Honey Bees Decline Essay

Bees are major factor in our environment. But recent studies show that we are to blame for the decline in the Bee populations. The main reasons are industrial agriculture (pesticides), mites and climate change. And we should care about them because they provide us with honey and beeswax, and provide a major ecosystem service in the form of pollination. Bees pollinate a lot of crops like apple, citrus, strawberry, blueberry, tomato, melon, oilseed rape, carrot, etc. We may not be realizing, but long term monitoring of the changes in global crop production over the past 50 years shows we are becoming more reliant on pollinator-dependent crops. Without bees, there could be serious problems for agriculture productivity and even food security in some regions of the world might have problems.

Mites have been responsible for the collapse of millions of honey bee colonies over the past decade. For example, the invasive parasitic mite Varroa destructor is the biggest problem for honey bees worldwide. Over the past few decades, is has been spread out of southeast Asia and reached almost a global presence. The mites have responsible for collapsing a colony of 50,000 – 60,000 honey bees can be completely wiped out by a Varroa infestation in as little as 2 years. Mites cause damage to developing honey bees. This prevents the bees from having nutrients, causing them to lose weight and reducing their lifespan. But the worst thing about them is that they transmit a host of viruses, which are transferred to bees when mites feed. One of the most terrible of these is deformed wing virus. Bees usually die shortly after reaching adulthood. Making matters worse, honeybees are spreading the virus through their saliva and feces to plants used by other pollinators, such as bumblebees and other bees. DWV has been detected in various insect groups that play different roles in ecosystem, including insect predators, pollinators and pest species that live inside the