[Pollinator] U.K. Initiative Wants to Restore Buzz of Bees

[Ladadams at aol.com]

April 21, 2009
U.K. Initiative Wants to  Restore Buzz of Bees

 
 
The number of honey bees worldwide has fallen sharply in recent years, but  
the causes are still largely unknown. Today, the U.K. government announced 
it  will spend £10 million over 5 years to find out more about why the bees, 
and  other pollinators such as butterflies and moths, are disappearing.
 
The U.K.’s Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (_DEFRA_ 
(http://www.defra.gov.uk/) ) estimates that over the past 2 years,  British bee 
numbers have fallen by 10% to 15%. According to a _2008  report_ 
(https://secure.csl.gov.uk/beebase/public/Research/indexResearch.cfm)  funded by the 
department’s National Bee Unit, the number of honey bee  colonies fell by 
25.9% in 2008, an even more dramatic loss than the 11.7%  decline documented in 
2007. But numbers for other species are scarce. “We have  no hard data about 
the total amount of decline [across all pollinator species],”  says 
_Richard Pywell_ (http://www.ceh.ac.uk/DrRichardPywell.html) , an  ecologist from 
the U.K. Natural Environment Research Council (_NERC_ (http://www.nerc.ac.
uk/) ). “We hope the initiative will look at  this.”  
Bees and pollinator insects are vital for the pollination of many crops,  
including strawberries, tomatoes, apples, and legumes—crops estimated to be  
worth £200 million a year to the U.K. agricultural economy. A further drop 
in  pollinator numbers would mean these crops will become more difficult to 
grow,  which could lead to food shortages and price hikes. Without the 
pollinators,  “the state of our countryside would change entirely,” says Pywell. 
Many bee species are now threatened with extinction, including the great  
yellow bumblebee (_Bombus  distinguendus_ 
(http://www.ukbap.org.uk/UKPlans.aspx?ID=152) ) and the large garden bumblebee (_Bombus  ruderatus_ 
(http://www.ukbap.org.uk/UKPlans.aspx?ID=154) ). These are now listed as protected 
species under the U.K.’s  _Biodiversity Action Plan_ 
(http://www.ukbap.org.uk/default.aspx) —a  government-run effort to conserve the country’s species and 
habitats. 
The bee decline could be caused by a range of factors, says Pywell, largely 
 habitat loss. Other possible factors at play include climate change, 
disease, or  even chemicals in the environment. “It may be a combination of these 
factors  working together,” he speculates, and this synergy could be 
producing a steeper  decline in pollinator numbers than if each factor acted 
alone. 
The new U.K. initiative aims to develop and encourage interdisciplinary  
research teams to monitor the decline, and to quantify and understand what's  
causing it, said Pywell. Ultimately, the initiative hopes to lead to 
policies  and cost-effective solutions to stop numbers from falling further. Pywell 
also  believes that the U.K. initiative will help inform researchers around 
the world  who are also fighting the drop in numbers. 
The initiative includes funding from multiple research bodies across the  
United Kingdom, including DEFRA, NERC, The _Wellcome Trust_ 
(http://www.wellcome.ac.uk/) , and the _Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research  
Council_ (http://www.bbsrc.ac.uk/) . 
—Claire Thomas 
Related Items: 
_Science_ (http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/summary/317/5843/1304)   
article on colony collapse disorder in honey bees 
_Science_ (http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/summary/314/5798/397)   
article on NRC report on decline in North American pollinators 
Photo: Stephen Ausmus, USDA


 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 





Laurie Davies Adams
Executive  Director
Pollinator Partnership 
423 Washington Street, 5th  floor
San Francisco, CA  94111
415-362-1137
LDA at pollinator.org

_www.pollinator.org_ (http://www.pollinator.org/) 

_www.nappc.org_ (http://www.nappc.org/) 

National Pollinator Week is June 22-28, 2009. 
Beecome  involved at _www.pollinator.org_ (http://www.pollinator.org/) 
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