Climate change may be decreasing pollination by disrupting the natural synchronization between the times when flowers open each spring and when bees emerge from their winter hibernation, according to new research.
Scientists, farmers and beekeepers have been worried for some time about the mysterious disappearance of honeybees due to colony collapse disorder as well as declining populations of other pollinators, especially given the importance of pollination to agriculture and the world food supply. Roughly one-third of all fruits and vegetables, not to mention most flowers, depend on bees and other pollinators for their very existence.
James Thomson, a biologist at the University of Toronto, conducted a 17-year pollination study on glacier lilies in the Colorado Rockies, an area relatively free of pesticides and human disturbance, but still subject to climate change. He routinely compared glacier lilies that he pollinated by hand with those he left to pollinate naturally. Over the years, he found a progressive decline in pollination among the flowers he left untreated.
Thomson said more research would be needed to see whether the trend was global or local, whether it would continue, and to confirm whether climate change was really the primary driver.
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I live in Santa Fe, NM – I’m not far from the area in Colorado referenced in your article. Up until this year, I’ve had a very healthy population of bees in my garden. This year, I counted less than 20 on a bush that it usually overrun with them. It was cold until late spring this year, but even after it warmed up and got quite hot during the summer months, the bees were significantly down in numbers I’m sorry to say.
I use no pesticides in my garden.
It’s a big problem in the UK and Europe as well Larry…