The Case of the Vanishing Honeybees by Sandra Markle

The Case of the Vanishing Honeybees: a Scientific Mystery by Sandra Markle, 2014.

In its 48 pages, this interesting title gives a lot of detailed information about bees and what could be causing Colony Collapse Disorder. Markle talks about honeybee life and function, how we humans depend on them for much of our food and gives an example of how in 2006 a beekeeper went to check his hives and saw thousands of bees missing, with no dead bees to be found.

 This phenomena has puzzled scientists, and many theories of why the bees have vanished have been explored. Possible bee killers such as changing habitat, overwork, mites, fungus and pesticides are described. On a more hopeful note, ways that people are trying to help our bees are considered, like giving commercial bees a healthier diet, giving them a break from year round pollination, raising special hygienic bees to control the spread of disease and even a general increase of beekeeping by homeowners, and in places such as schools and public buildings.

The book includes a glossary, suggestions for further reading and websites to visit and is illustrated with high quality color photographs.