Latest news with #FrontiersinBeeScience
The Guardian
19-05-2025
- Science
- The Guardian
Scientists recommend limits on urban beekeeping to protect Australia's native bees from honeybees
Scientists have recommended limits on urban beekeeping after a peer-reviewed study found introduced honeybees could be harming Australian native bees and risked driving them to extinction. The Australian research, published in Frontiers in Bee Science, found native bees living in areas with high densities of introduced honeybees had fewer female offspring and a higher death rate in their first year of life. Dr Kit Prendergast, the lead author of the study, said honeybees posed a threat to the health and size of native bee populations – and there was a risk population declines could eventually lead to local extinctions. 'By boosting honeybee numbers, you can be harming native bees,' said Prendergast, a native bee scientist and conservationist at the University of Southern Queensland. More than 1,700 species of native bees have been identified in Australia, and they play an important role in pollinating native trees and wildflowers. Unlike the common domestic honeybee, which was introduced to Australia from Europe about 200 years ago for honey and crop pollination, most Australian native bee species aren't yellow and black and don't live in hives. Native bees ranged from some of the smallest bees in the world to 'really big, bombastic ones' like the Dawson's burrowing bee, a ground-nesting bee with a 4.5cm wingspan, Prendergast said. Sign up to get climate and environment editor Adam Morton's Clear Air column as a free newsletter Over two spring-summer seasons, Prendergast and a team of researchers studied native bees living in specially designed bee hotels – wooden boxes designed for native bees to rest and breed in – across 14 sites in Perth, investigating whether proximity to European honeybees impacted various signs of health in native populations. Both introduced and native bees needed nectar and pollen to survive and reproduce, but when resources were scarce – particularly during drought or after bushfires – introduced bees dominated, as they could travel further and forage on a greater variety of plants. As a precautionary step, the authors recommended limits on urban beekeeping, and steps to prevent and control swarming – where the queen takes half the colony to find a new place to live – and feral hives, especially in state and national parks. Protecting and increasing flowering trees like eucalyptus, myrtles and bottlebrushes and wildflowers could help support native bee populations, the authors said. Dr Katja Hogendoorn, an expert in native and introduced bees at the University of Adelaide who was not involved in the study, said while European bees played an important role in crop pollination, their use for honey production should be limited to protect native species. Sign up to Clear Air Australia Adam Morton brings you incisive analysis about the politics and impact of the climate crisis after newsletter promotion She said the findings were consistent with other research showing high densities of honeybees reduced available nectar and pollen resources for native populations, and larger bees in particular struggled to find enough food to fly. Compared to other countries, Australia had 'an enormous number of feral hives' – or honeybee colonies in the wild – she said, but as they were often high up in eucalyptus tree hollows, it made removing them extremely difficult and labour intensive. Hogendoorn said protecting and planting flowering native plants was critical, given bees suffered from the effects of habitat loss, climate change and competition from honeybees. Hogendoorn said about a third of Australia's bee species were yet to be described. She was part of a team that described 71 new native species of resin pot bees, which are unique to Australia and build nests out of resin. It was important to understand what species there were, where they lived and whether they were endangered, she said. 'We still have a lot to discover,' she said. 'We may be losing species that we don't even know about yet.'
Yahoo
25-04-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Experts sound alarm on critical threat putting farmers' livelihoods at risk: 'We may lose local ... populations'
Bee populations around the world are in trouble, and that spells danger for us, too. Bees are widely recognized for their importance as pollinators. However, in Cambodia, native bee populations are declining. Although Cambodia's native bees are not currently in danger of extinction, a recent study found that the populations are diminishing. As Mongabay notes, worldwide problems such as rising global temperatures, parasites, and the use of insecticides compound with local challenges such as habitat loss, unsustainable honey processes, and bee brood consumption — all of which put the bees in a precarious situation. "We may lose local [bee] populations," the study's lead author, Eric Guerin, told Mongabay. "Though there is still time to change that." The study doesn't provide a detailed survey of bee population numbers, but it does highlight threats to bees in Cambodia that put the populations at risk. In 1948, historical accounts detail how a single tree could have dozens of colonies of bees nesting in it. These bee colony clusters do not occur today. Bee populations are diminishing across the globe. According to researchers at Penn State University, in the United States, "beekeepers have lost about 30% of their colonies every year since 2006." From June 2024 to February 2025, the United States lost 1.1 million colonies. Bee populations face many challenges. One is our warming climate. As temperatures rise around the globe, bees are struggling to regulate the temperatures in their hives. A paper in Frontiers in Bee Science found that bees will struggle to survive if temperature ranges begin to exceed 97 degrees Fahrenheit. Losing bees means losing our food security. Bees are pollinators that play an important role in the production of fruits, vegetables, and some nuts. If pollinator populations continue to decline, food will become more scarce and more expensive. Do you worry about how much food you throw away? Definitely Sometimes Not really Never Click your choice to see results and speak your mind. Beyond food crops, bees play an important role in all sorts of plant pollination. This means that even if we aren't eating from the plants bees pollinate, their work still contributes to biodiversity and ensures rich ecosystems. Natapot Warrit, an assistant biology professor at Chulalongkorn University in Thailand, told Mongabay: "Southeast Asia is the cradle of honeybee diversity." It's no surprise that Guerin's study calls for greater attention to bee populations in this important region. If you want to do your part to help bees, you can make your yard more friendly for pollinators. This includes planting native plants and having a wide variety of plant diversity in your yard. You can also opt for chemical-free pest control. Making your outdoor spaces more hospitable to bees is a great step in preserving these crucial creatures. Join our free newsletter for good news and useful tips, and don't miss this cool list of easy ways to help yourself while helping the planet.
