Honeybee deaths have hit record highs in the US, with the unprecedented loss of colonies pushing many beekeepers close to ruin as scientists scramble to identify the main cause of the huge declines.
Commercial beekeepers have reported losing more than 60% of their colonies, on average, over the winter, according to an ongoing Project Apis m. survey that covers more than two-thirds of America’s managed bees.
This enormous rate of decline is higher than record reductions seen last year and is on track to be the “biggest loss of honeybee colonies in US history”, according to Scott McArt, an associate professor of entomology at Cornell University.
McArt said that the extraordinary rate of loss became apparent during this winter’s mass movement of honeybee hives to California to pollinate the vast almond crop there.
Honeybees, although introduced to the US, have become vital to the agricultural system by pollinating half of all crops, including apples, berries, pumpkins, melons and cherries. Beekeepers are increasingly struggling to maintain the bee numbers necessary to undertake this work.
“Something real bad is going on this year,” said McArt. “We have been seeing high losses year after year but if anything it is getting worse, which is troubling. Some places are having devastating losses and there was a shortfall in pollination in some almond orchards this year. Whether these impacts will cascade to other crops remains to be seen, it’s certainly possible.”
The latest honeybee losses are valued at $139m and have come as the honey price has climbed by 5% amid a drop in honey production. Many beekeepers are now struggling to absorb these shortfalls, with some going out of business altogether.
“It’s all gone,” said one beekeeper in response to the Project Apis m. survey. “The equity on the house is gone, our retirement is gone, the family member’s money is gone. All that’s left are empty boxes. We don’t even have the dead bees. They are gone too.”
A certain portion of a colony typically perishes over their more moribund winter months but this rate of loss was typically only around 10% or 20% until around two decades ago when a phenomena called colony collapse disorder, where colonies completely disappear or die, started to emerge in the US. Now, typically half of all colonies are lost on average.
Scientists have ascertained that the climate crisis, habitat loss and pesticide use have badly affected all bees, the vast majority in the US being 4,000 native, wild species rather than honeybees. For managed honeybees, a lack of nutrition, poor handling practices and rampant infestation by varroa mites, a type of parasite, and diseases have also taken their toll.
The loss of bees, both captive and wild, in the US is already starting to limit the supply of some food crops and is reducing the yield of honey. The declines are part of a broader crisis in the insect world where species are being wiped out at an alarming rate. Researchers warn that the loss of insects imperils basic functions of life on Earth, such as food production, the flowering of plants and waste disposal.
The latest, record leap in honeybee losses is now being investigated by staff at the US Department of Agriculture, which is analyzing bees, wax and pollen to determine if parasites and viruses are to blame for the deaths.
However, cuts in staff numbers by Donald Trump’s administration has required Cornell University to step in and take on further required research to determine if the samples have been affected by pesticides. It will take around a month before scientists haver a better idea as to the main drivers of the latest losses.
“There’s no one single thing affecting honeybees but we are trying to figure out what the most important stresses are right now,” said McArt. “There are a suspicions of a lot of things at the moment, you should see my inbox right now. There are theories about a new virus bring involved but we have to gather the data. We can’t rule anything out at this stage.”
The record loss of honeybees follows figures released last year showing that, conversely, there are now an all-time high number of honeybee colonies in the US – 3.8m, around 1m more than five years previously.
This is down to more people becoming interested in beekeeping, meaning that more colonies are being split and created, McArt said. “That is driving up colony numbers but it doesn’t mean they are doing well,” he said.
“The colony loss rates are increasing, if anything, even though we are putting more supply into the system. Another important point is that we have very good evidence of range declines and even extinctions among wild pollinators, which aren’t being managed by anyone.
“Comparing honeybees and wild bees is like comparing a chicken and a woodpecker. That doesn’t mean honeybees, which are a part of agriculture like chickens, aren’t beautiful. They bring a lot of joy to people and without their crop pollination we wouldn’t be doing well at all.”
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