Are Worker Bees Too Ambitious For Their Own Good?
Flying shortens the lives of honeybees, according to Washington State University, and worker bees will fly to find flowers whenever the weather is right, regardless of how much honey is already in the hive.
Using climate and bee population models, researchers found that increasingly long autumns with good flying weather for bees raises the likelihood of colony collapse in the spring.
The study, published in the journal Scientific Reports, focuses on the Pacific Northwest but holds implications for hives across the U.S. The researchers also modeled a promising mitigation: putting colonies into indoor cold storage, so honeybees will cluster in their hive before too many worker bees wear out.
“This is a case where a small amount of warming, even in the near future, will make a big impact on honeybees,” Washington State University Climate Researcher and lead author Kirti Rajagopalan says. “It’s not like this is something that can be expected 80 years from now. It is a more immediate impact that needs to be planned for.”
For this study, researchers ran simulations through a honeybee population dynamics model, using climate projections for 2050 and the end of the century at 2100. They found that honeybee colonies that spend the winter outside in many areas of the Pacific Northwest would likely experience spring colony collapses in both the near- and long-term scenarios.
This also occurred under a simulation in which climate change continued as it is progressing now and one in which greenhouse gas emissions were reduced in the near future.
For more, continue reading at news.wsu.edu.
Subscribe Today For
