Bee Decline
What are the reasons and causes for bee decline? The general reasons are:
- habitat loss: from building development, farming practice, and even gardening styles.
- insecticides.
- diseases.
Potential future threats include pollution and possible changes in weather patterns.
However, there are things
you and I can do to help reverse the decline in bee populations. With greater awareness and direct action by concerned citizens, we really can create positive change for the benefit of bees and pollinators, of that I am certain.
Together we can make a difference, so let's just do it!
A beautiful Anthidium manicatum -wool carder bee. Let's ensure we have them visiting our gardens for future generations!Reasons For Bee Decline
1. Bee Decline Linked To Falling Biodiversity And Habitat Loss
With building development,
urbanization and intensive farming practices, we have lost many wildflower
meadows and hedgerows. The loss of hedgerows is significant, because they provide foraging opportunities for bees, as well as potential nest sites (for example, crevices and abandoned mouse holes at the base of the hedgerow).
Reduction of flower habitat - especially wild flower meadows, fields and verges, is of great concern. An Anglo-Dutch study has found that since the 1980s, we have witnessed a 70% drop in key wildflower species, including plants from the pea, mint, and perennial herb families.
According to the United Nations, 20,000
flowering plant species upon which many bees depend for food are at risk
in the future, unless more effort it made to conserve and preserve them.
Habitat is important not only for food in the form of nectar and pollen, but to ensure genetic diversity.
If habitat is destroyed, there can be a tendency for patches of appropriate habitat to become fragmented and isolated.
Instead of mating occurring between bees of different colonies spread through a range of habitat locations, in-breeding can occur in isolated areas. In bumble bees this causes all kinds of problems, such as the production of males instead of female workers. This kind of issue accelerates decline.
Bumble bee foraging on hemp agrimony.When suitable habitat is scarce, availability of appropriate nesting sites is reduced. This obviously increases competition between bees for appropriate and safe
places in which they can raise their colonies.
Bumble bee queens, for example, have been shown to fight even to the death
over nest sites!
Delay in finding
appropriate spaces to rear a colony, also means a later start in the season, which
may in itself have its knock on effects on colony success, for example fewer suitable flowers upon which to forage, smaller colonies, fewer queens and less time for queens to build up reserves and find a suitable place to overwinter.
There are some initiatives in various countries and communities to create habitat for bees, and there are things you can do.
Action You Can Take
1. Ask your council:
- not to mow wildflower verges
- to manage public planting schemes with pollinators in mind.
2. Think of your garden as a feeding station and safe-haven for bees and pollinators! Make your garden bee-friendly, and include wildflowers in your garden.
3. Plant flowering shrubs and hedgerows – some local wildlife and council groups will even give away native hedgerow species to encourage this. Plant hawthorne, prunus, ribes, honey suckle, berberis, and holly.
4. Don’t use pesticides, including on your lawn, and remember, even lawns can benefit bees!
2. Bee Decline Linked To Insecticides
Is it realistic to believe the notion that insecticides kill ‘nasty
insects’ whilst conveniently leaving alone the ‘nice’ bees, butterflies, hoverflies,
lacewings and ladybugs?
A quick look at the patents of pesticides and marketing literature can be a real eye-opener. See 'How do neonicotinoids work' as an example.
Action You Can Take
- Please don’t use pesticides in your garden. Support organic wherever you can, or better
still, grow your own organic food if possible, even on a small scale.
- Get informed about invertebrates: bugs, insects etc, because most are beneficial or harmless. It seems we put much at risk for the sake of
a few ‘pests’. For many common garden problems, environmentally friendly alternatives are available to insecticides.
- Ask your local council and golf course not to
use pesticides. Neonicotinoids for example, can contaminate groundwater, and pollute nearby waterways through run off.
3. Diseases and Mites of Bees
Apis mellifera - honey bee foraging on knapweed.Varroa mite only affects honey bees, not other bee species.
There are programs in place to raise more honey bees which are able to deal with the Varroa menace.
Cutting out pesticide use could play an important role in stemming disease and pathogens in bees, but there are other issues, such as spread of disease from commercially reared species to wild bees.
Action You Can Take
Please think twice before purchasing boxes of bumble bees for your garden (in some countries, they can be bought by gardeners). Rather than helping the bees, they may cause harm.
4. Pollution
Scientists have found that even moderate levels of air pollution interfere with the abilities of bees to pick up floral scents at distance.
Action You Can Take
It's important that we take action on an individual level to reduce air pollution, and help mitigate its effects by including as many plants, trees and shrubs for bees in our gardens as possible.
You can ask councils to do their bit by ensuring public planting schemes are pollinator-friendly.
5. Climate Change
My personal view is that deforestation is the biggest problem and cause of unpredictable weather patterns. The effects of climate change on bees and bee decline are complex, but in altering the weather patterns and cycles, this has had some impact, for example:
- on the flowering times of plants/trees/shrubs (consequences for foraging?)
- plants simply not flowering
- extremes in weather conditions, from flooding to prolonged winters (all bad news for bees as for other wildlife) and impact on plant life.
Action You Can Take
A difficult one, other than being considerate in
using the Earth’s resources as best you can, and keep gardening with bees and wildlife in mind!
Conclusion
Although bee decline is a worrying issue, there are many simple actions we ourselves can take.
As some-one who has campaigned and experimented with different ways to
help bees, I have been encouraged to see more species of bees in my
garden this year than in previous years, including 2 uncommon species of
bumble bee.
There is far greater buzz about bees than ever before, and gardeners are deliberately choosing plants to help bees and other pollinators. Together, we are creating feeding stations and bee-sanctuaries across the countries in which we live!
That's good news for bees, biodiversity and people alike!
You can read more bee decline statistics on my page about insect pollination.
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