There are a number of possible explanations that have been floated, including virus, mites, fungus, and even carsickness (from hive transport) but not a one mentions anything about the things bees are most attuned to: the sun.

Readers will recall that I’ve posted this time series graph of the Geomagnetic Average Planetary Index (Ap) with notes to pay particular attention to what happened in October 2005.

click for a larger image

In October 2005, notice the sharp drop in the magnetic index and the continuance at low levels, almost as if something “switched off”.

I’m currently researching solar activity quite a bit in preparation for posting an upcoming article on solar to earth effects. While looking for an article related to geomagnetism, I came across an old article on bee navigation from the Alaska Science Forum. The scientist that wrote the article said:

Numerous experiments have shown that birds and bees use the geomagnetic field as a backup system when overcast skies prevent navigation by the sun or the stars. Also, pods of magnetic grains have been found inside the skulls of homing pigeons and in the abdomens of bees. Scientists suspect this is no coincidence.

In the same search results on geomagnetism, this article also was in the list:

Is Geomagnetic Sensitivity Real? Replication of the Walker-Bitterman Magnetic Conditioning Experiment in Honey Bees.

 In the research paper done at Cal-Tech Pasadena, the researchers were able to replicate an experiment that showed how bees are sensitive to geomagnetism. In the abstract they conclude:

We conclude honey bees are sensitive to the geomagnetic field, that the signal processing for it is more complex than previously thought, and that a ferromagnetic transducer is compatible with all known behavioral data.

That gave me an idea, remembering something I’d read about colony collapse disorder in domestic bee colonies, I started searching for the quote I remember reading in articles on the subject last year. The quote was something along the lines of “The hive boxes are empty, it is as if the bees simply flew out to forage but never returned home”.

An article on colony collapse disorder in the New York Times from Feb 27th, 2007 says something similar to what I remember:

Researchers say the bees are presumably dying in the fields, perhaps becoming exhausted or simply disoriented and eventually falling victim to the cold.

“I have never seen anything like it,” Mr. Bradshaw, 50, said from an almond orchard here beginning to bloom. “Box after box after box are just empty. There’s nobody home.”  

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