6d ago

US honeybee deaths hit record high as scientists scramble to find main cause

www.theguardian.com

Summary

US honeybee deaths hit a record high, with beekeepers losing over 60% of colonies this winter.

The crisis threatens pollination of key crops and has led to financial ruin for many beekeepers. Scientists cite climate change, habitat loss, pesticide use, varroa mites, and poor handling as potential causes.

The USDA is investigating the latest losses, but Trump-era staff cuts have slowed research, prompting Cornell University to assist.

Despite increased colony numbers from rising beekeeper interest, loss rates continue to surge, endangering agriculture and ecosystems.

Bees and Beekeeping @mander.xyz

Nemeski @lemm.ee

5d ago

US honeybee deaths hit record high as scientists scramble to find main cause

www.theguardian.com /us-news/2025/mar/25/honeybees-deaths-record-high

55 comments

Huh, maybe valuing profit over everything else has its drawbacks after all?
- What are you, some kind of socialist? Report for deportation to El Salvador to the nearest ICE office immediately!
  
  What a commie pinko thing for that guy to say.
  Now, may we all bow our heads and pray. The dollar, the stock, and the crypto spirit.
  
  I'm sorry, I'm on the wrong continent. And I won't travel to the US even if you gave me a pile of money.
  Or to El Salvador.
- The environment is just for liberal cucks
  
  And for beavers. Are you a beaver or a cuck?

It’s definitely pesticide. Plus a lack of plant diversity. If farmers focused on building strips of natives bordering their fields honeybees wouldn’t even be necessary. Honeybees are an invasive species in the US. There are thousands of amazing American bee species that would pollinate our crops if we leave a little room for them, and stopped using pesticides and herbicides everywhere, all they need is a small amount of habitat.
Where I live, in a very large city, there is a ban on roundup and we have no issues with a lack of bees, as long as there’s not acres of lawn.
I’m an ecologist and I used to work at a botanical garden. we had a bee researcher who found 120 species of native bees, plus tons of wild honeybee colonies breaking off new ones every year. He believed it was the plant diversity in the gardens that contributed to the number of species.
- Light pollution is also a big contributor
  
  It seems like most people these days have lights mounted on their house that shine all night long, or turn on automatically every time something moves outside. My boyfriend thinks those are a good idea, but so far I've managed to talk him out of it.
- I agree. I fear the conclusion is being actively surpressed because we can't afford to stop using the pesticides.
  
  Well we're going to quickly end up with no alternative.

IIRC, there was a study a few years ago that basically shrieked "IT'S THE NEONICOTINOIDS, IDIOT", and the response seems to have been "well, yes, but we make money selling that, so find something else to blame, dumbass."
I'm in central California and our insect populations have cratered HARD. Used to be that you couldn't drive east-west across the San Joaquin valley without getting the front of your car called in bugs; it hasn't been a problem at all for about two years now. I've seen probably a 95% decline in butterflies and bee-like insects; that is, I see about 1/20th of the butterflies I used to. This is deeply worrying. I had a dude come and offer to flush my lawn with pesticide to get all of the bugs out of it, and I took a moment to calmly talk to him about how he's contributing to complete ecological collapse.
- ...i drove from the gulf coast to northern california twenty-five years ago and had to thoroughly clean my windshield of bugs every fuel stop, which was pretty typical of road trips for thirty years prior; i can't remember the last time i've had to clean my windshield of anything other than dust since the mid-2000s...
- The specific study I remember was that the Neonicotinoids weren't outright killing them, but weakening them enough for a virus transmitted by a mite would. Not that I don't think this class of pesticide should be restricted or outright banned, one simple solution is to not spray during bloom. They also found the beta acids from hops would repel or kill the mites that transmitted the virus.

Scientists cite climate change, habitat loss, pesticide use, varroa mites, and poor handling as potential causes.
Probably there's not one main cause, it's all of those and possibly more "small" causes that all need action to counter them.

that is fine, Trump orders retracting word pesticides from every article, done.

