Colonies in Collapse: What's Causing Massive Honeybee Die-Offs?

Research Penn State, 11/11/2008
This article is part one of a three-part in-depth series.

…As the single bee species maintained by the vast majority of beekeepers in the United States and Europe, Apis mellifera, the western honeybee, is the very essence of a keystone insect. The economic worth of this crucial honeybee — which pollinates over one hundred different fruit and vegetable crops in the United States, including oranges, apples and blueberries, as well as almond trees and animal food crops like clover — has been estimated at more than $14 billion. California’s almond orchards alone require 1.5 million hives to pollinate them, and yield over $2 billion worth of almonds. In Pennsylvania, State Agriculture Secretary Dennis Wolff has made it clear that “Honeybees are critical to Pennsylvania agriculture and to our state’s economy… We can’t afford to be lax in dealing with this problem.”…