Around the world, the populations of the bees are drastically declining where they are now at risk of becoming endangered. There are actually many reasons about why, but most researchers are still being puzzled in finding the main specific cause that is leading them to their extinction.
However, there are four reasons that scientists are sure about the bees’ extinction and they are the parasites, pesticides, loss of habitat, and the use of wireless technologies.
Parasites
Researchers have recently discovered parasites which are mites that completely harm the entire colony of honeybees. There are two main types of these parasites which are “tracheal” and “varroa” mites.
Tracheal mites are parasites that lives and thrives internally specifically inside the honeybees which kills them. As for the varroa mites, they live externally in the beehive and they are blood-sucking parasites. Both the young (larvae) and adult bees are equally affected by the varroa mites inflicting them with terrible disease.
The disease cause by varroa mites often result in the bees’ physical body to deteriorate. Thus, they end up losing their legs and wings rendering them completely useless in serving their colony. And for the sad part, they essentially die away.
As time progress, the parasite infestation of the bees’ colony will grow until it will leave them to their complete demise.
This problem still remains a threat to the bees where researchers are still unable to figure out any good solution.
Pesticides
The introduction of pesticides made a huge impact in the agricultural industry where produce are increased exponentially. However, there is a downside to the use of pesticide where bees are also affected.
Recently, there is a new form of pesticides known as “neonicotinoids”. This is a new form of insecticide that when insects got contaminated, their central nervous system will be affected which later cause their deaths.
At some point, bees are also being exposed to neonicotinoids. The way how they got affected is that they will get traumatized and completely confused. It’s like they have lost their memories or suffer from amnesia that they forget how to get back on their way to their colony.
Other known damaging pesticide chemicals for the bees are the “thiamethoxam” and “clothianidin”.
Loss of Habitat
By nature, bees settle their colonies in the forest because trees are their preferred natural habitat. However, they are starting to loss their habitat when humans began expanding their city or residential areas. Large shopping malls, industrial buildings, parking structures, and etc… are continuously being constructed which occupies so much space.
As a result, forest will undergo deforestation where many trees will be cut down to allow enough space for the massive structures to be built.
They might leave a few trees around but this won’t be good enough for the honeybees to make their home. Bees literally need large trees.
Wireless Technologies
Not many people are aware that any form of wireless technologies especially your mobile or smart phones can contribute to the extinction of the honeybees.
Did you know that wireless technologies do emit electromagnetic radiation? And this type of radiation highly attracts the bees?
If it happens that a honeybee got attracted to the radiation and got exposed to the electromagnetic waves, this will damage its memory just like the pesticide above. As a result, the poor bee won’t be able to remember its way back home where it will end up wondering around to its death.
What is Colony Collapse Disorder or CCD
A “Colony Collapse Disorder” or CCD occurs when the bee colony suddenly suffers a huge reduction in their total population. Worst case scenario is that, the hive will only have the queen and its immature bees.
But in most cases, there are only few adult bees that remain with the sole purpose of attending to their queen to ensure the future survival of their colony.
Why do Honeybees go CCD
One of the main reasons why honeybees go CCD is “migration”. Bees do migrate to another place by carrying all of their stock of food and their queen with them.
But in regards to being endangered, honeybees go CCD in order to save their colony from extinction. Two of the main factors are already covered above which are due to the parasites and pesticides.
Due to such viruses that infested their hives, the only possible way to save them from extinction is to go and find another place to settle down.
Another reason that causes CCD in bees is due to climate change. Our weather patterns have changed sporadically that when it rains, the pollens are washed away which are important nutrition for the bees’ survival. On the other hand, dry seasons tend to take longer which causes strained buildup of their honey.
How will the Extinction of Bees Affects the World
Did you know that Albert Einstein had stated that mankind won’t be able to survive if the honey bees go extinct?
According to some researchers, the extinction of bees could affect the world’s eco system starting from the plant then the animals and then the human life.
Extinction of the Bees Affects Plant Life
With the existence of various insects, they actually help in the process of pollination. Some of these common insects includes butterflies, beetles, and of course the bees. Among all insects, the bees are the most efficient of them all as the primary pollinators.
So without the existence of the bees, many plant lives will be affected resulting into massive decline of crop productions.
Extinction of the Bees Affects Animal Life
Majority of animal on lands are herbivores where they depend on a diet of eating plants for their survival. So if it happens that there is a huge decline of plants then animals that depend on plants will be affected.
Animals that eat plants are also the source of food for other animals, particularly the carnivores. So if the herbivores go extinct then the carnivores will also follow.
Did you know that cows are the major source of meat and milk production around the world? And they are herbivores. Thus, if their food supply declines then this will seriously affect humans as well.
Extinction of the Bees Affects Fuel
We currently have an oilseed crop which can be harvested and processed into canola oil. It is widely and commonly being used today as fuel and cooking oil. But what you need to know about is that, this oilseed crop is highly dependent on pollination.
Canola is also used in producing biofuel which is a type of fuel that is friendly to the environment. If you are going to imagine that we run out of biofuel, everyone will depend on fossil fuels as an alternative solution. However, this will further increase pollution which is not good for the environment.
Extinction of the Bees Affects Clothing
Just like oilseed crops, cotton plants are highly reliant on pollination to grow their numbers. So if the bees go extinct, this will massively affect the production of cotton productions where prices for buying clothes will significantly increase.
Extinction of the Bees Affects Topography
If no plants will be able to grow on lands then this could result into desertification. Now, just imagine for yourself at this kind of situation when a sudden heavy rainfall will occur. The result could be devastating where landslides will most likely affect villages.
