Just like polar bears, bees are suffering and struggling from rapid climate changes. According to statistics reported by Conservation.org, honeybees pollinate about $15 billion worth of crops each year, yet 10 million hives have disappeared in the last three years. While scientists haven’t confirmed the exact causes behind bees’ decline, they’re sure that the climate is making life harder for them. Here are some reasons why:
Seasonal Shifts
With changing temperatures comes a mis-timing of the seasons. Bees and plants are attuned to specific weather cues. They can quickly tell with air temperature and other weather aspects when a season ends or begins. However, with the shifting weather changes, plants and trees can get out of sync.
Marissa Fessenden of Smithsonian Magazine quotes community and evolutionary ecologist Rebecca Irwin, who explains the shift: “[w]hen the snow melts earlier, the flowers are going to emerge earlier and they’re going to bloom earlier.” Scientists believe that if flowers bloom ahead of time, honeybees could miss the spring season. Missing spring pollination could reduce pollination rates and lead, eventually, to food shortages. It could also lead to a decrease in bees’ populations by making them less resistant to parasites and lowering their reproduction levels.
Disease
Apart from causing a shift in the environment, climate change also negatively affects bees’ health. Conservation International’s Leah Duran reports that as global temperatures continue to increase, it’s likely that more bees will succumb to “parasites such as Varroa mites and the gut parasite Nosema ceranae.” If climate temperatures rise, these critters can reduce bees’ lifespan, causing entire hives to be wiped out.
Habitat Loss
In addition to the challenges brought on by disease and seasonal shifts, the changing weather is also causing bees to lose their habitats. As temperatures rise globally, these tiny insects aren’t migrating or establishing new populations. As Justin Worland from Time Magazine notes, research shows that in Europe and North America, “bees have lost a range of up to nearly 200 miles.” In the southern parts of their range, bees have not only lost 200 miles of their livable range, but they’re also dying from the heat.
Worland says studies on bees suggest that not all species of bees have the same ability to adjust to climatic changes as other insects like butterflies do. Although bees can move from one location to another, researchers suggest that migration may fail to occur because of the bees having difficulty setting up a new home.
Flowers Changing Scents
Another way in which climate change can affect pollination is by changing the scents of plants. Coline Jaworski, Benoît Geslin And Catherine Fernandez of The Conversation explain that bees rely heavily on floral scent and visual signs like the color or number of flowers to search for their food. Through memory, bees can recall the smell of a previously visited flower. What’s more, they say, bees are “even capable of distinguishing between the scents of plants that produce high- or low-sugar nectar, and flowers that do not contain any nectar at all.”
With recent changes in temperatures, however, bees have been having a hard time identifying flowers. When there is extreme heat or drought, plants also become stressed, resulting in the release of “defensive compounds.” These defensive compounds help preserve the plants from harm. Nevertheless, they also alter the flower’s scents, making it challenging for the bees to trace their food. Consequently, the shortage of food leads to the depletion of bee colonies.
So what can you do?
You and your property can help bees and their habitats in many ways. You can plant a bee garden to support pollinators in the backyard. Porch and window planters or vertical gardens can also provide valuable sources of food for these tiny insects.
Don’t rake up dead leaves and twigs in your yard: they provide habitats for bees, especially in the spring and fall. Leave some space for wildflowers to bloom. Finally, remember to leave a source of water for your little visitors.
In return, bees can continue their world-sustaining work (and as a bonus, provide the tantalizing honey you so love). If you’re feeling moved to support the bees in their work, you could also consider donating to the many institutions and programs conducting bee research and conservation worldwide.
Feature image: Michael Hodgins; Image 1: Johann Piber
