Happy American, not International, Earth Day! Spanish scientists who have been investigating the collapse of Eurasian honey bee colonies think they found the cause. It appears that the fungus Nosema ceranae is to blame. Almost all of the colonies which suffered from collapse show signs of being infected by the fungus. The fungus focuses on the Eurasian honey bee and there is little cross over to other bee species. This mirrors the fungus which caused the Irish potato famine: it only infected one species of potato... the one everyone preferred to plant. The scientists are now working on applying what they believe to be a cure for the fungus infection. If successful, farmers and others who depend on bee pollination for their crops can rest easy once again.
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