From the beginning of the 1990s, beekeepers noticed massive disappearances of bees,
especially during the winter months. Since those times the situation has become even
worse: about 4 thousand species of honeybees have become extinct. In 2006 this
phenomenon was named “colony collapse syndrome”. Nobody knows exactly why bees
are dying.
Source: https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/why-do-bees-make-honey.html
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/06/180628105009.htm
especially during the winter months. Since those times the situation has become even
worse: about 4 thousand species of honeybees have become extinct. In 2006 this
phenomenon was named “colony collapse syndrome”. Nobody knows exactly why bees
are dying.
“If temperatures on Earth rise as much as climatologists predict, then the bees will be on the verge of extinction because they run into their physiological limits. Bees will completely disappear in the warmer regions of their habitat. Such a prospect is sobering and frightening us " said Paul CaraDonna of Northwestern University in Evanston.
In recent years, scientists have recorded a rapid decline in the number of domestic and wild bees on all continents except Antarctica, where they do not exist. Over the past five to ten years, the population of wild bees has decreased by 25-30 percent, and the number of domesticated in the US in 2015 alone has halved.
The main causes of mass death of bees are global warming, parasitic mites of the genus Varroa, which spread viruses, distorting the wings of insects, pesticides and the mysterious “colony collapse syndrome”, during the development of which worker bees suddenly drop their queen and leave the hive.
CaraDonna and his colleagues tried to find out what role climate can play in all these processes. To do this, they carved several mini-hives from wooden bars and installed them in one of the arid mountains in the territory of Arizona, where the last colonies of wild osmium bees (Osmia ribifloris), the main blueberry pollinators, are disappearing today.
These insects, unlike domestic ones, lead a solitary lifestyle and are rarely found with other individuals. They build their nests inside stumps, snail shells, cracks in the rocks and in other natural nooks, where they create small stocks of food and lay eggs.
Environmentalists decided to check what will happen if the temperature inside these “incubators” increases or decreases at the time when the larvae begin to grow. To do this, they painted a third of the hives black, raising the temperature in them by a few degrees, while others left it colorless or covered with white paint.
These changes, as the researchers found, greatly influenced the life of bees in the next two years. Insects living in black beehives almost completely died out - 35 percent died in the first year, and over 70 in the second. On the other hand, osmium living in ordinary or white beehives continued to flourish and only one or two percent died.
The reason for the mass deaths of bees, according to CaraDonna , was the elevated temperature inside the hive, it meant insects could not completely hibernate. Therefore, they quickly burned fat reserves and woke up in the spring weakened.
So far this phenomenon has almost no effect on the life of bees in natural hives, however, the situation may become catastrophic in the coming years, when the temperature of the “black” hive will be the norm for the entire planet.
- Have you heard about bees extinction before?
- What do you think about global warming and pesticides effect on bees and, for example, the food we eat?
- Do you know any organization that is trying to save bees from extinction? If yes, what do they do to save bees from total extinction?
- What can you suggest we should do to save our environment from global warming?
Comments
When it comes to food I think that food is really unhealthy and we should grow our own vegetables and fruits just because the one that we buy in the shop has so many weird substances in it to make it pretty to our eyes and grown so we think that it will make us full that it really is poisoning us with every year more and more. I think that global warming is a real threat and we should start doing something about it before it is to late. There is a lot of videos on the web where we can see how the world change for the past few years and the change is really huge. What we can do to change our situation about global warming? I guess change our way of transportation, stop making our houses warm using a lot of garbage and plastic or rubber stuff that is making our oxygen unable to breath and start caring...
I haven't heard before that there is a problem with bees. I hope that will be better.
We have corrupted the planet and now we will suffer. Let's start thinking and let's fix the world. We can!
I'm not sure, but maybe WWF? I don't know what they could do, but it's a good company that saves animals.
Recycling, less plastic, thoughtful shopping. But the most important thing is to start thinking about everyone and not just about yourself.
One of the biggest problems causing global warming are factories and thermal power stations. So, in my opinion, we should start from Alternative Energy Sources.
