The Decline of Honeybees Implications, Causes, and Responses

The lives of humans and honeybees have been intertwined for millennia. For at least 8,000 years, humans have sought honey for applications in disciplines ranging from medicine to the culinary arts. But while humans love honey, honeybees provide a much more valuable service: pollination. As the world’s most prolific pollinator, honeybees are essential to the reproduction of many plant species, which in turn benefits other animals and plants. In fact, humans heavily rely on honeybees to pollinate our own food source, a service that is worth billions of dollars a year. Unfortunately, the honeybee population is in a severe and prolonged decline, often in the form of colony collapse disorder, in which entire colonies are seemingly abandoned by†¦show more content†¦However, many countries are not so fortunate. Ssenoga (2014) wrote, In Uganda, honey bees provide pollination services to such crops as coffee, cotton, beans, peas, mango, citrus, avocado, tomatoes, passion fruits, apples, soya beans, water melons, and several others. Any collapse in the services will have detrimental effects to the livelihoods of the 65.5 percent of rural farmers, who also depend on agriculture for food security. In 2013, nearly half of Ugandans were food energy deficient, 5% suffered from extremely unbalanced diets, and 33% of Ugandan children were stunted (World Food Programme, 2013). In countries like Uganda, which is relatively well-off in comparison to many other African nations, a honeybee shortage resulting in decreased food production could mean starvation for many people. Colony Collapse Disorder The current downward trend in honeybee populations has been punctuated by wide occurrences of colony collapse disorder (CCD). This is not a new phenomenon; the first recorded incident occurred in 1869. Since that time, there have been occurrences of CCD in locations as diverse as Oregon, Australia, and Great Britain, to name a few. In instances of colony collapse disorder, the colony is almost completely absent of adult bees, and there are few if anyShow MoreRelatedDeformed Wing Virus Of Honeybees1698 Words   |  7 PagesFannon – Week 7 Report PhD Project Title: Deformed Wing Virus of Honeybees Supervisor: Prof. David Evans, School of Life Sciences, University of Warwick. Background. Insect pollinators play a vital role in the majority of terrestrial ecosystems and the survival and productivity of many wild and agricultural plants depends upon successful pollination by insects [1,2]. In a 2005 assessment of the potential impact of pollinator decline, it was estimated that the total economic value of insect pollinationRead MoreAgriculture Is An Essential Component That Supports The Lives Of Many Individuals Essay1816 Words   |  8 Pagesresult this paper seeks to demonstrate that, Monstanto’s drive for economic gain has resulted in the creation of genetically modified organisms, which has diminished aspects of food sovereignty within agricultural systems. This has resulted in implications surrounding humans working against nature, potential harm to human health as well as rejecting the values of other farmers/ food providers. In relation to humans working against nature research has demonstrated that Monsanto’s GM crops have causedRead More50 Harm ful Effects of Genetically Modified (Gm) Foods14312 Words   |  58 Pagesmatchmaker and inviting two people to a dinner party, to meet and see if they are compatible. This differs essentially from forcing their meeting and union or a violent date rape. The former act may be divine, and the latter considered criminal. The implication is that biotechnology involves vital moral issues in regard to the whole of life in nature. With biotechnology, roses are no longer crossed with just roses. They are mated with pigs, tomatoes with oak trees, fish with asses, butterflies with worms