U.S. honeybees just weathered an unusually bad winter.
About 38 percent of beekeepers colonies died between October 1, 2018, and April 1, 2019, the Bee Informed Partnership estimates. While it wasnt the worst recent year overall for honeybee losses — that was 2012–2013 — preliminary results released June 19 show it is the worst winter die-off recorded over the University of Maryland–based nonprofits 13 years of surveying bee populations.
Beekeepers should be able to rebuild those numbers this year, but such ongoing winter losses raise deep worries about the future of crop pollination. On average over the 13 years, about 29 percent of colonies have died each winter. The 2018–2019 numbers came from nearly 4,700 beekeepers, representing about 12 percent of the estimated 2.69 million U.S. hives.
Bee gone
Beekeepers say they could accept some percentage of loss in colonies during winter (gray bars), but actual winter losses (yellow) estimated over the past 13 years have been higher, according to an annual survey by the nonprofit Bee Informed Partnership. Colonies die in summer too, so starting in 2010, the survey included estimated colony losses during a whole year (orange).
Annual estimated U.S. honeybee colony losses, 2006–2019
Some floods and fires this year destroyed colonies, but “the take-home worry for me is Varroa [mites],” says the Partnerships Dennis vanEngelsdorp, a bee-health entomologist at the University of Maryland in College Park. The invasive mite species Varroa destructor clamps its tiny pimple-shaped body onto bees just as theyre turning into adults (SN: 2/16/19, p. 32). Read More – Source
U.S. honeybees just weathered an unusually bad winter.
About 38 percent of beekeepers colonies died between October 1, 2018, and April 1, 2019, the Bee Informed Partnership estimates. While it wasnt the worst recent year overall for honeybee losses — that was 2012–2013 — preliminary results released June 19 show it is the worst winter die-off recorded over the University of Maryland–based nonprofits 13 years of surveying bee populations.
Beekeepers should be able to rebuild those numbers this year, but such ongoing winter losses raise deep worries about the future of crop pollination. On average over the 13 years, about 29 percent of colonies have died each winter. The 2018–2019 numbers came from nearly 4,700 beekeepers, representing about 12 percent of the estimated 2.69 million U.S. hives.
Bee gone
Beekeepers say they could accept some percentage of loss in colonies during winter (gray bars), but actual winter losses (yellow) estimated over the past 13 years have been higher, according to an annual survey by the nonprofit Bee Informed Partnership. Colonies die in summer too, so starting in 2010, the survey included estimated colony losses during a whole year (orange).
Annual estimated U.S. honeybee colony losses, 2006–2019
Some floods and fires this year destroyed colonies, but “the take-home worry for me is Varroa [mites],” says the Partnerships Dennis vanEngelsdorp, a bee-health entomologist at the University of Maryland in College Park. The invasive mite species Varroa destructor clamps its tiny pimple-shaped body onto bees just as theyre turning into adults (SN: 2/16/19, p. 32). Read More – Source
