It’s a complex picture and one that’s worth taking some time to unpick. Back in the late 1990s and early 2000s, many beekeepers across the world were noticing that their honey bees were dying in unprecedented numbers. Entire colonies were mysteriously wiped out, leaving hives empty and beekeepers (and the rest of the world) worried that honey bees were crashing towards mass extinction, a fate that would have desperate consequences for the world’s ecosystem and food supply. It was headline-grabbing stuff.
No one was sure why so many honey bee colonies were dying – an event that became known as Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD). Subsequent research has shown that it was probably a number of factors, working in deadly harmony – a perfect storm of invasive varroa mites, habitat loss, low bee immunity caused by poor management of hives or overexposure to pesticides, and other interrelated factors.
The good news, however, is that the situation for managed honey bees – that is, bees kept by beekeepers – has improved. Numbers are slowly recovering and reported cases of CCD have dwindled. Even better, thanks to the concerted efforts of many beekeeping groups and media campaigns, beekeeping as a hobby has rocketed in popularity. In the United States, the “Save the Bees” slogan is printed on stickers and posters and bee-patterned clothes appear in stores across the country. Bees are definitely having a moment.
So why should we still be worried about them? The answer is twofold. The first reason is that, despite a surge of interest in beekeeping, there has still been an overall decline in honey bees over the past half-century. The second reason is that honey bees aren’t the only bees that matter. In the US, for example, there are more than 4,000 species of native bees. These species fall within different categories. Many species are solitary, pollinating lone rangers who don’t care for life in the hive. Other species fall under the broad category of bumblebee – but there are even different varieties of this familiar fat and fluffy bee.
Honey bees aren’t the only bees that matter. In the US, there are more than 4,000 species of bees.
Over the past fifty years, these species numbers are shrinking, with some becoming extinct. In Europe, nearly one in ten species of wild bees faces extinction, and in the US about a quarter of all wild bees have disappeared in the past ten years alone. Pollinators of all kinds – bees, butterflies, moths and other bugs – are showing declines worldwide and although not all species are threatened (some are even improving their numbers), the overall picture is alarming.