Could Sunspots Cause Colony Collapse?
Clearly, honeybees are vanishing. Colony collapse disorder (CCD) is not a new phenomenon, having been documented periodically around the world for centuries. Experts have searched — unsuccessfully — for a biotic cause explaining this global problem, and they have ruled out pesticides and cell phone towers. One abiotic basis that has not been explored involves an extraterrestrial source: sunspots.
Getting Lost
Before you decide we’re crazy, let us explain our logic. Some mysterious phenomenon causes entire, reasonably healthy colonies to abandon their hives. Most experts agree bees communicate amongst each other during a “waggle dance” that explains the coordinates of distant food sources. And, beekeepers all agree they do not know where colonies go when CCD strikes, so they must be lost. Therefore, we should study how bees might become “disoriented.”
Homing pigeons and magnetotactic bacteria have a magnetic compass that enables them to orient themselves. The basis for their ability to do so involves a mineral called magnetite, located in a sub cellular organelle called a magnetosome. It allows them to perceive Earth’s magnetic fields. Both organisms “get lost” when their ability to monitor those fields is interfered with. The most closely studied of the sun’s geomagnetic effects on an organism has been the degradation of a homing pigeon’s navigational abilities during a solar storm. Other migratory animals, notably dolphins and whales, become disoriented and they beach themselves. Thus, circumstantial evidence indicates that changes in earth’s magnetic field can affect a biological system that controls orientation. The sixth sense in such organisms is termed “magnetoception.”
Solar Storms
About every 11 years, solar storms cause disturbances to the earth’s magnetosphere. About every 50 years, solar storms are so intense they interfere with aircraft radio communications, cause GPS malfunctions, and destroy electrical transformers. In 1891, a CCD episode in Colorado occurred at the same time as sun spot activity commenced. In 1960, a solar superstorm caused widespread radio and electrical outages. At the same time, Texas and Louisiana experienced CCD. Coincidentally, when the current CCD disorder began about six to eight years ago, it too coincided with a peak in sun spot activity.
Since 1978, a few scientists have repeatedly suggested that the direction of the earth’s magnetic field could account for bee orientation. Nonetheless, most entomologists and beekeepers either missed or disregarded observations that bees can rely on something other than visual cues and the sun’s position for navigation. Bees also contain iron in the form of magnetite and evidence indicates when their “magnetic compass” is interfered with, their ability to respond to magnetic cues is disrupted. If true, their ability to spatially orient themselves will likely malfunction during a severe solar storm. Then, bees will become “confused” whether in the field or hive. We are confident they will then leave the hive to search for the location (via coordinates) that they already learned. Anyway, the current sunspot cycle (1998 to 2009) has just ended, and we bet CCD — like the bees — will disappear, too. That is, until another solar super storm happens.