Stephan Neal

Stephan Neal 03/28/19 English 12 ERWC Period 4 Bees Are Dying Bees are more important than everyone thinks. They pollinate our plants and flowering food crops such as peaches, nuts, and celery. Not only that, but bees also play a huge role in the humans diet. Even though these bees are good for us, they are dying in mass amounts due to poor environment conditions, chemicals, and parasites. The bees really started dying in large amounts in 2006. Many people believe that the main loss of the bees is CCD, Colony Collapse Disorder. For about a decade the bees have been dying off at an unexpected rate up to almost thirty percent every year. With the amount of bees loss, it causes the hives to eventually fall apart, causing a loss worth almost two billion dollars in the United States. While reading the article “Here’s Why All The Bees Are Dying” it showed that in 2015 scientists accumulated evidence of insecticides called neonicotinoids causing the death of bees.“These chemicals are widely used in commercial agriculture but can have lethal effects on bees.” (McDonnell). This chemical is one of the main chemicals killing off bees because it’s outside where many worker bees are pollinating flowers and foods. Worker bees are at risk almost all the time because they are outside 85% of the time. In the article “ What Is Killing America’s Bees and What Does It Mean for Us?” it states yet another chemical causing bee deaths, which are neurotoxins. “Through Neurotoxins, they mess with insect brains far more than those of mammals, and their application is a breeze.” (Morris). Neurotoxins affect a bees mind, which intensifies the neonicotinoids causing the bees that test positive for neonicotinoids to show a lot less cognitive function and makes it harder for them to navigate home.

While bees are exposed to chemicals outside they are also dealing with Colony Collapse Disorder on the inside. In the article “Impact of CCD on US Agriculture” it states that CCD is a main cause of killing 2.4 million bee colonies just in the winter of 2006. CCD doesn't just cause bees to die, but it’s also caused a 12 billion dollar effect on the economic agriculture. “The leviathan that is U.S. agriculture creates a huge demand for pollination” (PBS). We need pollination to survive, without the bees we won’t have as nearly as much pollen as we would we need to keep the plants alive and as well as certain crops. One massive loss of bees was in 2011, of 12 million bees because they had expired. Then in 2013 “37 million bees had died that month at a canadian bee operation” (McCoy). Many bees have died due to natural causes or environmental issues, or even chemicals. But other evidence is also showing that parasites and diseases are a cause of bad bee health. A disease-carrying parasite called The Varroa Mite is as well another reason on why bees are dying, Varroa mite bee hive infestations can happen as well. During a harvard study, they discovered that pesticides were causing the deaths in the honeybee population. “Pesticides might lead to impairment of honey bee neurological functions, specifically memory, cognition, or behavior” (CBS). Studies have also established that there is a link that was established between chemicals used on crops and CCD. The chemicals used on plants is suppose to chemically help them, but that is lethal to bees causing the chemical pollen to make its way onto the flowers and other plant foods pollen in which bees are exposed too. To conclude, bees are in danger a lot of the time they are doing their jobs. We should be trying to correct these to save the bees, so we can save the crops and some food. Bees are Chemically and Environmentally unsafe. These insects should not be dying off, they should be populating, and pollinating.

Bibliography

McDonnell, Tim. “Here’s Why All The Bees Are Dying”. Jul. 9, 2015. Accessed Mar. 26, 2019.

Morris, Alex. “What Is Killing America’s Bees and What Does It Mean for Us” Aug. 18, 2015. Accessed Mar. 25, 2019. “Impact of CCD on US Agriculture”. PBS, Culture. July 20, 2009. Accessed Mar. 27, 2019 McCoy, Terrance.

“ https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-

mix/wp/2014/07/10/the-surprisingly-simple-reason-millions-of-bees-aredying/?utm_term=.51370a7f968f”. Washington Post. July 10, 2014. Accessed Mar. 27, 2019