Paul Stamets has already found that the primary cause is pesticide and fungicide. Bee's are able to gain immunities through mycological contact.
- That's amazing.
  
  It really is, and it's probably not even in the top 10 of what fungi does for a biosphere.
- Stamets tries to solve every problem with mushrooms, but I'll source your claim.
  Scientists also found that Beta Acids from hops could kill mites, which are transmitting a bee killing virus.

Was personally just looking around and thinking "Where the fuck are all the bees?". They're normally extremely active in my area this time of year, and am devastated to hear this.
- There's a guy I know of who keeps bees, and while there are some people nearby who get pissy at him every time they see a bee, most people love how well all the flowers and gardens grow nearby and understand why they do.
  This past year I went to someone's house nearby and their tree was blooming, but didn't look nearly as good as usual. And then I noticed I couldn't hear any bees.
  When that tree has flowers, it's filled with so many bees you can hear it buzzing from the road about 300m away.
  Now silence.
  I haven't seen a bee around where I live in over a year. And I'm outside a lot in the spring and summer. Usually I get a few buzzing over me when I'm out in my hammock, but I have yet to hear one this year. I'm hoping they're just "sleeping in" a bit but I fear I already know the truth...
  
  There's also a big difference between the type of bees (honeybees) that keepers care for, and the "other" kinds (carpenter, yellow jacket...etc).
  If they're ALL missing from your area, that's detrimental to plants being able to live.
- You should plant some native wildflowers if you can. Especially purple and blue ones (bees see purple the best, much like humans see red).
  
  We have that, but I feel like we just actual numbers to combat the colony collapses at this point.

I'm guessing pesticide usage is probably killing a lot more bugs than we realize. Bees are one of a number of pollinators. Wasps, moths, bats, hummingbirds, and other creatures also play a role.
Between destruction of habitat, overuse of pesticides, and climate change making things hotter/drier/easier for diseases to spread, I think those are probably the main factors.
- It's difficult to find a pesticide, even one intended for casual gardeners, that doesn't advertise that it kills hundreds of different types of insects.

The bees were just lazy and couldn’t pull themselves up by their bootstraps. The survivors will surely be stronger.
- I think it is embarrassment; they know what is happening to the US. They don't want any part in perpetuating the cycle.

Pesticides and climate destruction?
Waiting for the next headline to have "Experts suggest" this.
- While half of america is like "saving bees is tax dollar fraud. Kill the bees!"

It's burnout. They see the headlines everyday, and the flowers just don't seem as bright as they used to.

People.
It's people.
- Soylent Green?
  
  That's just people with a bit of picante. Goes well with fava beans and a nice Chianti, I hear.

I got hella bees that come and pollinate these holly shrubs in my backyard
- Fucking holly. Spreads like a weed where I live.

FYI: Honey bees are an invasive species everywhere but Eurasia and Africa
- I just want to point out that you just said everywhere but and then listed around 60% of the total world land area.
  
  Thanks for the clarification. Let me also clarify that the USA are within that 40% where honey bees are not native to and brought there by Europeans.
  Were the cause not pesticides that kill all insects including native species, a decline of that invasive one would have been good news.
- "Invasive" and "not native" are not interchangeable. Honeybees are not native to North America, but they are not an invasive species.
  
  Also, most of our staple crops aren't native and we need the bees to pollinate most of them.
  You don't need bees for wheat, corn, rice or potatoes, but just about any fruit require them.
  
  Tell that to all of our native bee species that have lost habitat and resources to the highly aggressive Africanized honeybees taking over our ecosystem. They are, in fact, invasive.
  But I also believe that pesticides are not the answer. There are ways of managing bee activity and the company I work for is actively engaged in developing new, pesticide-free bee and wasp control systems. I hope they will be used much more than pesticides in the future.

It’s the guns, stupid. Stop mounting canons on drones and bee on bee violence will drop

55 comments