Last winter, commercial beekeepers lost more than 60% of their colonies – their worst losses on record. We tend to blame bee losses on separate, singular threats: pests, pesticides, habitat loss or extreme weather. But we’ve been thinking about bee losses wrong. The real culprit is our industrial food system. Managed honeybees are in effect […]
Tag: pollinators
A New York Cemetery Was Hiding Over 5 Million Burrowing Bees, One of the World’s Largest Concentrations
At roughly 5.5 million, a colony of ground-nesting bees that scientists discovered under a New York cemetery may be one of the largest bee aggregations ever documented. Subsequent research showed that the bees have likely lived there for more than 100 years, thriving in the cemetery’s undisturbed sandy soil—an incredible discovery. Rachel Fordyce used to […]
Say no to pesticides, mix up your lawn – and six more ways to help bees to thrive
We know about honeybees and bumblebees, but most of the UK’s bees are neither: they’re solitary bees, loners who come in a dizzying range of sizes, colours and varieties – more than 240 species. Have you heard, for instance, of the hairy-footed flower bee? “They’re one of the first bees to emerge each year,” says Laura […]
Newly described ‘lucifer’ bee found visiting critically endangered plant in Australia
In 2019, researcher Kit Prendergast was surveying the insects visiting an incredibly rare plant in the Bremer Ranges of Western Australia when a bee grabbed her attention. Prendergast and her colleague dug deeper and found that the native bee, now named Megachile lucifer, is a new-to-science species, according to a recent study. The species name […]
Scientists to attempt to rear swallowtail butterflies from eggs frozen in nitrogen
Researchers are to attempt to rear swallowtail butterflies from eggs frozen in liquid nitrogen in a test to see whether cryopreservation could support the long-term conservation of Britain’s largest native species. In a groundbreaking project, researchers will freeze eggs of captive-bred European swallowtails in liquid nitrogen at -196C and attempt to rear butterflies from the […]
2,000 species at high risk of extinction from natural disasters, study finds
In the aftermath of Hurricane Maria’s assault on the Caribbean island of Dominica in 2017, researchers made a heartbreaking discovery: dead and dying hummingbirds scattered across the forest floor. Among them were purple-throated caribs (Eulampis jugularis), the specialized pollinators of the island’s Heliconia plants. This single storm threatened an evolutionary partnership millions of years in […]
Experts Identify Emerging Threats to Bees, From Wars to Microplastics and Light Pollution
United Nations World Bee Day is May 20, and a new report from Bee:wild — a science-led campaign to save bees and other pollinators worldwide — outlines the 12 biggest emerging threats to bees over the next five to 15 years. Among the emerging threats to pollinators identified by 10 leading experts in the report […]
UK bumblebee numbers fell to lowest on record in 2024, shows data
Figures show 2024 was the worst year for bumblebees in the UK since records began. Bumblebee numbers declined by almost a quarter compared with the 2010-2023 average, according to data from the Bumblebee Conservation Trust. The researchers said the drop was probably due to the cold and wet conditions in the UK last spring. According […]