Extinction of the Bees Affects Human Life
The extinction of the bees around the world will most likely lead into catastrophic extinction of human lives. As covered above, bees play a major role in crop production which serves as food for both animals and humans.
If food crops around the world becomes less or unavailable then this will lead into a worldwide famine. Many humans will suffer from hunger and poverty.
Freshwater will also be affected when plant life hugely declines where humans will not only suffer from starvation but also from thirst.
What can we do to Stop Bees from Becoming Extinct
As discussed above, the extinction of bees is quite threatening that could affect the entire world. Thus, before it is too late, humans needs to learn how to care for the bees to prevent them from becoming extinct.
Here are some of the following practices that you can follow which are proven effective to keep the population of the bees thriving in your area:
Provide a friendly habitat for the bees
As a concerned individual towards the bees, what you can do is to provide them a bee-friendly habitat on your own yard or any other outdoor spaces around your property.
A bee-friendly habitat is that, you have to plant a variety of flowers or trees that produces a fair amount of blooms. Unfortunately, common ornamental flowers aren’t good enough in producing nectar for the bees.
Thus, you should go for plants which are the following:
- Crocus
- Sweet alyssum
- Sunflowers
- Coneflower
- Butterfly weed
- Geranium
- Bee balm
- Poppies
- Black-eyed susan
- Clover or apple trees
Avoid foods that utilizes pesticides
As already discussed above, pesticides is highly toxic for the bees. So by avoiding foods that relies heavily on pesticides, you are creating less demand on the market. As a result, there will be much less food to be produced that requires pesticide which greatly helps the bees from being exposed with the harmful chemicals.
As a matter of fact, those types of foods that heavily rely on pesticides are also harmful to human health. Anyway, a good alternative is to choose foods that are organically grown.
Don’t use insecticides on your lawn
There are insects which are considered as pests where they could ruin your plants. If there isn’t any other way to get rid of the pest but to use insecticides or herbicides then you have to choose the right product. Always check and read the label to make sure that it isn’t harmful for the bees.
Don’t kill the bees
Yes, bees sting especially when they feel threatened. This is the main reason why many people would kill them to drive them away from their properties. Such individuals would do such a thing because they aren’t aware about how valuable are the bees.
So if you see someone who is harming the bees, you may want to educate them about how precious are the bees to the world.
How do you Save a Dying Bee
When bees go around working the entire day, at some point they will feel extremely exhausted that they fell down on the ground. You may notice that they are like dying. The fact is that they are not, but they are just dead tired and resting.
If you love bees so much then you may be sympathetic enough to save a complete weakened bee especially when it happens that you see one around.
According to some experts, you can actually help revive or restore the energy of an exhausted bee by using sugar and water.
Here are the following steps on how to prepare a bee’s energy drink:
Step 1: You need to prepare two tablespoons of white sugar, a granulated type of sugar. Do not offer demerara or any artificial/diet sweeteners.
Step 2: Prepare one tablespoon of water.
Step 3: On a small plate, thoroughly mix the ingredients.
Step 4: Place the bee on the plate but make sure that you are not going to drown it.
Once the bee drinks out of your mixture, it make take a few minutes before it completely replenish its energy before going back to its own hive.
Take note: Do not leave any sugar water on your garden because this will attract the bees which can disturb them from gathering their precious pollens from plants. Thus, if you are done with the process of helping a bee then it is best to properly dispose the mixture.
Can you offer honey instead of a sugar?
It may sound good to offer honey to a bee than sugar. However, you have to know that majority of honey that are available in the market are imported. If this is the case, the honey is not suitable for the local bees in your area.
How many Bees Die every day
It is hard to tell the numbers of how many bees die every day around the world. But you can derive an estimate amount by basing it on the statistics by countries.
In the US, back in 2018, beekeepers claimed that they lost 40 percent of their hives or colonies. They unexpectedly died during this year which was even a higher count as compared from the previous year which was at 33 percent.
Still back in 2018, UK lost one-third of their bees’ population while in Europe, their bumblebees are at 24 percent which is considered a dwindling number towards extinction.
What Temperature does Bees Stop Flying
Covered above, weather climate change is one among the cause of the bees’ declining population. You have to know that the right temperature is vital for the bees’ survival; otherwise their behavioral pattern is greatly affected.
Hives that is unshaded on a very hot day makes the bees cluster outside their hive to protect it. Due to this reason, they cannot work. On the other hand, if the hive is exposed with too much shade particularly in the summer, this makes them irritable.
As for the question above, bees cannot fly when the temperature is below 55 degrees Fahrenheit. To tell you more, they rarely go outside or work when the temperature of their environment goes below 57 or above 100 degrees Fahrenheit.
Do Bees know that they are going to Die
When it comes to the causes covered above (pesticides, climate change, and etc…), bees are not unaware of dying from them which could even lead to their extinction.
Bees will only know that they are going to die when they decided to sting a certain person particularly an intruder who poses a threat to their hive.
So how long do honey bees live after they sting?
Assuming that a honey bee stings a person, what will happen is that, it cannot pull out its barbed stinger. It will remain stuck but the problem is that, when the bee pulls itself, not only the stinger but also some part of its abdomen and digestive tract including muscles and nerves are also left behind.
As a result, the honey bee will end up dying due to massive abdominal rapture.
Thus, humans should avoid driving away honey bees because even if they fight back with their stings, at the end of the day they are the once who ends up dying.
You have to know that exterminating the existence of the honey bees could have a devastating outcome to humans and the entire health of the planet. In short, killing honey bees will further contribute to everyone’s demise.
The only possible way to save everyone is to take drastic measures in saving the bees.