When the Bee Stings: How Disappearing Bee Colonies Affect the Food Chain
The number of bee colonies has dropped 36% this year. Experts are blaming this on an illness that is affecting the growth of plants.
The value of the honey bee industry has been estimated to reach $15 billion, and at least 130 different kinds of crops depend on bee pollination for growth. Because it is a major industry, scientists have conducted a study to find out why the bee colonies are collapsing or lessening in number.
Bees are as important to crops as sunlight and water. They are major pollinators of important crops and are in fact responsible for the fertilization and proliferation of 75% of flowering plants around the world. The US Department of Agriculture said that about 30% of what we eat comes from plants pollinated by insects, and 80% of these are pollinated by bees.
Scientists have not yet been able to specifically identify the reason for bee colony collapse, which has been steadily increasing year after year. One of their guesses is the spread of viruses and parasites and exposure to environmental stress. Poor nutrition is also being looked at.
American Beekeeping Federation vice president David Mendes said that there must be something in the environment that is causing the bees to become sick. Some experts have looked at the possibility of the use of pesticides as another cause for bee population decline.
The USDA is presently conducting a research to look into this angle. They are seeking to determine if pesticides indeed have a role in this problem. No direct correlation between pesticide use and bee population decline has been established yet, but USDA is continuing the studies in order to reach either a confirmation or a rejection of this theory.
Many experts and researchers are one in saying that bee colony collapse is not caused by a single factor but by several factors working together. These factors have eventually pushed the bees beyond their ability to adjust to the environment.
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