Welcome to Plight of the Honeybee!
The little bee returns with evening's gloom,
To join her comrades in the braided hive,
Where, housed beside their might honey-comb,
They dream their polity shall long survive.
- Charles Tennyson Turner,
A Summer Night in the Bee Hive
What is all the Buzz About?
Given the current interest in the honeybee industry, I thought it important to provide an online resource for students, such as myself, looking to understand the causative agents of the now widely discussed Colony Collapse Disorder.
Serving as one of the world’s most efficient pollinators, the honeybee does more than just provide us with a decadently sweet and sticky snack. The United States and other agriculturally advanced nations often forget the little workers behind the scenes whose job it is to ensure the healthy propagation of the thousands of different agricultural commodities. Though still being used for the production of their own commodity, honey, the industry has relied heavily on the honeybees’ pollinating capabilities. Now that the honeybee population is in a noticeable decline, the foundation of a once seemingly indestructible industry has begun to crack and economic analysts and scientists alike have turned their attention to the workers society would rather not care to notice.
The goal of this site is to provide information to interested parties concerning aspects of the honeybee from its biology and long-standing history with mankind, to the current trends in agriculture likely attributing to their untimely demise.
Now, make like a bee, and get busy!
Disclaimer
The written work found on this website was compiled for the purpose of providing information concerning the current factors afflicting the honeybee population. The creation of both the site and material is due in part to a requirement for an ecological anthropology course offered at the California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, and as such, all sources will be cited according to the guidelines put forth by the American Anthropological Association.