RESEARCH PAPER

Why are the bees disappearing in the United States?

Community College of Vermont

Introduction to Research Methods
Jordyn Lawrence

Research Paper

Jordyn Lawrence

Jordyn Lawrence
Eric Kaarla
Introduction to Research Methods
16 December 2015
Introduction
I am investigating the bee population decline. Why are the bees disappearing in the
United States? There seems to be many reasons that could be the cause of their disappearing act.
It is imperative that researchers find the cause. The bees are a huge significance in our food
sources for fruits and vegetables. Bees help the pollination cycles stay in motion. Without the
bees pollinating across the United States the human population could be faced with the terrible
circumstances. Furthermore, in this research there is evidence towards the causes that are
responsible for killing the bees creating a pressing issue to be a major concern to the beekeepers,
government agencies and other organizations. Humans face an imperative issue that needs
considerable change to maintain our need for healthy environments and lifestyles.

Colony Collapse Disorder

This particular disorder has been most significant in the considerable decline of the bee
population across the United States. Scientists and other researchers are still investigating exactly
why and what causes the bees to suddenly disappear from their hives and perish. There is
evidence that there may be more than one factor playing in to the destruction of the bees. An
example is a parasite that infects the hive, pesticide chemicals, and more common disturbances
that will be explored further in this paper. Over time scientists have found that when this occurs
and the colony collapses they find that there is an absence of mature bees. When the mature bees

Research Paper

Jordyn Lawrence

desert the hive, they leave behind the queen and immature bees to cater to her. The mature adult
bees fly away and perish sometimes just outside of the hive and other times disappear
completely. According to the TIME magazine, Bryan Walsh reports, Colony Collapse Disorder
was first reported in 2006, when commercial beekeepers began noticing that their adult worker
honeybees would suddenly flee the hive, ending up dead somewhere else and leading to the rapid
loss of the colony (Walsh, 2015). When describing rapid loss, it is a serious matter that should
not be accepted. Commercial beekeepers might expect to lose 10% of their colony, but over the
years mortality rates for commercial operations in the United States have ranged from 28%33%. Estimating 10 million beehives worth $200 each have been lost, costing a fortune for the
bee keepers (Walsh, 2015). This is a significant lost not only for the bee keepers but for the
health and survival of the bee population. As of current scientists are still in search for the main
cause of this disastrous collapse issue.

Agricultural Issues
There are of course more problems than a sudden collapsing colony. The Farming
chemicals that are being used in our Agriculture development have been speculated to be another
reason why the bees are disappearing in the United States. As farm lands spread herbicides,
pesticides and other chemicals to enhance crops the bees seem to be taking a considerable large
hit. Its well known that bees fly from one flower to the next for the pollen. However, the bees use
the pollen for a source of protein and they also use the nectar from the flowers. This is the bees
nutrition. They use pollen to survive and when the flowers and plants are being spread with the
chemicals, it is seeping through the plants barriers and into the source of food that the bees need.
Once the bees have ingested the contaminated proteins they may not make it back to their hives.

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Jordyn Lawrence

The bee tends to die off shortly after ingesting the poisons or it stays alive long enough to
transport the pollen home to the hive and risk exposure to the rest of the population in the hive.
So as the pesticides and herbicides continue to be spread out into the fields the bee population
decreases every year. In September 2015, the United States Court of Appeals ruled that the
widespread use of a class of insecticides known as neonicotinoids contained sulfoxaflor and is
toxic to the bees. A lawyer for the American Honey Producers Association said Its a complete
victory for the beekeepers we represent (Reuters, 2015). This chemical in particular has been
found in more products and has been classified as a harmful substance to the bee population.
Researchers have found evidence of the insecticide called neonicotinoids to be in the collapse
colony hives. The win for the American Honey Producers Association was the first step to
controlling the spread of toxic substances such as the neonicotinoids that harm bees across the
United States.

Education
Marla Spivak, a well distinguished professor at the University of Kansas who teaches
Entomology and the behaviors of bees, notes Since 2007, an average of 30% of all colonies
have died every winter in the United States (Spivak, 2015). That is a significant loss for over the
past several years. Marla Spivak continues research with her team she has created at the
University of Kansas. Her current Research has been studying the resins and what is called
propolis a substance that seems to be a protectant barrier in hives. She continues her research
on the causes of bee population decline but it is an ongoing research. She has been a huge
advocate for the bee population and establishing growth for bee health.

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Jordyn Lawrence

Global Movement
A solution some have found to help the pollination process is to truck bee colonies across
the United States. This action seems to help the crops on farms but not the bee population,
Global movement has been claimed to be another cause as to the disappearing of the bees.
Beekeeper programs across the United States harvest and breed bees then truck them across the
United States, state to state for the purpose of where the bees are needed most. Bees are
transported to warmer climates, locations that need pollinating such as sunflower fields, cotton
fields, lavender fields and much more. There are thousands of bees transported state to state
every year. When this happens many things can go wrong. For example, 15 bee hive boxes that
contain thousands of bees are loaded into a pick up truck and during travel rain makes the roads
slick. This causes the truck to lose traction and spin out of control and the truck hits the rails and
flips into the ditch. The bees hives are now scattered across the interstate and have perished.
However, these kinds of accidents happen but do not happen regularly when transporting.
Transporting bees is important even though there are risks. It is important to keep the bees
moving around through the states due to the decline of bee population the bees are not sticking to
their natural pollinating routines. This management is to help maintain the pollinating cycles and
to assist other states across the Unites States to improve their population rates every season. As
the climate changes so do the bees. This is the other reason why the bees are needed to be
transported to other states. In the Northeast Kingdom the winter season can be very harsh. Winter
is also the season that causes the most damage for the bee colonies. Moving the colonies from
the harsh winter air in the north will prevent some damage to the colonies. It is not a full proof
plan but it does help the bees in a small way.

