Honey, we shrunk the bee population.
In response to nationally declining populations, researchers at UF’s Entomology and Nematology Department are working to keep bees safer from harmful pesticides and noxious mites.
Liana Teigen, a research technician at UF’s entomology department, tracks bee colonies throughout the year and takes samples to see if the population numbers are changing.
“Right now, our losses are unsustainably high,” Teigen said. “Beekeepers just can’t make up their numbers.”
The biggest threat to the honeybee is the varroa mite, which carries a virus that weakens the bees’ immune systems, making them less productive. Pesticides can reduce the amount of mites, but if too much is used, there won’t be any bees left to protect, Teigen said. Pesticides used on the crops that bees pollinate may also contribute to lower honey yield.
To boost honey production, beekeepers like Teigen drip sugar solution into hives. This sugar spike can allow the bees to make an extra 50 pounds of honey.
The continuing population decline for honeybees is no surprise to Jeanette Klopchin, a 32-year-old research and extension technician at UF’s entomology department.
“The whole beekeeping phenomenon in the United States is, as a whole, imported,” she said.
Both honeybees and the crops they pollinate were transplanted here from Europe. Beekeeping was on the rise until the ‘80s, when chemical industries started making more pesticides and moved bees around for larger-scale farming, which exposed colonies to more chemicals in higher quantities.
Beekeepers are starting to use integrated pest management, which offers safer chemicals and nonchemical alternatives to traditional pest spraying, Klopchin said.
As the population of bees continues to shrink annually, Teigen said she knows it will take a lot of willing helpers and a love for the honeybees to make any kind of impact.
“I don’t think there’s going to be some kind of magical solution,” she said.
A version of this story ran on page 9 on 10/9/2013 under the headline "UF researchers work to help suffering honeybee population"