I believe that the occurrence of global warming is a serious problem for every country and person. For example, country like the Netherlands. Raising the water level is a real threat to national security. Especially for their capital city of Amsterdam, which is located above the water. In Poland, large droughts are observed which prevent the growing of many cereals. This leads to the fact, that the average citizen will be able to have difficult access to purchase basic food products.
The only organization I know who deals with the protection of animal rights is WWF. I do not know whether they will deal with bees and their problem related to the occurrence of global warming.
I believe that every national economy needs to be switched to renewable energy sources. One should take an example from Germany, which managed to obtain energy from renewable sources in the middle of energy demand. What's more, we must teach people that energy can produce each of us on our own. And not by large power plants with an unlimited number of chimneys
No, Never
What do you think about global warming and pesticides effect on bees and, for example, the food we eat?
Our world it’s a chaos, and the biggest chaos in our life it’s a thing that a repeat time by time, so in the past people and world had a more problem then global warming, so i think all will be okay:)
What can you suggest we should do to save our environment from global warming?
just wait for some meteor like in the past with dino’s, heh
The only organization I know about that is doing something in favor of bees is PornHub lol. They released a themed part of the website dedicated to bees to drag attention to this problem.
Yes, I previously heard about this issue. Approximately last year I read an article in the news feed, about the problems that threaten humanity if people do not take up the restoration of the population. As it turned out, they play a very large role in the ecosystem and are its significant link.
What do you think about global warming and pesticides effect on bees and, for example, the food we eat?
It was in this article that it was described that we can be left without many types of vegetables and fruits. And in general, other species of plants and animals will disappear in the wake of them. In general, this would entail major problems. And everything is really as you noticed because of the problem of global warming.
Do you know any organization that is trying to save bees from extinction? If yes, what do they do to save bees from total extinction?
No, unfortunately not familiar with such organizations.
What can you suggest we should do to save our environment from global warming?
Well, in general, of course, for starters, it is worth popularizing this problem. And of course, to educate the public about the measures that need to be. Napirmer, often use public transport, well, and if it is possible to somehow reduce the use of transport, it would be great. The use of renewable energy sources can lead to success, well, or a very good measure is the proper disposal of waste and recyclables.
Sadly, yes. My friend, who is a beekeeper, told me about it years ago.
2. What do you think about global warming and pesticides effect on bees and, for example, the food we eat?
I am not a specialist, but if a pesticide is capable of killing other bugs, it may at least somehow affect bees. Right?
2. Do you know any organization that is trying to save bees from extinction? If yes, what do they do to save bees from total extinction?
I heard greenpeace is doing something about it, but I have no idea what exactly.
3. What can you suggest we should do to save our environment from global warming?
Well, recycling is the main thing to do. And maybe other, than coal and wood sources of electric energy. If we had a cleaner source of energy, more cars would be electric. I believe nuclear power plants may be helpful in this process.
For me the global warming effect on bees it’s surprising. When we talk about pesticides effect on food for example then it’s commonly known that every big ‘farmer’ has, for example, his own apple trees on the side, and other ones for sale, which he does not even try to eat himself… I know that without pesticides our fruits and vegetables weren’t so appealing but it would be healthier at least.
Unfortunately I don’t know any such organization as I hear about the problem for the first time.
We should start with getting knowledge about what is truly harmful for the environment and then first start from our own behavior. Then we should try to promote a right behaviors.
Yes! And it's horrible!
I know there was quite a big issue around this subject here in Warsaw couple of years ago, and I remember one of my remote acquaintances even bought himself a couple of beehives some place on the rooftop or in the Garden somewhere near Ujazdowski Castle. He did it in order to prevent bee extinction precisely.
What do you think about global warming and pesticides effect on bees and, for example, the food we eat?
I think that it is something we should work on, because, obviously, you cannot go back to the times when you needed 50 men to feed 50 men, because that amount of people does not work in the agriculture sector anymore, and I doubt we see that number rise at any point. We need efficient and mechanized agriculture, but also, our next step is to eliminate or at least limit the side effects, such as pesticides and chemicals in our food.
Do you know any organization that is trying to save bees from extinction? If yes, what do they do to save bees from total extinction?
