What Happened to Colony Collapse with Bees?
Roughly 20 years ago, something troubling started happening with honey bees. Around 2006 and 2007, honey bee keepers began experiencing much higher winter honey bee losses than usual. This is perfectly normal for beekeepers to lose up to about 30% of their worker bees every winter. However, this was different. The bees would leave the colony and then kind of disappear and not come back. This phenomenon is called Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD), when all the worker bees leave the hive for no apparent reason, leaving the queen to fend for herself, usually resulting in the death of the hive.
The Causes of Colony Collapse Disorder
There really was no one specific cause. It was a lot of interacting factors like pesticide use and new diseases. A big culprit was a parasite called the varroa mite. This little mite was like a little bee vampire, and it was causing a lot of colonies to get weaker and to get susceptible to a lot of these other interacting stressors.
- Varroa mite infestation
- Pesticide use
- New diseases
- Interacting stressors
Consequences of Colony Collapse Disorder
Colony collapse disorder is a serious problem. We rely heavily on honey bees for industrial agriculture. They pollinate $15 billion worth of crops in the U.S. every year, and some estimate about one third of the global human food supply. The USDA developed treatments to help bees fend off mites, and they approved new antibiotics. However, according to recent national surveys, things have not gotten any better. If anything, they’re getting worse. This year annual honey bee losses are the highest they’ve ever been, with losses averaging around 55%.
| Year | Annual Honey Bee Losses |
|---|---|
| 2006-2007 | 30-40% |
| 2010-2011 | 30-40% |
| 2020-2021 | 55% |
Native Bees: A Different Story
Despite all this, Lauren doesn’t think honey bees will go extinct. In fact, she and other experts say there are more honey bees today than there ever have been in the history of our planet. That’s because they’re really important to us, essentially as livestock, so they’re highly researched and managed. Native bees, however, are another story. There are two species of bumblebees that are on the Endangered Species list. And several other native bee species are being considered for the list. Not to mention there’s probably a lot of species we’ve already lost.
Why Native Bees Matter
Native bees tend to pollinate some crops better than honey bees do, especially native North American species like blueberries and cranberries. Plus, native bees and honey bees can often interact with each other in beneficial ways. Native bees are also more resilient to climate change and other environmental stressors.
- Pollination of native crops
- Beneficial interaction with honey bees
- Resilience to climate change
Solutions to Support Native Bees
To support native bees, Lauren says we have to reduce pesticide use. And we have to make sure there’s food around for them, even when the crops that farmers want to pollinate aren’t blooming. This means creating native hedgerows and cover crops, which are good for the bees, for agricultural, and for local ecosystems too.
“We just need them to have some habitat. They need to be able to live there. They need to be able to survive.”
Conclusion
Colony collapse disorder is a serious threat to global food security. While honey bees are still important to us, native bees are a different story. By reducing pesticide use and creating native habitats, we can support both types of bees and ensure a healthy food supply for the future. If you’d like to submit a question to the Outside/In team, you can record it as a voice memo on your smartphone and send it to outsidein@nhpr.org. You can also leave a message on our hotline, 1-844-GO-OTTER.
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