More than two out of five American
honeybee colonies died in the past year, and surprisingly the worst die-off was
in the summer, according to a federal survey.
But the entomologists in charge of the study did not - as in the Ontario Liberal cabinet - single out neonicitinoid seed treatment pesticides as the reason.
Since April 2014, beekeepers lost
42.1 percent of their colonies, the second-highest loss rate in nine years,
according to an annual survey conducted by a bee partnership that includes the
U.S. Department of Agriculture, reports the Park Record of Park City, Utah.
"What we're seeing with this
bee problem is just a loud signal that there's some bad things happening with
our agro-ecosystems," said study co-author Keith Delaplane at the
University of Georgia.
"We just happen to notice it
with the honeybee because they are so easy to count."
But it's not quite as dire as it
sounds. That's because after a colony dies, beekeepers then split their
surviving colonies, start new ones, and the numbers go back up again, said
Delaplane and study co-author Dennis vanEngelsdorp of the University of
Maryland.
The entomologists were surprised
by the higher losses during the summer than winter, said vanEngelsdorp said.
The survey found beekeepers lost
27.4 percent of their colonies this summer.
That's up from 19.8 percent the
previous summer.
Seeing massive colony losses in
summer is like seeing "a higher rate of flu deaths in the summer than
winter," vanEngelsdorp said. "You just don't expect colonies to die
at this rate in the summer."
Oklahoma, Illinois, Iowa,
Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Maine and Wisconsin all saw more than 60
percent of their hives die since April 2014, according to the survey.
"Most of the major commercial
beekeepers get a dark panicked look in their eyes when they discuss these
losses and what it means to their businesses," said Pennsylvania State
University entomology professor Diana Cox-Foster. She wasn't part of the study,
but praised it.
Delaplane and vanEngelsdorp said a
combination of mites, poor nutrition and pesticides are to blame for the bee
deaths. USDA bee scientist Jeff Pettis said last summer's large die-off
included unusual queen loss and seemed worse in colonies that moved more.
Dick Rogers, chief beekeeper for
pesticide-maker Bayer, said the loss figure is "not unusual at all"
and said the survey shows an end result of more colonies now than before: 2.74
million hives in 2015, up from 2.64 million in 2014.
That doesn't mean bee health is
improving or stable, vanEngelsdorp said. After they lose colonies, beekeepers
are splitting their surviving hives to recover their losses, pushing the bees
to their limits, Delaplane said.
