This month, NATURE checked in with Pennsylvania’s acting state beekeeper, Dennis van Engelsdorp, for an update on the latest details on the investigation into Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD).

The disorder was first recognized in the United States in the winter of 2006, when more than a quarter of the country’s 2.4 million bee colonies — accounting for tens of billions of bees — suddenly died from an unidentified plague. A year later, NATURE reported that a team of scientists led by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), Pennsylvania State University, The Pennsylvanis State Department of Agriculture and Columbia University linked CCD with a virus imported from Australia, IAPV or Israeli Acute Paralysis Virus.

However, further research indicates that IAPV may not be the only cause of CCD. According to Dennis van Engelsdorp, “Research published in September 2007 showed that among known pathogens, IAPV was the most consistent indicator of CCD. And it was found in at least 19 states. However, Kashmir Bee Virus (KBV), and two microscopic spore parasites — Nosema apis and Nosema ceranae — were also found to be indicators of CCD. Also, no clear cause and effect relationship was found between IAPV and CCD. Not all colonies with IAPV die off.”

Mr. van Engelsdorp also told NATURE that between 2007 and 2008, the nation’s beekeepers lost a third of the populations of their colonies — a 13.5 percent increase over the previous year, and not all of them due to CDD. “It’s important to keep in mind that at least 71 percent of all colony deaths can be attributed non-CCD causes,” van Engelsdorp said. “This really emphasizes the need for further research into pollinator health in general — not just CCD.”

Read the full interview.

Watch “Silence of the Bees” online

Now at NATURE online, you can watch the entire episode of “Silence of the Bees,” NATURE’s Peabody Award-winning documentary about CCD and its effects on the environment and the global economy.