But biologists 'don't present the whole picture,' Guelph bee expert says
By Joseph Hall, The Star (Canada), 5/7/2009
A frightening buzz over the imminent demise of honeybees – and the disappearance of their critical pollinating prowess – is unfounded, according to a new Canadian-led study that shows their global numbers actually growing.
High-profile stories during the past three years detailing the mysterious decimation of thousands of bee keeper colonies had led to fears that the human food supply was being imperilled by a "pollination crisis," says the study, which appears today in the journal Current Biology.
"But the declines in the U.S.A., some European countries and the former U.S.S.R. are more than offset by large increases elsewhere, including Canada, Argentina, Spain and especially China," says University of Calgary biologist Lawrence Harder…
Friday, May 08, 2009
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2 comments:
This article neglects the major finding of the study, that agricultural need for honeybees is far outpacing the available supply. Go to the link and read the abstract.
This study says, "Although the primary cause of the accelerating increase of the pollinator dependence of commercial agriculture seems to be economic and political and not biological, the rapid expansion of cultivation of many pollinator-dependent crops has the potential to trigger future pollination problems for both these crops and native species in neighboring areas." That's a lot different than saying the human race is at jeopardy due to lack of pollination.
I for one applaude the authors for putting some good science and objectivity into what has become an outrageously emotional and often misleading story.
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