enous honey bee species. Yang claimed that Italian bees in particular are aggressively territorial, and routinely destroy and occupy Chinese colonies, as well as spread the Sacbrood virus (SBV) to queens, a virus which then spreads to entire regional populations. According to Yang’s data, from 1972 to 1976, a SBV epidemic erupted in Fogang County, Guangdong Province which wiped out 90 percent of local Chinese honey bee colonies, one million hives in total. In August 2007, beekeepers in Puwa village found that queens in their Chinese honey bee colonies were inexplicably being found dead in their nurseries. After examining the affected hives, Yang Guanhuang found Italian honeybees had simply flown into the hives and stung the queens to death, destabilizing the colonies. Yang claims this is because, as the wing vibrations of both species are almost identical, Chinese bees cannot distinguish Italian honeybees from their own species. His research results have been recognized by the domestic academic circle. Researcher Peng Wenjun from Chinese Academy of Agricultural Science agreed with Yang’s conclusion and said that the widely introduced European honeybees including Italian honeybees have exhibited aggressiveness towards their Chinese counterparts. There are also exceptions. Safi Malik, owner of Shangrila Farms, a honey producing company in Yunnan Province, told the reporter that his family-operated bee boxes in Shangri-la, Yunnan Province had never encountered such problems, even though they kept Chinese honeybee and Italian honeybee boxes in the same courtyard. NEWSCHINA I January 2014
Yang also points out that Italian honeybees are more highly evolved than their Chinese counterparts. “Within two to three kilometers of the range of Italian honeybees, it is hard for Chinese honeybees to survive,” he said. Yang warns that, as Chinese honeybees disappear, a chain reaction is triggered which affects biodiversity, the food chain and could ultimately impact humans.
Chain Reaction
While on the face of it, a spate of fatal hornet attacks in central China’s Shaanxi Province might have little to do with the plight of the domestic honey bee, in reality, some claim, there is a direct causal link. 1,640 people have been injured by hornets in Shaanxi this year alone, 42 of them fatally. Chongqing, Sichuan, Hubei and Guangxi also reported increased incidence of life-threatening hornet attacks in July and September. According to wildlife biologists, widespread deforestation in these areas has forced hornets into closer proximity to large populations. Moreover, the decline in plant diversity due to the reduced role of Chinese honeybees in cross-pollination has led to a decline in insect populations, in turn decimating bird populations – the main predators of hornets. Yang Guanhuang argues that the worst affected areas are all former ranges of now-extinct or threatened Chinese honeybee colonies. “Increasing the number of Chinese honeybees would be a funda-
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