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Bees Vanish, and Scientists Race for Reasons
MYSTERY Honeybee colonies around the nation are collapsing. Above, a beekeeper in Loxahatchee, Fla.
BELTSVILLE, Md., April 23 — What is happening to the bees?
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More than a quarter of the country’s 2.4 million bee colonies have been lost — tens of billions of bees, according to an estimate from the Apiary Inspectors of America, a national group that tracks beekeeping. So far, no one can say what is causing the bees to become disoriented and fail to return to their hives.
Bees keep her busy as a, well, a bee
Public curiosity about bees kept UC Berkeley graduate student Alex Harmon-Threatt on her toes at an annual wildflower festival at the Sunol-Ohlone Regional Wilderness, south of Livermore, on April 7. Kids and adults alike peered through her magnifying glass at a collection of native wild bee species on display: bumblebees, mining bees, sunflower bees, leaf-cutter bees, yellow-faced bees — even bees that "land on you lightly and drink your sweat," she told incredulous young visitors.
2 comments:
Alex,
What kind of research do you do with bees?
What kind of bees do you work with?
Where are your study areas?
How can I make sure my yard is bee friendly?
I study native bumblebees to try and determine the plants they use at different times of the year and if different species of bee use different plants. We hope to use this information to help farmers attract more native bees to their land by planting other kinds of plants near their crops that bees like and evolved with. This will also help us determine what kinds of plants people could plant in their yards or in restoration areas to promote bee nesting and population growth.
As the article mentions Honeybees (Apis mellifera), which are carried to many farms in boxes to pollinate the flowers, are in serious decline. The loss of these bees means we need to find alternative ways to pollinate crops and ensure that we have enough fruits and vegetables that depend on pollination.
In order to make your yard native bee friendly you should have native plants that bloom throughout the season to make sure there are always flowers for the bees to visit. You should also leave some parts of the yard untilled so bees can make their nests.
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