Bees and Snakes

First, I would like to draw your attention to the bee story on the ScienceNow link below. I don't know if anyone else has been keeping up with this, but the issue of Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) among beehives is incredibly alarming. And I say this not only because this little-known disorder is decreasing biodiversity by systematically wiping out bees, but also because bees pollinate more than one-third of the food we eat. What that means is that if this continues, whether it be from pesticides, viruses, or poor nutrition, bees (and many of our crops) will be lost by the middle of this century. Though we don't always realize it, all organisms are interconnected and interdependent and the loss of one can have cascading effects on vast numbers of others; and humans are no exception.

That then brings me to our research project (the conservation of timber rattlesnakes). This is a species that is also on the decline, like so many others, due to human development and negligence. It is an important predator, a critical component of the ecosystem, and an indicator of the few wild places that are left in the country. This weekend, my research students and I attended the Kansas Herpetological Society meeting, where Sean described this project to a room full of herpetologists (i.e. those people who study amphibians and reptiles). Though these people understood the implications of this research, many people are unaware of the value and significance of these amazing animals.