As US beekeepers lose over half their colonies, experts fear for the future
Beekeepers lost more of their managed colonies in the past year since 2010 as rising temperatures continue to cause havoc
Sweat covers Isaac Barnes’s face under his beekeeper’s veil as he hauls boxes of honeycomb from his hives to his truck. It is a workout in what feels like a sauna as the late-morning June temperature rises.
Barnes was hot, but his bees were even hotter. Their body temperature can be up to 15 degrees Celsius higher than the air around them.
As global temperatures rise under climate change, scientists are trying to better understand the effects on managed and wild bees as they pollinate crops, gather nectar, make honey and reproduce.
They noticed that flying bees gathering nectar avoided overheating on the hottest days by using fewer but harder wing beats, according to a study published last year.
Scientists also say that bees – like people – may cope by retreating to a cooler environment, such as the shade or their nest.
“Just like we go into the shade, or we sweat or we might work less hard, bees actually do the exact same thing so they can avoid the heat,” said Jon Harrison, an environmental physiologist at Arizona State University in the US and one of the study’s authors.