for the Mail Tribune

Scientists don't as yet know why, but millions of honeybees — vital to pollinating a wide array of vegetables and fruits — are missing and presumed dead, not just in Southern Oregon but across the United States.

Called colony collapse disorder, the phenomenon has cost Ruch beekeeper Don Ruddick 92 percent of his bees.

"I've got only 300 colonies left out of 4,000. It's almost put us out of business," said Ruddick, noting each hive is worth $150.

Another local beekeeper, Scott Keene of the Applegate, lost 1,000 of his 1,400 colonies and "the last time I checked, we're still losing them."

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The two men suspect the bees may have died from syrup they were fed, a manufactured high-fructose corn syrup that when overheated can produce a chemical toxic to the bees.

John Jacobs of Rogue River, director of the Southern Oregon Beekeepers Association, also has had heavy losses. He believes it may go back to the pesticide Gaucho, which was banned in France after a bee die-off they called "mad bee disease."

Said Jacobs, "CCD is absolutely a problem. In a nutshell, bees have struggled with mites for years, the hives are already stressed, they've had cold winters — and people suspect pesticide residues are not good for bees. It's been studied and they say it's non-lethal, but there are only so many environmental impacts you can pile on bees."

Bees have struggled for years against the varroa mite, which carries an array of viruses that can harm the creatures, said Jacobs. The mites and the chemicals used to fight them weaken the immune system and, he added, "it doesn't take much to push them over the edge."

Compounding the problem has been a series of nights in the 20-degree range, forcing bees to huddle close together in hives and work to keep their hive temperatures up to 91 degrees.

Bees are flying away from hives and not coming back, Jacobs noted, "and no one knows why. There's no smoking gun yet, but there's a great deal of research and hubbub going on."

In the bigger picture, the "disappearing disease," as CCD is sometimes called, is not just about the impact on beekeepers, Keene said, but on the food chain — in the quality, availability and price of produce.

"This could potentially be devastating," Keene said. "It's affected 33 states so far and we're hearing there's been over 50,000 colonies lost. It could be devastating to the farming industry, although you can grow all kinds of stuff without bees."

Pollen is disseminated by the wind and other insects, but crops grown without bees are smaller, poorly formed and have fewer seeds, said Keene.

Beekeepers from many states drive their hives to Central California to pollinate vast almond orchards, he said. "The nuts won't set without bees. Same with cherries, blueberries. They need bees. Anything with a bloom, bees will hit. Without bees, tomatoes have 30 to 50 percent less quality," he said.

The value of increased yield and quality from bees is estimated at $15 billion. Bees are needed to pollinate about a third of the food we eat — all the main fruits and vegetables, said Jerry Bromenshenk, a professor at University of Montana who is heading up research on CCD in the West.

"The big issue is, what's the quality of produce going to be in the marketplace?" said Bromenshenk in an interview with the Mail Tribune. "The worst case is we'll be looking at produce the same as we look at oil and will become more dependent on what comes from overseas."

CCD started in the East last year, moved to the Midwest and now is in the Western states, he said. It is being intensely studied at Penn State University, the U.S. Department of Agriculture in Maryland and at University of Montana — but with no conclusion yet as to the culprit, he said.

The cause of CCD could be any combination of syrup contamination, new pesticides, new mite-controlling chemicals, new viruses carried by mites or the stress of being transported many places to do pollination work, Bromenshenk said.

However, one clue, he said, is that other "opportunistic invaders," such as the wax moth and hive beetle, are not going in abandoned hives, indicating "something in the box possibly repels them, some disease or pathogen."

Just back from a research swing in Central California, Bromenshenk said CCD hasn't yet affected the availability of produce in stores, but he's seen beekeepers with 40 to 80 percent loss of colonies.

"We're talking million-dollar loses and you can't sustain that. Some beekeepers say it will put them out of business if we don't get a handle on it this year," he said. "We hoped it would play out this (past) winter but now there are major collapses going on in California and the Southeast."

Most vegetables and fruits need bee pollination, but some crops, such as wheat, potatoes, corn and lettuce, don't need much help from bees, said entomologist Eric Mussen of University of California-Davis in an interview. "We have to be optimistic. It's hard to explain and there are endless possibilities about what's going on."

About two-thirds of U.S. bees are now in California, pollinating almonds, Ruddick said. He noted that if the problem turns out to be a contagious virus, "it might wipe out all the bees in the U.S. and the price of food would increase drastically."

Ruddick and other local beekeepers pollinate California almonds in February, then return to the Rogue Valley to pollinate pear orchards. Ruddick and Keene said they would still be able to pollinate pears here, but only by augmenting with healthy colonies from California.

John Darling is a freelance writer living in Ashland. E-mail him at jdarling@jeffnet.org.