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Jordyn Lawrence

Reports
This past year there has been a significant impact on the legal aspect to saving the bees.
The White House announced new initiatives back in June of 2015 to promote the health of
honeybees and other pollinators, which have suffered enormous losses in recent years. President
Obama created the pollinator health task force made of more than 14 federal agencies (Schwartz,
2015). Along with the assistance of these agencies and the task force there has been an
establishing program to save acreage specifically saved to only grow pollinator food plots. The
plots created would replace grass fields and instead have clover, sunflowers and other wildflower
plants that the bees and other pollinating populations could eat off of and survive. The task force
envisions adding or improving wildflower habitats on seven million acres of land, an area
slightly larger than Maryland, by 2020 (Wines, 2015). Some ideas on where to plant more wild
flower fields are in front of federal agencies, along highways, in other fields that contain only
grass. This is because we could use the space more effectively if we place wild flowers instead of
having grass lawn space that way it doesnt need to be mowed or cut down.

Challenges
As the bees decline there is so much that the humans could lose. As of current because of
the bee population decline prices of fruit and some vegetables have gone up due to the demand
but the bees are incapable to keeping up the pollination for those products. Bees are our
pollinators that bounce from flower to flower and pollinate cycles which help grow the
strawberry, citrus fruits, watermelon, apples, and cherry crops. Bees also pollinate our cucumber,
asparagus, carrots, pumpkin, onions, and broccoli crops. These are just some of the products we
could lose if the bees disappear completely. Along with the honey that the bees produce the

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Jordyn Lawrence

alfalfa seed, legume seed, peanuts, soybeans, cotton lint and seed, and the sunflowers would
perish if the bees fully disappear and become extinct. This is a huge problem to the bees,
humans, and the earth. More challenges are the issues the beekeepers face. The reoccurring issue
of Colony Collapse Disorder drops their colony count dramatically. When the beekeepers loss
their count of bees they loss their count of honey product to sell. They also have to replace the
bees they lost which can be costly. Many queen bees can be sold online but for the cost of
$25.00. If this continues beekeepers could loss their supply all together and not be able to afford
new supplies for the bees, the bees themselves and time spent trying to replace such costly
creatures.

Conclusion
In conclusion, the bee population is depleting drastically in the United States. Even with
the assistance from federal agencies and researchers on the development to figuring out why it is
happening and how to stop it bees are still disappearing. The research is ongoing and needs a
solution. It is in the upmost importance that humans figure out how to help the bees so that they
may survive and produce honey and pollinate the United States. The earth and all of its
inhabitants face huge impact if the bees were to disappear. There are other substances to use in
crop fields to improve growth and product count. There are flowers and bushes that could be
planted to benefit bee and other pollinator health. There are always solutions to problems that
need to be corrected. It just takes the initiative and motivation to survive. The bee populations
need lots of help if they are to survive in the era. Bees and their actions are vital to the humans
population. We need them just as much as they need us.

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Jordyn Lawrence

Works Cited

Hagopian, Joachim. "Death and Extinction of the Bees." Global Research. Centre for Research
on Globalization, 1 Nov. 2015. Web. 3 Dec. 2015. <http://www.globalresearch.ca/deathand-extinction-of-the-bees/5375684>.
Ingraham, Christopher. "Call off the Bee-pocalypse: U.S. Honeybee Colonies Hit a 20-year
High." Washington Post. The Washington Post, 23 July 2014. Web. 3 Dec. 2015.
<https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2015/07/23/call-off-the-beepocalypse-u-s-honeybee-colonies-hit-a-20-year-high/>.
Osborne, Hannah. "US Honey Bee Population Ravaged in past Year as 'troubling' Survey
Reveals Parasite Battle." International Business Times RSS. International Business Times,
13 May 2015. Web. 1 Dec. 2015. <http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/honey-bee-populationravaged-past-year-troubling-survey-reveals-parasite-battle-1501157>.
Schwartz, John. "Administration Takes Steps to Aid Bees." The New York Times. The New York
Times, 20 June 2014. Web. 20 Nov. 2015.
<http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/21/us/administration-takes-steps-to-aid-bees.html?
ref=topics>.
Walsh, Bryan. "Beepocalypse Redux: Honeybees Are Still Dying - and We Still Dont Know
Why | TIME.com." Science Space Beepocalypse Redux Honeybees Are Still Dying and
We Still Dont Know Why Comments. TIME Magazine, 7 May 2013. Web. 17 Oct. 2015.
<http://science.time.com/2013/05/07/beepocalypse-redux-honey-bees-are-still-dying-andwe-still-dont-know-why/>.

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Wines, Michael. "U.S. Details New Efforts to Support Ailing Bees." The New York Times. The
New York Times, 19 May 2015. Web. 10 Nov. 2015.
<http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/20/us/us-details-new-efforts-to-support-ailingbees.html?ref=topics>.
Spivak, Marla. "Why Bees Are Disappearing?" Why Bees Are Disappearing? TED Talks, June
2013. Web. 22 Oct. 2015.
Reuters. "Big Win for Beekeepers as Court Voids Insecticide." The New York Times. The New
York Times, 10 Sept. 2015. Web. 3 Dec. 2015.