Honeybees are a critical resource for American agriculture. The western honeybee, Apis mellifera, pollinates more than 130 types of nuts, fruits, and vegetables, adding up to $15 billion worth of crops every year. Honeybee health has been harmed by a combination of factors: weather extremes, habitat loss, pesticides, and disease. One of the biggest problems has been a parasite called varroa destructor, which is a Southeast Asian mite that first entered the United States in the 1980s. The mites spread viruses to the bees.
The past year has been a particularly bad one for the bees. Nearly 56% of managed honeybee colonies died off in the past year, the worst rate since annual reporting began in 2011.
Even while American beekeepers seek solutions to the varroa problem, a potentially worse threat is on the horizon. Another Southeast Asian mite, tropilaelaps, has been making its way across Asia and into Europe. If these mites arrive in North America, the results would be disastrous, wreaking havoc on honeybees and ravaging the nation’s food supply.
Western honeybees are the only honeybee species that is not native to Southeast Asia. As the cradle of development of the bees, Southeast Asia has given rise to a bounty of parasites and viruses that are dependent upon them. In turn, bees native to that region have had time to evolve defenses against these pathogens. Western honeybees have not.
Beekeepers and authorities are taking measures to delay or prevent the arrival of tropilaelaps mites. The stakes are very high.
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After Devastating Winter Losses, Another Threat Looms for U.S. Beekeepers
Photo, posted April 14, 2013, courtesy of Paul Rollings via Flickr.
Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio
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