By: Las Vegas Now Staff
It's a vanishing act no one wants to see. Bees are disappearing in near-record numbers and no one knows why.
Bees carry pollen across our food chain, from alfalfa to your favorite ice cream flavor, and if they go, we could be next.
There's an old saying – a person can be a hero no matter how small. Colonies help our crops grow and in turn feed our livestock. Now, the bees are vanishing, and the answer to why seems to be flying away with them.
Among the honeycombs, there is something rotten sticking in the mind of bee master Rodney Mehring. “We're just continually losing a lot of bees every year,” he said.
The UNLV researcher has donned his mask and gear for nearly two decades. But a new wave of deaths and mysterious disappearances nationwide have him worried.
The buzz has stopped. The bees are missing. “There's no bees left in the hive. It's that simple,” he said.
Bees pollinate plants and help them grow larger. They make agriculture easy. Food for livestock, food for us.
“If you just don't get pollination, you just don't get fruit or a vegetable,” said Mehring.
There are few answers even with so much at stake. “Something is causing the workers to leave or die off,” he said.
It's called colony collapse disorder. Scientists aren't sure why it's happening. Bees fly off, abandoning their queen — something no one has ever seen before.
“The bees are just not there,” said Mehring.
Researchers think new pesticides in crops are wreaking havoc with bee hives. It either kills the colony or changes their natural instincts.
In other parts of the country, beekeepers are opening up their hives and finding nothing at all. It's a much different story here in Nevada. There are few crops here, so our small bee harvests have been untouched so far.
“There's always been something,” said Mehring. While Mehring says it isn't the end of civilization, it could be another worry for the pocketbook at the worst possible time.
“We're probably not going to starve to death, although the food prices will go up tremendously,” he said.
It's a long term impact from even the smallest of sources.
Rodney is the last registered bee keeper here in Las Vegas. He can only have the hives because he is a part of the UNLV program.
The city and Clark County have put heavy restrictions on all private hives. It's just too dangerous with the rise of Africanized bees. They breed and out-compete these traditional, calmer and now very fragile honey bees.
Email your comments to Reporter Jonathan Humbert.
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