Two recent publications--Time magazine from August 19th, and Summer/Fall "Lake Tides," the publication of Wisconsin Lakes Partnership--spend a lot of time describing the current threat to honeybees.
On our recent book club trip to Duluth, there didn't seem to be any shortage of bees around any flowers we observed. But, that doesn't seem to be the case around the US and the world.
I'm sure you have read that around 2006, beekeepers began having whole bee colonies just disappear. This mystery has continued without solution, and just this past winter, fully one-third of US bee colonies have died or disappeared, in a malady called CCD, or colony-collapse disorder.
Although pesticides are considered to be a big cause of this problem, experts are considering lots of other factors too, such as bacterial or viral infections or stress caused by loss of habitat.
How serious would the loss of honeybees be? The article in Time says that our main food grains, such as corn, wheat, and rice, would be safe without honeybees, as these plants are self-pollinating.
But many other foods we love depend very highly on bees to pollinate them: 100% of almonds; 90% of apples, asparagus, broccoli, blueberries and onions; and 80% of cherries, cucumbers, and celery would not exist with no pollination from honeybees.
Neither article says we need to be terrified, but it is very real and very serious. Scientists are experimenting to find causes of CCD and ways to combat the problem. The Wisconsin article does tell us we should be aware of being kind to bees by promoting wild flowers and their habitats, and not using pesticides or herbicides which can be deadly to bees.
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