Record Number of Honeybee Colonies Died Last Winter

According to the Bee Informed Partnership’s latest survey, released this week, U.S. beekeepers lost nearly 40% of their honeybee colonies last winter — the greatest reported winter hive loss since the partnership started its surveys 13 years ago. She says that pesticide industry leaders often try to shift blame for bee declines solely onto Varroa mites and viruses when in fact, she says, “there is so much evidence that pesticides are a major player in the decline of honeybees.” Honeybees are a “sentinel species,” Frazier says, meaning that their losses may warn humans of the larger trend of insect decline worldwide, including the decline of other pollinators like beetles and wild bees.

Source: www.npr.org