Bee Colony Collapse

In the past decade it has become common to hear the buzz about how the bees are disappearing. This may not seem like huge news at first, but when you take a look at all the important work bees do, this becomes a much heavier topic. Bees are the main pollinator in the United States and their disappearance would have grave effects on our food industry. Since this issue has been brought to the light, there have been many different options researched for possible solutions. These range from doing nothing at all to intervening and taking personal care of the hives. The future of America’s agriculture industry relies heavily on what happens to the bees. Lorenzo Langstroth, also know as the Father of American Beekeeping and the Bee Man of Oxford,
was one of the biggest influences on the beekeepers of today. He lived in our very own Oxford, Ohio over by Western Campus. While in Oxford “he and his son engaged in the propagation of Italian queen honeybees” (Reed). Langstroth worked on improving his hives by experimenting with different breeds of bees. This resulted in the first moveable-frame, top opening hive box, which is used all over the world today (Reed). This as in the 1850s and is still relevant which clearly goes to show the importance of his work. His work is still very relevant to today's issues. Langstroth claimed that weak colonies can be strengthened, strong colonies can increase space, queens are quickly replaced, diseases, pests and parasites can be quickly determined and remedied. When we apply this logic to our current situation, it gives us hope that we can come up with a solution for the current declination of bees that occurred through the use pesticides, disease, and harmful pests. Why should we care if the bees are disappearing? Well, the bee population is incredibly important to America’s agriculture and to our lives in general. According to a Harvard study, “If the bee disappeared off the surface of the globe then man would only have four years of life left. No more bees, no more pollination, no more plants, no more animals, no more man” (Essert). Bees are our main pollinators and without them there would be disappearance of foods. For starters, there would be “there would be no honey—period” (Curley). The agricultural crops produced through bee pollination accounts for about one-third of the U.S. diet., as many as 90 agricultural crops. These foods include fruits, nuts, vegetables, and more. Therefore, there would also be a disappearance of almonds. Every year, more than half of the country’s honey bee hives are loaded up by the hundreds onto trucks and driven across the country to provide pollination services to “800,000 acres of almond trees in California’s Central Valley for a concentrated 2-week period” and then they are then trucked to other locations for other jobs (Berenbaum). These almond orchards “produce $2.8 billion worth of almonds each year” and since these orchards rely almost entirely on forced bee pollination, all of this income would disappear if the bees were gone (Holmes). In the United States alone, the value of pollination to the U.S. agricultural production is estimated at $16 billion each year. About three-fourths of this is attributable to honey bees. Bees and the work they do is not something we can afford to lose. Without them, we have farmers and beekeepers who would lose their jobs and income. According to the USDA’s 2012/2013 annual survey, “70% of responding beekeepers reported losses greater than 14%—the level of loss that beekeepers say allow them to remain economically viable as a business” (Johnson). Therefore, as the number of bees continue to drop, the more drastically beekeepers will economically suffer. Then eventually, we would all lose our lives. Bees are essential for agricultural productivity and crop yields. There is not much record of the bee population over the years because all the information was gathered for different purposes and therefore are not easily comparable.
However, Bee colony collapse disorder has contributed to an approximate loss of about 30% of pollinators each year for the last ten years. This is a big increase in the average loss of pollinators from the 1990s-mid 2000s which varied from 17%-20% per year (Johnson). While the numbers are not exact, there is a noticable trend of a decrease in bees. There are, unfortunately, no formal statistical evidence on the population of wild bees. Therefore, it is difficult to know how they are faring and how that would compare to the bees that are kept in beekeeper hives. Yet overall there is clear statistical evidence that supports the claim that the bees and dying in increasing
amounts. Humans are responsible for two of the most prominent causes of bees dying: habitat loss and pesticides.
The first reports of “a mysterious phenomenon called Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD)” appeared in October 2006 (Curley). CCD is when the majority of worker bees in a colony disappear, this can happen due to various reasons. This includes “pesticides, drought, habitat destruction, nutrition deficit, air pollution, global warming and more” (Save the Bees). Many of these causes are also interrelated. However, as previously stated, human are responsible for the creation and use of pesticides which is one of the most profound causes. Here, pesticides will be the primary focus. Insecticides were desired by farmers to kill pests that were farming their produce, however these highly toxic insecticides “were not very selective; their ubiquitous use and broadcast application techniques for crop protection meant that foraging honey bees entered the line of fire with frequent and fatal results” (Berenbaum). It took less than twenty years after the beginning uses of insecticides in order to obtain scientific evidence “that sprays on fruit trees to kill pest insects do, in fact, as a non-target effect, kill bees” (Berenbaum). Therefore, humans can be partially to blame for CCD and poisoning of
bees. While there is this a daring issue, there is hope. However, we have yet to come to an agreement on what that is. Some believe we should leave bees alone and let them repopulate, unfortunately this is not a very realistic solution so far. They believe that humans need the bees more than the bees need humans. Therefore, we could withdraw from their lives easily because “we are mostly irrelevant to them for survival” (Curley). However, we would still be in trouble because we need then in order to survive. Some believe that another option would be to take a more direct approach. Some believe that a strong start would include banning the most dangerous pesticides, protecting pollinator health by preserving wild habitat, and restoring ecological agriculture (Save the Bees). There has also been a strong recommendation for the general public to plant more bee-friendly plants and avoid using pesticides, especially during the mid-day hours which are when the bees are most active. The goal here is to get the population numbers back up, to keep the bees healthier, and to prevent an issue such as this from happening again. If we are successful, this will lead to an improvement in crop yields.
Our main pollinators are dying and there will be severe repercussions if we do not make a change. There has been clear statistical research that shows that the bees are dying and increasing increments each year. If we do not want to have continuing economic and ecologically consequences, then we need to take a step and adjust the use of pesticides.Otherwise, these consequences will eventually lead to our own death. There are many different paths for our future depending on what we choose to do to prevent further damage and reverse what has already been done. We have come up with several possible solutions, however, we have not fully committed to one quite yet. I bee-lieve we can make a difference and save the bees if we come together and work towards a realistic and sustainable solution.