fruit trees

There is a great deal of attention on the plight of bees and other pollinators. Much of that focuses on the problems plaguing the large, domesticated honeybee colonies that are trucked from region to region to pollinate everything from almonds to fruit trees. Managed bee colonies have recently been losing more than 40% of their population over the course of a year. But overall, honeybees are still relatively safe. They are a globally distributed, domesticated species and are not remotely threatened with extinction.

But another group of bees – native bees – faces a different range of threats, most linked to habitat loss. Worldwide, roughly 20,000 native bee species have evolved over millions of years to thrive in countless habitats, where they have specialized in pollinating specific flowers and plants – in some cases just a single plant.

Scientists have estimated that, globally, 1 in 6 bee species is regionally extinct. In the United States there are about 4,000 native bee species, most of which are solitary bees that nest in the ground or cavities, with many that require just one or a few plant species for sustenance. At least 23 percent of U.S. native bees have declined, with bees in areas with heavy commodity-crop production particularly hard hit due to habitat loss and pesticide use. Other threats to native bees include climate-driven sea-level rise and increased temperatures, loss of host plants, and competition and disease from non-native honeybees. 50% of Midwestern native bee species disappeared from their historic ranges in the last 100 years. Four of our bumblebee species declined 96% in the last 20 years, and three species are believed to already be extinct.

Native bees are in big trouble.

**********

Web Links

Backyard Battle: Helping Native Bees Thrive in a Honeybee World

Photo, posted December 2, 2017, courtesy of Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

For many years, scientists have been sounding the alarm on the global struggle of pollinators. A reported 40% of invertebrate pollinator species, including bees and butterflies, are facing extinction. And since as much as three-quarters of the world’s food crops depend on pollination, the decline of these pollinators poses a major threat to global food security.

Pollinators aid in the production of all sorts of crops, including coffee, cacao, cotton, apples, and almonds – to name a few. The global value of crops requiring pollination ranges from $235-$577 billion annually.

Honey bees are among the struggling pollinators. Over the past 15 years, bee colonies have been disappearing at an alarming rate in what is known as the “colony collapse disorder.” Some regions have seen losses of up to 90%.

In the United States, managed honey bee populations declined by nearly 40% over this past winter, the largest such winter decline since surveying began in 2006.

In recent months, mass honey bee declines have also been reported in Russia, according to the BBC. Russia, which produces a whopping 110,000 tons of honey annually, expects that figure to drop by as much as 20%. The widespread bee decline is likely to not only push up honey prices, but the prices of other popular foods as well. Many staple food crops in Russia, including sunflowers, buckwheat, and fruit trees, rely on bees for pollination.

Experts have blamed the bee decline crisis on a combination of factors, including pesticides (most notably neonicotinoids), varroa mites, and climate change.

Bees play a vital role in food production, and their continued decline will have devastating consequences.

**********

Web Links

Russia alarmed by large fall in bee populations

Photo, posted July 28, 2019, courtesy of Ivan Radic via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Native Bees In A Honeybee World | Earth Wise

Web Links

Falling Bee Populations

Web Links