Why Are Bee Populations Declining Around the World? An Entomologist Explains How We Can Help

Concern about honey bees, and the possibility of human extinction, has swept the nation. Marina Caillaud, Ph.D., a lecturer in the Department of Entomology at Cornell University’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, shares the facts about the state of bees in the U.S. and around the world in this episode of the Cornell Keynotes podcast from eCornell.

Her conversation with Marc Faris, an instructional designer for eCornell’s Bees and Us course, covers:

• Colony collapse disorder observed in 2006
• Causes of the decline in managed honey bee colonies in the U.S.
• Global increases in managed honey bee colonies, particularly in Asia
• Significance of pollination in our ecosystem
• Stressors on honey bee colonies: pests and parasites, pesticides and poor nutrition
• Diversity of bee species around the world, including 4,000 different types in the U.S.
• Endangerment of bumblebee species
• Effects of habitat loss on non-honey bee species
• Steps individuals can take to protect bees
• Proper removal of honey bees from houses

Learn more in the Bees and Us online course, co-authored by Caillaud, and in eight other beekeeping programs from eCornell.

Read recent news and research about bees:

• “Honeybees Invaded My House, and No One Would Help” (The New York Times)
• "450,000 honeybees have been occupying the walls of this home for 35 years. They just got rehomed" (CNN)
• Rusty Patched Bumble Bee (U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service)
• Pollinator Conservation Resource Center (Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation)
• Honey: Annual report of the number of colonies producing honey (U.S. Department of Agriculture)
• Honey Bee Colonies (U.S. Department of Agriculture)
• Managed Colonies Over Time (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations)
• “Worldwide occurrence records suggest a global decline in bee species richness” (One Earth, Volume 4, Issue 1 – ScienceDirect)
• “Global Consequences of Land Use” (Science, Volume 309, Issue 5734)

Read more about pollinator-friendly native plants in your region of the U.S.

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