During this project, we were told to choose a current ecological issue that was relevant to us locally and create a management plan that described a possible solution to the problem. I chose to study colony collapse disorder, a phenomenon first discovered in 2006. Colony collapse disorder happens when all adult honeybees go missing from a hive, even though the hive still has adequate honey, a queen, and a brood. I researched the problem for a couple of weeks and found sources that I felt were reliable and informative. I then developed a management plan containing three parts: one dealt with the removal of Varroa mites from hives, one dealt with continued monitoring, and one dealt with public outreach regarding pesticide use. After I had developed my plan, I then created a budget and a timeline to accompany my management plan.
I feel that my strongest management strategy was the strategy that addressed the problem of Varroa mites. Varroa mites are an extremely troublesome parasite that can cause the collapse of hives if left untreated. The mites are also a carrier of Israeli Acute Paralysis Virus (IAPV), which is another possible contributing factor of CCD and can cause death in honeybees. The first part of my plan was the suggested testing of all hives in Southwest Colorado. For hives that are already infested, a screen would be inserted into the hive above the bottom board to prevent dislodged mites from reattaching to the bees. Then, starting in the spring of 2013, beekeepers will start treating the infected hives with the pesticides Apistan and Checkmite+, being careful to only treat the hives before the first week of honey season and after the last week of honey season so as not to contaminate the honey. I believe that this is my strongest plan because it is specific and realistic, and would be very effective if done correctly. During this project, I developed several skills including identifying helpful and dependable sources and correctly citing sources within a body of text. Researching the different ecological issues was a huge part of this project, and making sure that your management plan was accurate and effective was almost entirely dependent on the quality of information we used. As a result, I quickly learned which resources were reputable and which were not as factual. Throughout the course of this project, I learned how dangerous ecological issues could be as well as how dependent we are on honeybees. Although several of the ecological issues that were researched were not specific to this area, all of them had a great impact on every one of us. For instance, colony collapse disorder is not as big of a problem locally, but as a result of the collapses that continue to happen worldwide, we are still affected. 80% of the food that we consume is influenced by the work that honeybees do in some way, and 1/3 of our diet is a direct result of honeybee pollination. Without honeybees, we lose a huge part of our agriculture, and our economy takes an enormous hit. This project caused me to think differently about the roles that some of the smaller inhabitants of the earth play. If we rely on such a small being to accomplish some of the most important work that relates to our food, what other things do we rely on? It would be incredibly interesting to find out how much of our life is still reliant on nature. |
CCD IntroductionProposed Management PlanDurango Nature Studies Data Summary |