Experts are at a loss to explain the fall in honey bee populations in America, with fears of that a new disease, the effects of pollution or the increased use of pesticides could be to blame for "colony collapse disorder". From 1971 to 2006 approximately one half of the US honey bee colonies have vanished.

According to apiarists in Arizona, Africanized bees and organically raised European bees are not being affected by CCD and mites to the same extent that other bees are, suggesting that normal practices like geneticaly engineering bees and feeding them protein supplements may be destructive in the long run.

Penn State researchers answer common questions about colony collapse disorder. Penn State has taken the lead in studying CCD.