Why Do We Need to Save the Bees?

The honey bee, with its fuzzy midsection and black and yellow striped bottom, tends to be the poster child for bees. But actually, there are more than 20,000 species of bees worldwide. Many crops depend on both wild bees and managed species of honey bees for their pollination. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, almost 75 percent of global crop production (that translates to 87 of our leading food crops worldwide) depend on pollinators like bees.

Bee populations are at risk. What is happening to the bees and what will happen if they continue to disappear?

But honeybee hives have recently suffered from what’s called widespread colony collapse disorder, dropping from 5.9 million colonies as measured by the US Department of Agriculture back in 1947 to 2.44 million colonies in 2008. That’s over half the colonies gone in 60 years. There has been some regaining in numbers since this low point, but bee populations are still at risk. What is happening to the bees and what will happen if they continue to disappear?

Why are bee populations declining?

Our relationship with bees is largely mutually beneficial. Bees visit certain flowering plants for their nutrition. They get protein, vitamins, and minerals from the pollen and carbohydrates from the nectar. In turn, during their visits, they provide an important service. That pollen sticks to their fuzzy backsides and to their wings. As they move about, they transfer pollen to another part of the plant or to an entirely different plant. The result is fertilization, which allows the plant to produce seeds and ultimately reproduce. 

Of course, bees produce the honey that sweetens our tea. Along with that, they produce propolis—a sticky resin or bee glue that's used in traditional medicine. They have special glands in their stomachs that produce beeswax. They chew the beeswax into specific shapes to build their honeycombs, and we use it for candles, lip balms, hand creams, hair pomades … the list goes on.

Pesticide use is so widespread that one study found that every batch of pollen they tested had at least six detectable pesticides in it.

But a list of interconnected reasons has caused bee populations to decline....

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