The Problem of Decline in Bee Population Essay

When I first read through Nathanael Johnson’s article discussing the fall of bee populations in relation to a catastrophic unearthly demise, I kept an open mind. With my personal opinion about the bee crisis stifled, I read on to see if Johnson could aptly convince me of his argument. Unsurprisingly, he failed.

The honey bee population is going down, and while most people think it doesn't really matter or just don’t notice it, they should because it is a very big problem. I think the other people should try and change that. If bees die then it will not be good, at all. In this persuasive piece of writing, I will be trying to make people rethink about the bee population, and what it could potentially do to the human race.

The article “Hivey Leaguers” discusses problems affecting the bee population in the United States ranging from chemicals and insecticides to Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD). Colony Collapse Disorder occurs when the worker bees disappear from the hives, leaving behind the queen and the nurses to take care of the immature bees. This newly discovered threat to bee populations caused widespread panic in the entomologist community and lead to a race to find the cause, and the relative cure. Though this new disorder was a danger, the real bane of the bees was a much more sinister, and domestic, threat.

The colony collapse disorder has been threatening the United States for many years. Reports show excessive numbers of honeybees dying off. According to the Bee Informed Partnership and USDA’s annual survey, during the winter of 2013-2014, the mortality of managed honeybee colonies was 23.2. The previous winter’s report showed a loss of 30.5 percent of the colonies and thus, the winter 2013-2014 results might show some improvement. However, beekeepers persist that the still declining honeybee colonies are becoming too low for colony collapse disorder to be considered a solved issue. Approximately two-thirds of the beekeepers reported losses greater than the acceptable 18.9 percent mortality rate, thus deeming the losses greater than what is economically sustainable. The issue

This recent outbreak of widespread bee deaths is not the first depletion of bee colonies in recorded history, which makes the source of CCD less, rather than more

Spanish researchers have recently announced they have found the cause of Colony Collapse Disorder. The scientists are suggesting that the honey bees are being attacked by a fungus called Nosema ceranae. Through further testing of infected hives, the researchers may have also found a cure. Simply enough, an antibiotic has been found to be effective in curing the colony (Ford, 2009).

From around the year 2006, many bee farmers in the U.S.A and some parts of Europe started reporting sharp declines in their bee stocks. The reason for this declining numbers was not known and therefore scientists named it colony collapse disorder (CCD). Colony collapse disorder (CCD) is a not a very old phenomena and it became popular when large number of bee colonies started disappearing. The disappearing was mysterious since no dead bees were found in or around the beehives after a colony’s number was reported to have gone down or vanished. This prompted a lot of study and investigations to uncover the mystery and to establish possible remedies. Among the many reasons for the causes of the CCD

Furthermore bees specifically are particularly efficient with it being estimated that they are the sole pollinators for 50% of the approximate 80% of flowering plants which rely on insects for pollination (Bradbear, 2009). Their efficiency is further illustrated by the fact that a single colony containing 25,000 forager bees is able to pollinate 250 million flowers per day (Bradbear, 2009). As a result of this it can be seen that bees are hugely important as pollinators with many species of flower being completely dependent on them. Furthermore, the importance of bees extends beyond ecological diversity; certain types of bees are hugely important economically. In addition to pollinating a large variety of fruit and vegetables, bees produce Honey; together this results in them having an estimated value of service of £200m a year in the UK (National Audit Office (NAO), 2009). Overall it can be seen that bees are of significant importance that any decrease in population should be treated with concern, as a result of this a large quantity of research has been conducted into identifying possible

During the winter of 2006, beekeepers all over the world started to see a 30 to 90% loss in their colonies as a result of Colony Collapse Disorder. In the United States alone, the bee population is steadily declining from 5 million bees in 1988 to 2.5 million bees today.

Another event more recently was reported in Pennsylvania where Keepers reported a 53% loss of their hives. But what made this event most serious was the loss of 1/3rd of bee hives within the United States as a whole. This event appeared to have no particular rhyme or reason for this cause and no singular circumstance could be pointed to as an exact cause of such mass destruction of one species that is crucial to food production within the United States ("Honey Bees and Colony Collapse Disorder").

There are many theories about the cause of CCD, the majority of which are human caused. Some of these theories include honey bee management practices, use of chemicals in bee colonies, chemical toxins in the environment, genetically modified crops, and new pests and diseases. (Ellis) The Agricultural Research Service ARS has been working on finding definite causes for CCD along with aiming to enhance honey bee health as well as studying many bee diseases and parasites. (Ars.usda.gov)

The rapid decline in the population of bees cannot be derived from a single factor. Like many environmental problems, the summation of several factors give rise to the problem that is the possibility of the extinction of bees. Although there may be a number of popular ideas about why bees’ populations are on the decline, some stand out above others. Things like parasites, chemicals, habitat destruction and changes, and reproduction issues all contribute significantly to a decline in the population of bees across the globe.

Colony Collapse disorder is a disorder that causes a population of honeybees to decrease. This disorder happens when most of the workers in a honeybee population leave their queen behind. Many possible conclusions have been made about this disorder, but very little clues are found from the disappearing honeybees. A few nurses that are left take care of the immature honey bees along with their queen. A majority of the honeybees colony that suffer from CCD (Colony Collapse Disorder) have a few chances to survive especially in the winter. Many Scientist believe that CCD could be one of the reasons of the disappearances of the honeybees.

Colony Collapse Disorder not only affects honey bees, but they also affects wild bees. Richard Gerber quotes “Many people would be surprised to know that 90% of the feral (wild) bee population in the United States has died out” (Gerber). With 90 percent of wild bees extinct, this astounding number really makes you wonder if this goes above and beyond the issues researchers are looking into. Is there something else that researchers and scientist may be overlooking for there to be such a diminishing population of wild bees? Gerber says that since 2007, 22 states have reported tens of thousands of honey

Honey bees, feared by the misinformed and admired by the intelligent, are dying. The interest in bees from many environmentalists is not for a sudden cause, as this issue is not new to the world. Honey bees as a population have been in decline for years but have yet to reach the endangered species list anywhere in the United States except for Hawaii. Many people kill bees that buzz around joyfully, simply because they are afraid of being stung by them; however, a vast majority of bees do not sting and the others do not care. This unfortunate commonality is not even one of the top causes of the worldwide epidemic of honey bees. Although bees are jokingly idolized on the internet in pictures and videos as a result of a popular children’s movie, their population decline is in fact quite serious. Honey bees and other pollinators like birds and insects ensure the pollination of flowering plants and crops all around the globe. Not only do honey bees pollinate plants that produce the foods that humans eat, but they also pollinate trees that produce clean oxygen for Earth. Without honey bees, the world as we know it could soon end, due to carbon dioxide pollution and lack of farmable foods. The population of honeybees and other important pollinator-bee species is dwindling due to a dilemma known to scientists as colony collapse disorder (CCD) because of the use of bee-killing pesticides, known as neonicotinoids, the decrease of flower meadows in the world, and the general increase