For a percentage of freshmen who have yet to visit Penn State’s arboretum, I would highly recommend it. I have gone often in my time here, whether it was simply as a spot to sit on a bench and hang out or to get away from college stress and take a breath of fresh air. The arboretum is overflowing with a wide variety of shrubs, bushes, flowers and trees, all beautifully arranged with paths zigzagging through. Recently, when I went to the arboretum, I got to thinking (after slightly shrieking and jumping out of a bee’s path) about the hype about the decrease in honeybee populations and if any cause has been pinpointed?

(Photo by student Nathan Raver)

Before even analyzing the decline in honeybee population, I thought it would be beneficial to briefly review why honeybees are so significant for humans and the agricultural process. If I could guess, I would say that I don’t think people really understand how much of an impact honeybees have- I know I had no idea before I started researching.

Obviously, honeybees are an absolute key component for the production of honey and wax. In 2014, the U.S Department of Agriculture documented a total of about 2,740,000 honey producing colonies, an increase of 4% from 2013. The average yield of honey from one colony, according to the National Agricultural Statistics Service, was 65.1 pounds, and the total production was 782,000 pounds in 2014, a drastic increase of 19% from 2013. An equally staggering statistic uncovered is that in 2014, honey production had a value of approximately $385,241,000. This is all money made thanks to honeybees just existing in nature as intended.

As if producing honey isn’t enough of a gift from honeybees, we can also thank them for pollination, which 52 of 115 leading global food commodities depend on, according to this source. If all pollinators were lost, agricultural production would actually decrease by 8%. Though many crops do not fully depend on pollination by honeybees, it can still play a factor in growth and quality, as well as impact world food security.

Now that we are aware of honeybees’ significance, we can take a look at the data of their decline in the United States. For example, in 1947, the U.S. hit a high of 5.9 million managed colonies after steady and steep growth for multiple years. The number of colonies can be seen to decrease drastically for the following year, and hit a low of 2.3 million in 2008, a 61% decline within 61 years. (All of this data is shown below, feel free to visit the site for further information.)

So what could possibly be causing such a huge decline in colony amount and population?

Some of the more dominant theories discussed and clarified by Dennis vanEngelsdorp and Marina Doris Meixner include diseases, parasites and predators, chemical substances, Genetically Modified Crops, genetics, bee forage, weather and climate. In earlier decades, the decline was often associated with a known mite called Varroa destructor that primarily feed on adult bees. More recently, however, the drastic decline has become more of an unknown phenomenon, and is referred to as Colony Collapse Disorder(CCD) due to its unknown cause. CCD is particularly interesting because it is literally the disappearance of bees, as explained in this article; despite a decline in the adult honey bee population, no dead bees could be discovered, whether in the hive or near it.

Even currently, scientists and researchers do not agree fully on what could cause such a rapid decline in honeybee population. I think this scenario can be very relatable to this course because it demonstrates how correlation does not equal causation and there is always the possibility of a third factor that has not even been considered or known yet. While it is never agreeable on the cause on the species, it is undoubtedly a very serious issue that humans should be paying attention to.