Government injects big cash into bee research

Environment changes have been threatening mankind for the last several decades, but now bees and other small insects are feeling the effects of a polluted planet as well.

Recent studies report that there are now 12-15% less bees in Britain than in previous years due to a medical condition known as “colony collapse disorder”.

While the economic recession is on most people’s minds, the threat of adding bees to the endangered list should be a higher concern.

This is because bees and other small insects affected this year in Britain are responsible for pollinating over one third of the UK’s fruit and vegetable crops.

Thus, food production will also decrease this year as crops will not produce as many marketable food items as they have in the past.

Despite the fact that this report centres on the UK bee ecosystem, other major countries have also reported the decrease of bees in their countries including Greece, France, and the United States.

There are three contributing factors that scientists believe are the reason for the current bee shortage: a parasitic mite known as the Varraoa destructor, the continual climate change, and certain pesticides.

In January the UK government pledged to spend ten million pounds to fund research that will isolate what is causing the serious decline in the bee population.

Several other environmental sources such as the Welcome Trust, the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), and the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) have also raised approximately 6 million in funds to further the research efforts.

The focus of the research will centre on bees and other insects that are key components in providing pollination to agricultural crops.

Currently the UK has approximately a quarter of a million hives of which four-fifths are personally taken care of by beekeepers with small businesses.

Small beekeepers and environmentalists such as Peter Melchett are worried that the government will overlook pesticides as a killer which will make funding useless.

However the UK government has not shown any inclination to discount the effects of pesticides citing that the research would be focused on finding all of the causes of the sudden decline in bees.

In addition to providing pollination to food crops, bees are also responsible in the ecosystem for providing pollination to many flowers and maintain the order of wildlife.