What Caused the Loss of Bees Worldwide? Is the Bee Population Still in Trouble?
Over the past quarter of a century, the worldwide bee population has seen a dramatic decline. In the United States over the last 15 years, beekeepers have seen a 30% decrease in the size of their colonies almost every year. In 2020 alone, commercial beehives lost nearly half their bees. Africa has seen a steady reduction in the number of bees for more than 40 years and Asia appears to have been losing bees long before that. What are the primary causes of the decline? What is the potential impact on the planet? Are the bee populations rebounding or still in trouble?
What Are the Reasons for the Loss of Bees Worldwide?
Beekeepers, also known as apiarists or apiculturists, point to a number of factors that have contributed to the reduction in hive sizes around the world:
- Pesticides—The chemicals in many modern pesticides can be detrimental to the health of most bees
- Loss of habitat—The growth of agribusiness worldwide has swallowed up what would be natural bee habitats in prairies and grasslands. Increased urbanization has also led to few food sources for bees.
- Increased weather extremes—Bees are only slowly adapting to the hotter summers and colder winters of the past couple decades
- Disease and parasites—Some parasites that were found only in Asia have now come to the United States, where the bees have not yet developed natural defenses
What Is the Potential Impact of the Reduction in the Worldwide Bee Population?
The reduction in the number of bees worldwide has the potential to cause a substantial decline in food production, as bees serve as pollinators for many types of fruits, vegetables and nuts. The reduction in pollination affects not only food sources for humans, but for most wildlife as well.
Is the Bee Population Rebounding or Still in Jeopardy?
There’s some good news about the bee population, at least in the United States. According to some reports, more than a million new hives have been added nationwide in the last five years alone. Unfortunately, though, that’s been necessary to maintain essential bee numbers because the annual die-offs continue unabated. Even with the significant growth in the number of bees, experts say that the production of many essential crops remains negatively affected by the lack of bees.
