WASHINGTON, DC, July 16, 2007 (ENS) - A working group of industry, university, state, and federal government researchers has finalized an action plan for dealing with colony collapse disorder, CCD, of honey bees.

On Friday, the plan was announced by a CCD Steering Committee chaired by Kevin Hackett, the U.S. Department of Agriculture's national program leader for bees and pollination.

Under the plan, scientists will attempt to identify the underlying cause for this new disease that leaves hives with few or no adult honey bees but no dead bees either. Often there are still honey and immature bees in the stricken hives.

Colony collapse disorder, CCD, became apparent as a problem beginning in the winter of 2006-2007 when some beekeepers reported losses of 30 to 90 percent of their hives.

While colony losses are not unexpected during winter weather, the magnitude of loss suffered by some beekeepers was unusual.

"This action plan provides a coordinated framework to ensure that all of the research that needs to be done is covered in order to get to the bottom of the CCD problem," said U.S. Department of Agriculture Under Secretary for Research, Education and Economics Gale Buchanan.

"There were enough honey bees to provide pollination for U.S. agriculture this year, but beekeepers could face a serious problem next year and beyond," Buchanan said.

Pollination is a critical element in agriculture, as honey bees pollinate more than 130 crops in the United States and add $15 billion in crop value annually.

Four possible causes for CCD are identified in the plan - new or reemerging pathogens, new bee pests or parasites, environmental and/or nutritional stress, or pesticides.

Research will focus on determining which of these factors are contributing causes of CCD, either individually or in combination.

Scientists will collect data, analyze samples, conduct controlled experiments to analyze the potential causes of the disease, and develop new methods to improve the general health of bees to reduce their susceptibility to CCD and other disorders.

Dennis van Engelsdorp, acting state apiarist with the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture and a member of the Steering Committee, says initial studies of dying colonies revealed a large number of disease organisms present, with no one disease being identified as the culprit.

Ongoing case studies and surveys of beekeepers experiencing CCD have found a few common management factors, but no common environmental agents or chemicals have been identified.

To read the action plan online, click here.