How Are Honeybees In Crisis?
Todd Woody, Quartz, 2013
[Excerpt, click on link above for full article:] “Forget the plight of the polar bear for a moment and consider the coming collapse of the $30 billion honey bee economy in the US. Since 2006 honey bees responsible for pollinating more than 100 crops—from apples to zucchini— have been dying by the tens of millions. As a new report from the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) details, scientists are still struggling to pinpoint the cause of so-called Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) and time is running out… CCD has wiped out some 10 million bee hives worth $2 billion over the past six years. The death rate for colonies has hit 30% annually in recent years and there are now about 2.5 million honey bee colonies in the US, down from 6 million in 1947 and 3 million in 1990. That downward spiral leaves “virtually no cushion of bees for pollination,” the report’s authors write. If the death toll continues at the present rate, that means there will soon be barely enough bees to pollinate almonds, let alone avocadoes, blueberries, pears or plums. “We are one poor weather event or high winter bee loss away from a pollination disaster,” USDA scientist Jeff Pettis said in the report.”
How Are Honeybees In Crisis?
Bryan Walsh, Senior Editor Time Magazine, 2013
[Excerpt, click on link above for full article:] ”More than [nine] years after it was first reported, colony-collapse disorder is still killing honeybees around the world. If scientists can't pinpoint the cause [of Colony Collapse Disorder], the economic and environmental damage could be immense... the fact that they are dying in large numbers, and we can’t say why, is very, very worrying.”
How Are Honeybees In Crisis?
Benjamin P. Oldroyd, What’s Killing American Honeybees, 2007
[Excerpt, click on link above for full article:] " On February 22, 2007, many Americans woke up to media reports that something was awry with their honey bees. A significant proportion of American beekeepers were complaining of unusually high rates of colony loss... beekeepers in 22 states reported the problem. Some beekeepers lost nearly all of their colonies."
How Are Honeybees In Crisis?
Claire Kremen, PhD, Crop Pollination From Native Bees At Risk From Agricultural Intensification, 2002
[Excerpt, click on link above for full article:] "On organic farms near natural habitat, we found that native bee communities could provide full pollination services even for a crop with heavy pollination requirements, without the intervention of managed honey bees. All other farms, however, experienced greatly reduced diversity and abundance of native bees, resulting in insufficient pollination services from native bees alone. We found that diversity was essential for sustaining the service... Continued degradation of the agro-natural landscape will destroy this “free” service, but conservation and restoration of bee habitat are potentially viable economic alternatives for reducing dependence on managed honey bees."
How Do Bees In Crisis Affect Us?
Increased Food Costs
The total number of managed honeybee colonies in the US has decreased from 5 million in the 1940s to 2.5 million today. At the same time, the call for bees to provide pollination services has continued to increase. We have more people in the world, and a greater demand to provide food. According to the US Department of Agriculture (USDA), if honeybee losses continue at their present rate, it could threaten the economic viability of bee pollination. This means that the cost of honeybee pollination will rise, and those increased costs will be passed on to consumers through higher food costs. Almonds are one of the many foods that cannot grow without honeybees, and it takes 60% of the US’s current bee colonies just to pollinate that one $4 billion cash crop. California harvests more than 80% of the world’s almonds, so bees are crucial to our agricultural economy. And that is just one of the many crops that depend on bee pollination!
How Do Bees In Crisis Affect Us?
Environmental Impacts
NASA’s Earth Observatory keeps an eye on honeybees and other pollinators worldwide. According to NASA, global warming is increasing the chance of plants and pollinators getting out of sync with each other. From NASA.gov: "Honeybee larvae depend on warm temperatures to survive. An early spring cold snap can kill these developing workers at the outer edges of the cluster at the heart of the hive. This setback slows the hive’s preparations for the honey-production season. If plants are not affected in the same way, the bees may become out of sync with their primary food source." This affects overall honeybee health and their ability to sustain and grow thriving hives; honeybee health and their global density in turn impacts the planet’s health and our livelihood.
What Measures Are Being Taken To Help Bees?
National Attention
In June 20, 2014, US President Barack Obama issued a Presidential Memorandum creating a Federal Strategy and Task Force to promote the health of honeybees and other pollinators. This memorandum is co-chaired by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The US Environmental Protection Agency to protect bees and other pollinators from pesticide exposure.
What Measures Are Being Taken To Help Bees?
Scientists Take Interest In Native Bees
Scientists around the world are constantly conducting research on honeybees, including finding solutions for Colony Collapse Disorder. Some scientists are tapping into the value of bees as research partners and they are using bees to help monitor things like climate change. Interest in native/wild bees is increasing thanks to scientist, writer, and professor, whose work reaffirms the importance of native/wild bees as our future bee.
How Do Live Bee Removal Services Help Bees In Crisis?
Eco-Friendly Alternative to Extermination
Bees are crucial to our health and the health of the planet. Native or wild/Africanized bees are becoming more and more important because of the Colony Collapse Disorder and other factors affecting the health of managed European bees. It is important that we keep these native bees alive. Live bee removals offer an environmentally friendly alternative to extermination for your bee removal and bee control needs. During a live bee removal, bees are not treated like pests. The bees are instead collected from the site and relocated to an apiary, farm, or wild land where they continue pollination and building healthy hives.
Why Choose Kyle’s Bees Bee Removal?
Flat-Rate Price Listing
No ambiguous quotes. Our company goal is to make live bee removal and relocation within residential and commercial settings affordable, thus increasing the amount of bees that are saved each year. To fulfill this goal, we offer affordable bee removal services with a transparent flat-rate price listing.
Why Choose Kyle’s Bees Bee Removal?
Beekeeper Training
Our bee removal services are done by beekeepers or bee removal experts who have been trained by beekeepers. Our technicians understand the nature of bees and are qualified to safely handle them. This provides more safety for all persons around the job site as well as the bees.
Why Choose Kyle’s Bees Bee Removal?
Satisfaction Guaranteed
We get many bee removal re-call jobs to finish what an extermination company started, with issues including unfinished repairs and cleanup, problematic toxins, repeated return of bees, and internal rotting of structures. Every bee removal done by our company is a complete bee removal job start to finish, and bee removals done from within a structure come with a one year service guarantee that bees will not return to the problem area. Your satisfaction is our guarantee!
