[Notes:Location: Beltsville, Maryland Date: July 24, 2012][Notes:SOURCE: AP Television][Notes:VO: Bee Hives][VOICE-OVER]TRACK#1 FOR SIX YEARS BEEKEEPERS IN THE UNITED STATES HAVE WITNESSED A CONDITION KNOWN AS COLONY COLLAPSE DISORDER.WHEN CCD HAPPENS - A THIRD OF THE WORKER HONEY BEES IN A HIVE AN DISAPPEAR - LITERALLY WITHOUT A TRACE.AND SCIENTISTS DON'T KNOW WHY?[Notes:SOT: JEFFREY PETTIS, CHIEF BEE RESEARCHER, AGRICULTURE RESEARCH CENTER, USDA]"Let's say you have a hundred colonies in an apiary, they have 20 to 40 thousand bees in the hive and what happens is the bee keepers looking at his or her colonies, and two weeks later, they come back and many of them, the adult bee population has collapsed or disappeared."[Notes:LOCATION: WASHINGTON DATE: JULY 25, 2012][Notes:SOURCE: AP Television][Notes:VO - BEEKEEPERS WORKING AT HIVES][Notes:NAT SOT BREAK: "I'll take the lid off and you can hit it ..."][VOICE-OVER]TRACK#2NESTLED ON 42 ACRES IN NORTHEAST WASHINGTON ON THE GROUNDS OF A FRANCISCAN MONASTERY IS AN ACTIVE APIARY.NEARLY A DOZEN HONEY BEE COLONIES THRIVE ON THE NEIGHBORHOOD FLOWERS AND TREES.[Notes:NAT SOT BREAK: "Black locust in the middle is tulip poplar ..."]OF THE TWELVE HIVES ON THE SITE, ELEVEN ARE BUSTLING WHILE ONE COLONY HAS CRASHED, A CONDITION SIMILAR TO COLONY DISORDER.[Notes:UPSOUND: TONI BURNHAM, DC BEES]"The classic presentation for a collapsed have is to have all the honey still there and no bees.[Notes:SOT: TONI BURNHAM, DC BEES]"So, colony collapse disorder is this disease where you're work and forager bees go out there and they never come back. Holy cow, of course, its going to crash. And we don't know why they're not coming back. Are they dying while they're out there? Are they confused by some chemical that keeps them from finding home? [VOICE-OVER]TRACK#3IF UNCHECKED, CCD THREATENS TO DISRUPT THE LIFELINE OF MAJOR AGRICULTURAL CROPS OF THE UNITED STATES. HONEY BEES POLLINATE SUCH CASH CROPS AS ALMONDS, BLUE BERRIES, WATERMELONS AND APPLES.[Notes:SOT: JEFFREY PETTIS, CHIEF BEE RESEARCHER, AGRICULTURE RESEARCH CENTER, USDA]"We use over 60 percent of all the bees in the US in California almonds in that one crop in February and March. So, 60 percent of the colonies across the US move out to California. Then they leave from there and go to all the orchard crops."[Notes:LOCATION: WASHINGTON DATE: JULY 25, 2012][Notes:SOURCE: AP Television][Notes:VO - BEEKEEPERS WORKING AT HIVES][VOICE-OVER]TRACK#3RESEARCH FOCUSED ON A SINGLE REASON FOR CCD LEAVES MANY QUESTIONS UNANSWERED.STUDIES HAVE LOOKED AT SINGLE FACTOR CAUSES SUCH AS A PARASITE, OR A DISEASE. WHILE SOME STUDIES HAVE DECLARED SUCCESS AT NAILING DOWN THE CAUSE, FOLLOW UP RESEARCH HAS BEEN UNABLE TO DUPLICATE THE CAUSE AND EFFECT FINDINGS.[Notes:SOT: JEFFREY PETTIS, CHIEF BEE RESEARCHER, AGRICULTURE RESEARCH CENTER, USDA]"The complexity of bee health is such that I'm not sure that we'll get to one solution. I think we'll have multiple solutions that we and the beekeepers are working to develop to help keep bees healthy."[Notes:LOCATION: WASHINGTON DATE: JULY 25, 2012][Notes:SOURCE: AP Television][Notes:VO - BEEKEEPERS WORKING AT HIVES][VOICE-OVER]TRACK#4WHAT THE RESEARCH SUGGESTS IS THAT POOR NUTRITION, MOVING STRESS, AND PESTICIDES EXPOSURE ALL CONTRIBUTE TO A DECLINE IN BEE HEALTH.THE MULTI-FACTOR CAUSE EXPLANATION IS PROMISING. BUT WHICH COMBINATION OF STRESSORS PREDICTS A COLLAPSE IS STILL UNKNOWN.TOM RITCHIE, ASSOCIATED PRESS. (****END****)