Honey bees are critical not just to the ecosystem , but to our agricultural job . It ’s intend that they contribute an estimated $ 10 billion annually to the economic system through pollinating crops . But the plight of the honey bee is in a dire DoS . Over the past few X , the number of beloved bees has declined by a shameful 60 % in the United States alone .
Unfortunately , thepreliminary resultsfrom a new report of American honey bee natural selection rate brings more bad intelligence . Beekeepers across the U.S. see a further personnel casualty of over two - fifths ( 42 % ) of their honey bee colonies during the past class . What ’s more , the greatest loss was — to the surprisal of the researchers — over summer . This is in stark contrast to what is normally expected , with the capital number of losses ordinarily occur during winter , and could be a worrying raw trend .
The study , deal by theBee Informed Partnershipin collaboration with theApiary Inspectors of America , surveyed over 6,000 commercial-grade and pocket-sized - scale beekeepers , postulate them about the nation of their settlement over the past year . They found that whilst there was a low step-up in survival of colonies over the winter when compare with the year before , the natural selection rates over the summer took a troubling play .
“ We traditionally thought of winter release as a more important indicator of health , because survive the cold winter month is a crucial exam for any bee colony , ” saidDennis vanEngelsdorp , project director for the Bee Informed Partnership . “ But we now know that summer exit rates are pregnant too . This is especially so for commercial-grade beekeepers , who are now losing more colonies in the summertime equate to the wintertime . Years ago , this was unheard of . ”
Thesurvey resultscovered an estimated 14 % of the country ’s managed bee colonies . What they found was a drop curtain in losses over wintertime compare to last twelvemonth , but this was negated by a immense increase in deprivation over summertime , growing from 19.8 % to 27.4 % . Interestingly , the expiration for commercial-grade and pocket-size - scale beekeepers did not follow the same figure . Commercial keepers took a not bad hit during the summer months , whereas the small - scale keepers saw corking expiration over winter .
Whilst the researcher think that the deadly varroa mite ( Varroa destructor ) is to blame for the colony declension of the small - scale keeper , they are at a red ink to excuse what is make the declination of the commercial keepers ' colonies . “ Commercial keeper were especially prostrate to summertime losses . But they typically take more aggressive activity against varroa mites , so there must be other factors at play , ” explained vanEngelsdorp .
This is the ninth year they have surveyed the winter colony survival pace , and the 5th year they ’ve look at summer survival , but the generator say that these results highlight the importance of carry on to collect these long - term information sets . It also append to the growing vexation surrounding the health fall of honey bee colonies , not just in the United States , but the world over .
