海角大神

Honeybees are in trouble. To many people, this comes as no surprise, but the preliminary results of an annual survey have thrown the problem into sharp relief.

In their tenth annual survey, the Bee Informed Partnership found that beekeepers across the United States during the year from April 2015 to April 2016.

The pollination services of these insects are vital, directly or indirectly accounting for a staggering one third of all food we eat, and the pollinators face many varied challenges.

But the situation is not without hope, as players from all parts of society are searching for solutions to the increasingly critical threats to bees.

鈥淲e didn鈥檛 expect there to be losses in the summer,鈥� says Dennis vanEngelsdorp, project director for the Bee Informed Partnership, in a telephone interview with 海角大神. 鈥淲e started looking at summer losses five years ago, and there wasn鈥檛 much loss. Now, they [summer and winter losses] are basically the same.鈥�

This particular study, which captures responses from about 15 to 20 percent of US commercial and recreational beekeepers, began in response to colony collapse disorder, but that seems less of an issue today.

So, what are the current problems?

鈥淲e think it鈥檚 three major factors,鈥� says Dr. vanEngelsdorp, who teaches entomology at the University of Maryland. 鈥淢ites, pesticides, and poor nutrition, acting in concert.鈥�

Varroa mites are a scourge that infest beehives nationwide, and their influence is worsened by some hive management techniques. For example, a 鈥渂ackyard鈥� beekeeper with 10 colonies might let nine succumb, while planning to breed that final colony as one strong enough to prevail. But in so doing, the mites are allowed to thrive and spread beyond that beekeeper鈥檚 domain.

Pesticides, by their very design, are often at odds with bees, and as for nutrition, the modern world has replaced vast swathes of meadowland with crops that starve the insects of their natural food sources.

But all is not lost. Many groups are coming together to tackle the honeybee declines.

鈥淭his is a multi-factor problem requiring a multi-factor solution,鈥� says Julie Shapiro, senior policy director of the Keystone Policy Center, in a telephone interview with the Monitor. 鈥淎ll of these are key issues that need to be addressed, and we don鈥檛 try to prioritize across these areas because they are all interacting.鈥�

The Keystone Policy Center convenes and facilitates the , which brings together myriad organizations from across the spectrum 鈥� behemoths of agribusiness such as Monsanto and Syngenta, non-profits like the Foundation for the Preservation of Honey Bees, universities, and state departments of agriculture.

Together, these institutions are working on four main areas: forage and nutrition, hive management, crop pest management, and public outreach.

They seek to build understanding of one another鈥檚 viewpoints and priorities through such programs as the , which allows people to 鈥渟witch jobs for a day and walk a mile in the other guys鈥� boots.鈥�

As Ms. Shapiro says, these challenges are complex, and the first step is 鈥渦nderstanding where everyone is coming from.鈥�

鈥淚鈥檓 very hopeful: we鈥檝e seen some great progress on a number of issues,鈥� says Shapiro. 鈥淎cross the board, we鈥檝e seen tremendous engagement.鈥