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Mother Nature’s pollinator, the bee, is creating a buzz without even being present. Scientists and beekeepers nationwide continue to lament the disappearance of whole colonies to a befuddling enemy called Colony Collapse Disorder.

It’s confusing because no one can say exactly what it is, although it has been taking a toll on beehives since 2006.

The USDA reports 33.8 percent of total honey bee colony losses nationwide from October 2009 to April, with 28 percent of beekeeping operations reporting that some of their colonies vanished without without dead bees present, which is the definition of CCD.

The disorder cannot be traced to a disease, predator, or poison. The name Colony Collapse Disorder is as specific as bee experts can make it without knowing what is causing large populations of bees to disappear every year.

"No one really knows what it is," said Paul Jackson of Texas A&M University, the chief apiary inspector and entomologist for Texas’ Apiary Inspection Service. "It’s probably a type of chemical, a pesticide, herbicide or fungicide. It may be associated with disease or parasites."

Jackson said he believes the syndrome is caused by more than one chemical as well as a type of mite that feeds on bees, plus a secondary disease that weakens them. Scientists also say that moving the bees from place to place to pollinate crops, a common practice for commercial beekeepers, puts additional stress on the insect. Bees provide pollination for more than 90 commercial crops in the United States, and pollination-based agriculture represents about a third of the U.S. diet, according to Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack.

What Jackson, other entomologists and farmers know for certain is that CCD causes the bees to disappear. Beekeepers also attribute their losses to starvation, bad weather and entering wintertime with weak colonies. Jackson is convinced, however, that CCD is present at least three months before a beekeeper ever knows it.

CCD is similar to something called "disappearing disease" that occurred in the late 1970s and early 1980s and caused bees to vanish in large numbers, noted Jackson. Bee experts did not name a cause then, either. There was, and is, no pattern to it. One beekeeper sees it and another, perhaps only five miles away, does not.

Many beekeepers who have suffered losses are trying to build up their colonies, but "it’s tearing up their pocketbooks," Jackson said. They can build back for a year or two, but after that, they need to be collecting nectar for honey flow instead.

Jackson, who has maintained his own personal beehives over the years, got involved in bees as a young boy growing up on a farm in Arkansas. Strategically placed beehives helped his family stop gasoline thefts from the farm vehicles. He and his father bought hives to place around tractors and other farm vehicles, and the gasoline thefts dropped. "Once he made his point, he moved them," Jackson said. A few hives near a fence deterred fishermen from cutting it to get to the river.

Jackson continued to work with bees even after he left home and entered the Army. In one notable military duty while stationed in Germany, he removed a swarm of bees from a tank barrel using gun oil, a string mop, a pipe, a tow sack and duct tape.

He continued keeping bees after his Army service, and provides them now for his schoolteacher daughter’s classes. "That’s her ball of wax now," he joked.

Gardeners and homeowners who want to encourage more bees can take these steps, he said:

* Use insecticide selectively. Follow label instructions and don’t apply it indiscriminately.

*If you spray insecticide or other chemicals, do so in the evening when the bees return to the hive. They forage during the day.

*Try not to spray anything during a plant’s blooming period.

Barbara LeDoux Elmore grew up in Johnson City and gardens in Fredericksburg. She publishes a free online garden and home newsletter. To subscribe or suggest story ideas, e-mail her at barbara@digandletdig.com.