Posted on 11/14/2022 5:39:24 AM PST by algore
Honeybees live for half as long as they did 50 years ago, a new study has found.
Scientists at the University of Maryland kept bees in a controlled laboratory environment from the pupae up to the end of their life, and found they lived just 17.7 days on average.
For comparison, honeybees had an average lifespan of 34.4 days in the 1970s.
'Standardised protocols for rearing honey bees in the lab weren't really formalised until the 2000s, so you would think that lifespans would be longer or unchanged, because we're getting better at this,' said PhD student and lead author Anthony Nearman.
'Instead, we saw a doubling of mortality rate.'
The researchers found that these shorter lifespans resulted in increased colony loss and reduced honey production - two effects that have been noted by beekeepers in the US in recent decades
Previous studies have focused on environmental factors, like parasites, diseases, pesticides and food availability.
However, the fact that the scientists noted the shorter life span of bees that had never experienced these suggests that genetics play a part.
Mr Nearman said: 'We're isolating bees from the colony life just before they emerge as adults, so whatever is reducing their lifespan is happening before that point.
'This introduces the idea of a genetic component. If this hypothesis is right, it also points to a possible solution.
'If we can isolate some genetic factors, then maybe we can breed for longer-lived honey bees
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
Honeybees literally disappeared from my flower gardens this year. Could the recent installation of 5G towers in my region be a factor?
It’s all the Fructose! It’ll kill ya!..............
I smell Bill Gates.
The transgender bees have stopped working and are demanding welfare.
I never used to see dying honeybees.
Last I heard, there was an external parasite responsible.
Methinks its the influx of illegal alien bees from South America.
So we poison honeybees such that it affects future generations — and that gives us an excuse to franken-design bees now?!?
Bill Gates must be giggling with joy again.
Honey bees are a non native species. Their populations collapse evey so often.
I had plenty of native bees in my garden this year but honey bee numbers were down.
Hey, if progressives can control the climate of the entire earth, they can easily fix a honey bee problem. Nothing to worry about!
What shocked me is that the article didn’t try to blame “climate change!”
This doesn’t sound like a very controlled study!
What if the eggs are low in nutrients or affected by disease or pesticides or in some way by poor condition of adult bees? Ditto from egg to advanced pupae? Maybe there is something wrong with the protocols?
A genetic component? So they had good genes until the 1970s and now they all have bad genes?
Hmmm....my two hives totaled three swarms this year. The little buggers were building comb up through the inner cover!
I am sure the number of flowering plants, and the distance between them has declined over the past 50 years. This mean they have to work harder to hit the same number of flowers.
In addition, with pesticides and emissions in the air...the environment for the little ladies is tougher.
I would assume the bees used to pollenate fields are doing fine and getting fat. Wild hives....not so much.
I saw a lot of bumble bees in my garden, many more than honeybees. And I just planted 2 butterfly bushes, a panicle hydrangea, and lots of echinacea and gaillardia for them and the hummers.
Damned Spotted Lantern Fly-Moths have been around for months. Bring back the DDT!
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