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More Troubles For Bees | Earth Wise

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Beekeepers in the United States lost nearly 44% of their managed honeybee colonies from April 2019 to April 2020, according to the 14th annual nationwide survey conducted by the nonprofit Bee Informed Partnership.  This was the second highest annual loss recorded since the surveys began.

The high loss rate over the past year was unusual in that winter losses were actually substantially lower than they have been in recent years.   The winter losses were 22.2%, which is 15.5 points lower than last year and 6.4 points lower than the average over the past 14 years.  On the other hand, summer losses were 32%, which is 12 points higher than last year and 10.4 points higher than the average.

In fact, the summer loss was the highest ever recorded and was only the second time that more bees were lost in the summer than in the winter.

Commercial beekeepers generally have lower losses than backyard and smaller operations.  Commercial honeybee colonies pollinate $15 billion worth of crops in the United States every year, so the health of these colonies is a critical issue for domestic food production and supply.

Beekeepers began noticing dramatic losses in their colonies in the early 2000s and ever since then, state and federal agricultural agencies, university researchers, and the beekeeping industry have been working together to try to understand the reasons for the population decline and to develop approaches to reduce these losses.

Winter loss has previously been the main focus of management activities since that period of the year is thought to be the most challenging for bee colonies.  This year’s results are driving a great deal of analysis of the possible causes for the dramatic summer colony losses.  Whatever they turn out to be, they represent more troubles for bees.

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Odd Year for U.S. Beekeepers Who Reported Lower Winter Losses but Abnormally High Summer Losses

Photo, posted April 14, 2013, courtesy of Paul Rollings via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Disappearing Rainforests | Earth Wise

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Forest loss is a major contributor to climate change, and it is continuing at a rapid pace.  The tropics lost about 30 million acres of tree cover in 2019, a third of which was within humid tropical primary forests, which are especially important for biodiversity and carbon storage.  To put that loss in a human-scale perspective, it is the equivalent of losing a football field of primary forest every six seconds for the entire year.

The losses last year were 2.8% higher than in the previous year, and these losses have continued over the past 20 years despite worldwide efforts to halt deforestation.  

Brazil single-handedly accounted for over a third of all global loss of humid tropical primary forests. Bolivia experienced record-breaking tree cover loss due to fires.  The losses in its forests were 80% greater than in any previous year.  The fires were often started by people who were trying to clear land for agriculture but had the fires go out of control. Several countries in Africa’s Congo Basin also experienced sustained or worsening forest loss. 

Indonesia, often the focus of the world’s attention for its deforestation activities, actually saw a 5% reduction in primary forest loss in 2019.  It was the third year in a row for lower losses.  The now-permanent moratorium on clearing forests for oil palm plantations and logging seems to be working.

Going forward, the coronavirus pandemic poses additional threats to the world’s forests in the near future.  There may be a tendency to sacrifice forests in pursuit of economic recovery, which will only lead to future complications for the health and livelihoods of millions of people around the world.

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We Lost a Football Pitch of Primary Rainforest Every 6 Seconds in 2019

Photo, posted February 7, 2011, courtesy of Chad Skeers via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

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Another Bad Year For Bees

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The latest annual nationwide survey of beekeepers in the US revealed that honeybees are still dying off at an alarming rate.  According to the survey, beekeepers across the country lost 40.7% of their honey bee colonies from April 2018 to April 2019. 

This annual loss represents a slight increase over the average annual loss of 38.7%.  Of greater concern is that winter losses of 37.7% were the highest reported since these annual surveys began 13 years ago and are almost 9% higher than the survey average.

These results are very troubling considering that the elevated losses are continuing even after a decade of intense work trying to understand and reduce colony loss.  Evidently, there has not been much progress.

The number one concern among beekeepers is varroa mites, which are lethal parasites that can readily spread from colony to colony.  These mites have been decimating bee colonies for years.  Products developed to remove mites seem to be getting less and less effective.