Like I said, the organization that offered people in Poland to buy beehives and in that way support the bee-protection movement.
What can you suggest we should do to save our environment from global warming?
I think we should try and go more vegetarian, because many of the dairy and meat product are not very eco-friendly.
Yes I have heard about this issue before from many sources, and I find it really disturbing.
2. What do you think about global warming and pesticides effect on bees and, for example, the food we eat?
Nowadays most of our food comes from big companies, which are trying to maximize their profits. I think that is the biggest reason the bees are dying, they cant keep up with the changes we made.
3. Do you know any organization that is trying to save bees from extinction? If yes, what do they do to save bees from total extinction?
Yes, I know for sure that Greenpeace is somehow trying to save bees from extinction, but I have no idea what they do. I think they are lobbying for banning some types of pesticides and nothing else really.
4. What can you suggest we should do to save our environment from global warming?
I find it really scary that we are destroying our home, but I’m not sure that saving our environment has an easy solution. We can try be more eco friendly but is this going to change anything? I hope so.
I have heard something about it, but never paid enough attention to that news. After this article, I understand how big is this problem.
2. What do you think about global warming and pesticides effect on bees and, for example, the food we eat?
I think the biggest impact on our lives has global warming. Because each of us decides what to eat, where to buy food and have to cook it. But we cannot deal with global warming in a few seconds. This problem requires a lot of working side-by-side all the governments on our planet. And this should start now.
3. Do you know any organization that is trying to save bees from extinction? If yes, what do they do to save bees from total extinction?
Unfortunately, no. I wasn't really interested in this topic, so haven't done any research and haven't heard about any organisation, which helps bees.
4. What can you suggest we should do to save our environment from global warming?
We should collaborate with each other. There should be some rules for carbon emissions. We should lower our pollutions to the air and increase the use of "green energy". But most importantly, I think, we should educate people about global warming and its impacts on us. Because now I see a lot of articles on the internet, saying, that global warming isn't real and all of this is fake. We should deal with this misinformation firstly.
The global warming is a serious problem of our world and any pesticides that harmfully effect bees should be forbidden. Moreover, I also believe that pesticides could poison the food we eat, therefore we should seek to buy more organic products.
No, I don’t.
We could for example, invest in new technology to combat climate change. It would be probably more effective than asking people to change their behaviour. Incentives can be seen and felt but words cannot change stubborn minds. Bio-fuels are cheaper than normal gas, so a lot of people will switch to bio-fuel simply because it is the cheaper option. In my opinion, it is the government’s responsibility to invest in green economy and try to influence people’s behaviour.
2. Honestly we change the breeds of our grains so fast that we can probably adapt them to warmer climates. Oh wait, we already did. The problem really is pollination.
3. I have heard of such organizations, but have no inkling as to how they are trying to achieve their goals.
4. Make a sharp heel turn with our energy economy and building practice, like three decades ago. Now it’s way to late to prevent changes. The change is already here. Now we are waiting for it’s escalation and it’s consequences. On a more positive note – in the context of Poland – change your heating system to geo-terma, insulate your house properly and stop flushing your toilet with drinkable water. For a start.
2. Sad truth, unfortunately it is true and people are also guilty of it.
3. No, I did not hear anything.
4. I really like renewable energy sources.
Another thing is taking care of the environment should prevent global warming, start segregating garbage, do not waste water, etc. It is also important to start using renewable energy to a large extent. I think that if we start to care for the environment, the bee will not be threatened with extinction. I can not imagine that I could not buy natural honey for tea or even dishes
No I didn't but I think that topic is important to know, and remembers us one more time that we should think what our style of living is doing with the planet.
What do you think about global warming and pesticides effect on bees and, for example, the food we eat?
I think that global warming is inevitable, but if we want not to ruin planet in 50 years, we should start to live more carefully, and make environmental friendly habits. We should vote by our wallet using not cheapest option but the most environmental friendly just to close businesses that harm nature to make products cheaper.
Do you know any organization that is trying to save bees from extinction? If yes, what do they do to save bees from total extinction?
I don't know any.
What can you suggest we should do to save our environment from global warming?
Start to use thing more than for one time.