Native Bees: Honey Bee Decline

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ambience: honey bee swarm

Bees are crucial to our food supply because they help pollinate many of the fruits and vegetables we eat. But of the 20,000 species of bees in the world, farmers depend primarily upon one domesticated species – the honey bee, and the honey bee is in trouble. I’m Jim Metzner, and this is the Pulse of the Planet. Claire Kremen is an Assistant Professor of Conservation Biology at Princeton University.

“There just aren’t enough honey bee colonies to go around. And over the past 50 years in the United States, for example, the number of colonies kept by beekeepers has declined by 50 percent. So, currently there are times when farmers face shortages. For example, last year – last February in California, which is the season when almond is blooming, there weren’t enough bee colonies for all the almond farmers, and so, because the almond farmers depend entirely on the honey bee, not all of the almond farmers got enough bee colonies for their crop.”

So what’s been happening to the honey bee?

“First of all, there are a number of different diseases. There are several different types of mites that lower productivity of the colonies and can cause the loss of the queen. It therefore becomes much more expensive for beekeepers to manage the bees. They have to use a variety of procedures to control the mites, and that’s expensive and time-consuming. And, finally, there have been times in the past 50 years when extensive pesticide use has really damaged bee colonies and honey bee production.”

To help make up for the honey bee shortfall, farmers around the world may be turning to wild bees. We’ll hear more in future programs.

Pulse of the Planet is made possible by the National Science Foundation. I’m Jim Metzner.

music

Native Bees: Honey Bee Decline

Farmers around the world depend primarily on one species of bee- the honey bee- and that bee is in trouble.
Air Date:10/05/2004
Scientist:
Transcript:


music
ambience: honey bee swarm

Bees are crucial to our food supply because they help pollinate many of the fruits and vegetables we eat. But of the 20,000 species of bees in the world, farmers depend primarily upon one domesticated species - the honey bee, and the honey bee is in trouble. I'm Jim Metzner, and this is the Pulse of the Planet. Claire Kremen is an Assistant Professor of Conservation Biology at Princeton University.

“There just aren’t enough honey bee colonies to go around. And over the past 50 years in the United States, for example, the number of colonies kept by beekeepers has declined by 50 percent. So, currently there are times when farmers face shortages. For example, last year - last February in California, which is the season when almond is blooming, there weren’t enough bee colonies for all the almond farmers, and so, because the almond farmers depend entirely on the honey bee, not all of the almond farmers got enough bee colonies for their crop.”

So what’s been happening to the honey bee?

“First of all, there are a number of different diseases. There are several different types of mites that lower productivity of the colonies and can cause the loss of the queen. It therefore becomes much more expensive for beekeepers to manage the bees. They have to use a variety of procedures to control the mites, and that’s expensive and time-consuming. And, finally, there have been times in the past 50 years when extensive pesticide use has really damaged bee colonies and honey bee production.”

To help make up for the honey bee shortfall, farmers around the world may be turning to wild bees. We’ll hear more in future programs.

Pulse of the Planet is made possible by the National Science Foundation. I'm Jim Metzner.

music