A Review and Bibliography of the Literature of Honey Bee Colony Collapse Disorder: A Poorly Understood Epidemic that Clearly Threatens the Successful Pollination of Billions of Dollars of Crops in America

This article briefs agricultural librarians on three key aspects of Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD), a disease involving the virtually total disappearance and presumed annihilation of the adult bee population of hives: (1) the yearly multibillion dollar importance of honeybees as the nation's key crop pollinators and the annual $200 million domestic production and export of honey; (2) the more common bee diseases and well-known hive stressors that current theories of CCD suggest interact with each other in some as yet undetermined combination, perhaps including new pathogens to which most American bees have limited or no immunity; and (3) several bees other than the honeybee that are not currently affected by CCD and that have some potential as partial substitute pollinators for some crops.