Why our bees might have suddenly disappeared
We call it Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD).

Consequences

The phenomenon is observed worldwide and is pretty serious. Northern Ireland lost 50% of its beehives for example. Between 1997 and 2003, 10 millions beehives were lost. Many cultivated crops are pollinated by bees and we don't quite have an alternative today. In 2005 a study showed that the worth of crops that are pollinated by bees is around 200 billions dollars.

Causes

Why? The short answer is "we don't know". There are a number of possible factors and the general consensus is to think that there is not a single factor that is causing the decline but it is a combination of different factors. Possible factors include:


Pesticides
Pathogens
Fungicides
Antibiotics
Miticides
Climate Change
migratory beekeeping
loss of genetic diversity through too intense selective breeeding
malnutrition
parasitic phlorid fly


More information

The wikipedia article for CCD is very complete. You should have a look at it!