Save the Bees

One of the most troubling signs of the planet’s ecological peril is the worldwide collapse of honeybee colonies. Bees have been disappearing from fields and even dying off under the care of commercial beekeepers at alarming rates.

For years, North American honey bees have struggled against a range of environmental obstacles. Dwindling populations, abandoned colonies and vast acres of plants left unpollinated have been signals that bees are in distress.

There have been many theories about what is causing the worldwide decline of bee populations. Destruction of habitat, use of powerful pesticides, invasive parasites and climate change are some of the factors commonly cited.

Recent studies suggest one prime cause is a lethal by-product of common industrial agricultural practices. A widely-used class of pesticides developed by Bayer CropScience is disrupting bees’ innate navigational sense, while also degrading their storied work ethic: Hives become a honeycombed experiment in socialism, as worker bees tire of supplying the queen with food and wander off to enjoy more meaningful pursuits.

One survey of honey bee colonies in North America found that hives were contaminated to varying degrees by 121 different pesticides. Ironically, one chemical treatment that was meant to help the bees may be contributing to their decline. An anti-mite compound that is often applied to hives may protect bees from parasites, but also be affecting their ability to thrive.

The particular class of pesticides implicated in colony collapse disorder are known as neonicotinoids, chemically similar to nicotine. Their use has become so prevalent that commercial seeds are often coated with the pesticide before planting. One result, according to a report in Wired magazine: “The coatings are partially pulverized inside seed planters and emitted in plumes that appear to be highly toxic.”

The report also summarizes the extent of neonicotinoid saturation in North America: “In the United States alone, neonicotinoid-treated corn now covers a total area slightly smaller than the state of Montana. Like earlier pesticides, neonicotinoids disrupt insects’ central nervous systems. But unlike earlier pesticides, which affected insects during and immediately after spraying, neonicotinoids spread through the vascular tissues of plants.

“They’re toxic through entire growing seasons, including flowering times when bees consume their pollen. Neonicotinoids also remain biologically active in soil for years and perhaps decades, and it’s possible that they seep into roots and throughout plants in ways that haven’t yet been measured.”

Adding to the effects of a toxic environment, a change in bees’ diets may have weakened their ability to survive contaminants. Bees not only produce honey, but it’s the food nature intended them to eat. But for many beekeepers, honey is too profitable to waste on bees. Over the past two decades, many beekeepers began feeding bees corn syrup and other types of honey substitutes.

As with the mass consumption of corn syrup by people, the results have not been healthy. These cheap substitutes lack the natural compounds like p-coumaric acid that bees need to maintain healthy immune systems. Weakened immune systems leave bees vulnerable to a whole range of colony-killing microbes, and compromise their ability to withstand pesticides.