Climate change could be the last straw for bees
According to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), one out of every four bites of food people take is courtesy of bee pollination. With the bee population decreasing 33 percent each year primarily due to climate change, the US could potentially lose more than $15 billion in crop value each year. The declining bee population is forcing many farms to use human pollinators — causing an increase in cost and production time. Climate change is not only a grave threat to the bee population but could also threaten people’s livelihoods with a decline in food production and an increase in food prices.
Increasing temperatures are devastating to the bee population. According to the American Association for the Advancement of Science, bees, unlike most species, are not shifting north to counteract the increases in temperature. Since the northern boundary stays the same and bees die in the south from the high heat, the bee population and their habitat range are decreasing. The decreased range causes a considerable reduction in the number of fertilized plants. The reason for bees not moving north is unknown. Jeremy Kerr, a biologist at the University of Ottawa, speculates that since bees have evolved under cool conditions, global warming has trapped bumblebees in a kind of climate vise that might cause bees to disappear for good.
With earlier snowmelt timing, climate change is causing flowers to bloom quicker than usual — altering the phenology or timing of the plant. A study on 3 different bee species conducted by Andrea Holzschuh and Mariela Schenk, professors at the University of Würzburg, revealed that bees that hatched before flowering suffered from lower rates of reproduction, decreased activity and increased risk from predators and parasites. The study exposes that a small mismatch of only three or six days between plants and bees heavily harms bees’ health. The rising temperature could make the gap between flowers and bee births widen — leading to a dramatic increase in the negative effects on bees’ health.
Flowers are also significantly impacted by the small mismatch. Both Rebecca Irwin, a professor of ecology at North Carolina State University, and Holzschuh agree that there is a decrease in flowers from a lack of pollinators. With fewer flowers, bees are unable to increase their population again. Climate change is creating a devastating negative feedback loop that could lead to the extinction of bees and many different plants.
More intense and frequent winds caused by climate change further contribute to the decrease in the bee population. Georgia Hennessy, lead author and doctoral researcher in the Laboratory of Apiculture and Social Insects (LASI), discovered that increased winds cause a notable increase of hesitancy to fly and a significant reduction of pollinated flowers. By bees having greater difficulty in obtaining food, their population will plummet along with the number of crops pollinated. According to Dave Goulson, professor of biology at the University of Sussex, bees already face many pressures from loss of habitat to exposure to pesticides but coping with increasingly blustery weather under climate change may be the final straw. Bees are in extreme threat of extinction due to climate change. Without any action, a species will be lost along with global food security.
Climate change inflicts many pressures from loss of habitat to exposure to pesticides which is inevitably leading to the rapid decline to the bee population. According to the Union of Concerned Scientists, “global warming is like Miracle-Gro for weeds.” Increasing temperature is creating an ideal environment for weeds and insect pests — causing an increased use of pesticides. According to the Pesticide Action Network, exposure to pesticides with neonicotinoids can harm bees over time, weakening their immune systems, shortening their adult life cycle, and increasing their disorientation. Even with the massive negative effects, the US Environmental Protection Agency has only banned 12 out of 59 neonicotinoids. Allowing neonicotinoids, one of the most common insecticides in the world, to stay legal could result in the extinction of bees.
Not only does the mismatch between flowers and bees cause an increase in diseases, but higher temperatures and weakened immune systems from pesticides are creating an ideal climate for mites and parasites to infect bees. Robert Paxton, a professor at Queen’s University Belfastcolder, discovered that cold weather helped to block the spread of parasites. Since mites and parasites thrive in the heat, the high temperatures cause an increased infection rate of bees.
Climate change has caused many direct and indirect hazards that deter the normality of bees, but there are many actions people can take to improve the bee population. Ways people can help improve the bee population is to plant herbs, like lavender, or flowers that contain colors blue, purple, or yellow, which are colors bees can see. While gardening makes sure to refrain from using pesticides with neonicotinoids, caffeine is a great substitution. Another way to help bees is to leave water to help them construct their nest and to allow them to remain in a positive garden that doesn’t use pesticides. People can also donate to the many organizations that fight for the protection of bees, like the Honeybee Conservancy.
Just planting a garden or donating is not enough to prevent an issue that is threatening “global food security and nutrition,” according to the United Nation’s Food and Agriculture Organization. More research has to be done to further understand why bees are dying at an extreme rate, but clearly, climate change is a massive negative effect on bees. To restore and prevent the continued reduction of the bee population, many steps must be performed by the government from more policies to end climate change to banning all pesticides with neonicotinoids.
