Quote:Wild bees are disappearing from substantial swathes of farmlands threatening crops across the United States, University of Vermont (UVM) researchers have warned.

Researchers stressed that wild bees play a crucial role in agricultural pollination. Thus, pollinators like bees provide an essential ecosystem service to natural as well as agricultural ecosystems.
UVM researchers tracked wild bee populations in the agricultural regions of the country, including California, the southern Mississippi River Valley and the Great Plains, and created a map of bee populations. The data indicated that nearly 39 per cent of crop areas highly dependent on bees for pollination will suffer due to inadequate supply of wild bees.

Taylor Ricketts, the director of UVM’s Gund Institute, said, “It’s clear that pollinators are in trouble … But what has been less clear is where they are in the  

Quote:The U.S. is home to roughly 4,000 species of honey bees, however wild bee populations have contracted by 23 per cent between 2008 and 2013. The contraction is largely because of the destruction of their natural habitats. Increasing use of harmful pesticides, diseases and climate change are also having a disastrous impact on bees.

In addition, people have to acknowledge the significance of preservation applications that offer flowering environments, which are capable of supporting wild bees or other pollinators.

Quote:The FreshPlaza notes that, A new study into the declining wild bee population reveals that if the present situation continues, farmers will face increasing costs and the problem could even destabilize the nation's crop production.

Quote:EPA Releases Study On Pesticides Killing Bees, Gets Sued Immediately By Beekeepers
Jade | January 12, 2016 | News | No Comments

EPA-bees

By Claire Bernish

A new study by the Environmental Protection Agency has found evidence through a study that backs what activists and environmentalists have asserted for years: one of the most widely used neonicotinoid pesticides can, indeed, cause declines in honeybee populations. But the agency’s findings are too little, too late for many farmers and food safety advocates, who consider the EPA neglectfully responsible for widespread employment of neonicotinoids.

Driving the urgency of the point even further, researchers with Sussex University discovered something far more alarming: wildflowers growing near neonicotinoid-treated crops play host to a “chemical cocktail” which has an impact on bees 1,000 times more potent than previously believed.

Quote:One question that has had scientists buzzing in recent years is, "What is killing the bees?" Many reports have documented the mysterious decline in honeybee populations around the world, with research focusing on possible causes including parasites, a type of pesticide called neonicotinoids, and other factors. Now, research out of the University of Exeter in the UK and the University of California, Berkeley, reveals another explanation: the spread of a viral disease, inadvertently helped along by humans.

The study, published in the journal Science, found that European honeybees are the main source of Deformed Wing Virus, which has spread through bee hives around the world. The researchers determined that the spread of this insect pandemic is largely fueled by human trade and transportation of bees.
How does it spread? The Varroa mite carries the disease, feeding on bee larvae, then the virus itself kills off the bees.

The study's lead author, Dr. Lena Wilfert, of the University of Exeter's Centre for Ecology and Conservation, said they found evidence that human involvement has played a key role in the epidemic.

"If the spread was naturally occurring, we would expect to see transmission between countries that are close to each other, but we found that, for example, the New Zealand virus population originated in Europe. This significantly strengthens the theory that human transportation of bees is responsible for the spread of this devastating disease," she said in a press statement.