leafcutter bee's survival and reproduction were also checked. The leafcutter succeeded in alfalfa seed, berries, and melons but fell with the other crops. Many beekeepers have been informed of this type of bee and ways to manage and protect them.

Beekeepers have witnessed genocide like scenario on the death of bees. The number is so high as a result; scientists are in haste to come up with meaningful explanations and long-term initiatives to salvage the honey bee, in return also save man from tribulations. Zee affirms that the cold period that stays freezing have primarily contributed to reducing the honeybee population in especially in Major honey producing state such as California (Zee). This is due to Varro mite which is very active during the cold periods which attack the honey. As a result, interferes with the colonies. Desalegn in his article suggests that areas perceived to be immensely affected by Varro mite should be quarantined to avoid spread to other unaffected regions, Desalegn. At the same time, beekeepers while purchasing their hives, they need to be choosy and cautious in colonies they buy.

With the statistics shown, America needs to begin taking precautions to help the dying population of the honey bee. The honey bee has been proven on many levels to have an enormous impact on the American people's lives. The benefit benefits of honey cut across all the continents and perceived to treat ailments that affect both animals and man. With the society starting to gain knowledge about the situation we are in, we are beginning to see people make steps in the right direction to try and stop this before it becomes an issue we cannot work and solve anymore. Consequently, individuals have taken the initiative to come up with better solutions in fighting honeybee extinction.

Cat DiStasio outlines that famous actor; Morgan Freeman converted his vast estate located in Mississippi into a busy keeping center (Cat DiStasio). This project is mainly aimed at increasing the population of bees in America. At the same time, it also boosts the biodiversity. Freeman has also planted trees in his farm to provide natural habitat to the bees. This is aimed at enabling the bees to thrive in their natural set up and also offer the queen bee with an effective environment to reproduce. In addition to that, planting tree increases the rate of evapotranspiration. As a result, more precipitation will aid honeybee lifecycle and effective survival in their colonies.

Conclusion

Analyzing the significance of Colony Collapse Disorder to the environment, the issues arising from CCD and possible solutions ensures that we understand essential role honey bees play in our ecosystem. Typically, bees are essential in our environment, and they give a clear understanding of how each organism depend on one another for survival and existence. Moreover, the initiative taken above is not only meant to protect the bees but also balance the ecosystem so that human being, flora and fauna can exist in harmony.