Colony Collapse Disorder Research Paper

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Recommended: Honey bees and the environment

When people see the jet black and bright yellow coat and hear the terrifying buzz of bees, a fight or flight response occurs almost immediately. People are afraid of getting stung, creating an image in their heads that bees are inherently evil, completely disregarding the fact that bees are the main source of food production as they nourish our plants. If Earth did not have bees to pollinate our crops, people would stare down barren tables at dinner time. This may soon become a reality if the current downward population trend of bees continue. For years, Earth has been losing bees and the pollination that they provide. Colony Collapse Disorder is a condition that has led to the disappearance of 25% of the honeybee population since 1990 (Hackett, …show more content…

The Colony Collapse Disorder occurs when bee colonies begin to die off when the adult bees disappear from their hives (Oldroyd, B. P. 2017). Without the adult bees, there is an insufficient amount of bees to take care of the young bees. This may lead to the malnourishment of the young bees and inhibits the colony from reproducing and expanding. Imagine a kindergarten teacher leaving his or her class for an entire week. Without an adult present to maintain order and teach the young good habits, there would be chaos. This chaos in the colony forces the young adult bees to attempt to control the workforce at a young age, while it should be the adults’ responsibility, causing havoc (The Nature Conservatory …show more content…

Threats of bee extinction can come from urbanization, the extensive use of pesticides, and the spread of diseases (Sass, J. 2011). People do not realize that while they are trying to urbanize, they tear apart sources, such as flowers, for bees to retrieve pollen. Additionally, after a bee finishes almond pollination, it is important for them to feed on high quality protein. However, because of urbanization, a lot of these resources for the bees are being torn down, so they lose their source of pollen and their lives. Specifically, almond trees are becoming an increasing struggle for pollinating bees. These trees require 1.6 million honeybee hives to pollinate them, which is 60% of the honeybees in the country (Philpott 2014). This is an issue because almond trees do not contain the high quality protein and bees may need to relocate for protein due to urbanization and demolition of farmlands. Ironically, the farming industry is also leading to the decline of bees. Agricultural practices today rely heavily on the use of pesticides, to kill insects that are destroying their crops. However, it is crucial that farmers are aware of the fact that bee losses are an extremely common side effect of pesticides. Beekeepers are also unaware that when they use pesticides to keep out parasites and disease, they are actually significantly harming the bees. Lastly, Varroa mites spread

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