Causes For The Honeybee Population Collapse
Einstein once said, “If bees were to disappear from the globe, mankind would only have four years left to live.” The world’s honeybee populations are in dreadful need of help. Scientists have found that thousands of honeybee colonies have been disappearing. They’re dying from CCD, also known as colony collapse disorder. Some say that the honeybee population collapse can be directly tied to the severe overuse of a wide array of pesticides. On the other hand, beekeepers argue that there are several human and environment related causes for the honeybee population collapse. Although the overuse of pesticides is severely detrimental to the honeybee population, there isn’t one single cause for colony collapse disorder.
Honeybees play a huge part in food production, and are the main source for pollinating plants. For instance, “in agriculture, nearly a third of pollination is accomplished by honeybees” (“Pollinators and Pesticides”). Without the help of bees, we would not longer have foods like: Almonds, cherries, cucumbers, melons, carrots, pears, apricots, cantaloupe, apples, onions, kiwi, plums, cranberries, …show more content…
In the documentary, More Than Honey, beekeepers have found that transporting bees from afar often causes extensive deaths within the honeybee colonies. One bee transporter claims that he carries bee colonies 1,700 miles over a period of two days, and during this time the bees are not let out of their crates to go to the bathroom (More Than Honey). In other words, the less time bees spend traveling, the healthier they’ll be. Writing in a review for the film More Than Honey, Mark Jenkins, reports that, “the stresses of travel kill bees, sometimes by the millions.” In making this comment, Jenkins is corroborating the adage that the transpiration of bees can intern be extremely hazardous to the bees’