But mites are not the only problem for bees.  Land use changes have resulted in reduced availability of pollen sources for bees.  Add to that pesticide exposures, environmental factors, and even problems with beekeeping practices.   In addition, extreme weather conditions such as wildfires and floods are only adding to the problems facing bees.

The tools that used to work for beekeepers seem to be failing and they are already stretched to their limits trying to keep their bees alive. Honey bees pollinate $15 billion worth of food crops in the United States each year. The problems facing bees are a problem for all of us.

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U.S. Beekeepers Suffered Higher than Average Colony Loss Last Year, with Winter Losses the Highest Recorded, According to UMD-Led Annual Survey

Photo, posted June 3, 2009, courtesy of Jennifer C via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Reducing Polar Bear Attacks

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The increasing reduction of sea ice in the Arctic is changing the behavior of polar bears.  Because they are spending more time on land, they are interacting with people much more frequently, occasionally with deadly results.

A study, published in 2017, looked at 144 years’ worth of polar bear attacks on humans in the Arctic.  Between 1960 and 2009, there were a reported 47 attacks by polar bears on people – between 7 and 12 per decade.  Between 2010 and 2014, as sea ice reached record lows, there were 15 attacks, a record for a four-year period.  Since 2000, 88% of attacks have occurred between July and December, when sea ice is at its lowest level of the year.

Last July, a young male polar bear attacked and killed a man who was berry picking with his children.  A month later, a mother polar bear attacked and killed an Inuit hunter and injured two others.  This was the first known fatal attack by a mother polar bear.

As a result, Inuit communities in the Nunavut region are asking for higher legal polar bear harvest quotas, arguing that bear populations have increased to a dangerous level.

These recent human fatalities have also provided an impetus for developing new non-lethal conflict-resolution tools than can be used in northern communities before more people as well as bears are killed.

There are now polar bear patrol teams tasked with driving bears away from settlements.  There is a bear hotline and electric fencing around sled dog compounds.

The changing face of the Arctic is creating growing stress on the polar bear population and on the people who make their home in that region.

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As Polar Bear Attacks Increase in Warming Arctic, a Search for Solutions

Photo, posted September 28, 2015, courtesy of Anita Ritenour via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Ice Melt In Greenland

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A new study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences warns that Greenland’s ice Is melting much faster than previously thought.  The ice loss rapidly accelerated around 2002-2003 and by 2012 the annual loss was nearly four times the rate in 2003.

Most of the new ice melt is in southwest Greenland, a part of the island that wasn’t known to be losing ice that rapidly and is not where most of the large glaciers are in Greenland.  The loss is coming from the land-fast ice sheet itself.

Data from NASA satellites and GPS stations scattered around Greenland’s coast shows that between 2002 and 2016, Greenland lost approximately 280 billion tons of ice per year.  That is enough melt to cover the entire states of Florida and New York hip deep in meltwater, as well as drowning Washington, D.C. and one or two other small states.

Global warming of just 1 degree Celsius is the main driver behind this massive meltdown of ice.  The temperature rise coupled with a negative phase of the North Atlantic Oscillation causes rapid surface melt of the ice sheet during summers.  The Oscillation is a natural, irregular change in atmospheric pressure that brings warm, sunny weather to the western side of Greenland during its negative phase.

The Greenland ice sheet is 2 miles thick in some places and contains enough ice to raise sea levels 23 feet if it all melted.  The melting Greenland ice is already slowing the Gulf Stream, which is wreaking havoc with European weather.  If we don’t get a handle on global temperature rise, things are only going to get worse.

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Greenland’s ice is melting four times faster than thought—what it means

Photo, posted April 21, 2017, courtesy of Markus Trienke via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Wilderness Lost

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Wilderness areas are strongholds for biodiversity.  They buffer and regulate local climates, and they support many of the world’s most politically and economically marginalized communities.  While there is a great deal of attention being paid to the loss of species around the world, there is relatively little focus on the loss of entire ecosystems.  Simply put, wilderness is on the decline, and it has been ever since human civilization began its inexorable expansion.

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