'Last refuge & # 39; bees in the United States, in danger …



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  'Last refuge & # 39; bees in the United States, in danger ...

For more than a decade, bee populations and other pollinating insects have declined in the United States due to various problems

WASHINGTON. 19659004] bees face increasing difficulties in finding food in United States according to a new federal study.

The Great Northern Plains in the Dakotas and surrounding areas constitute the most important area for commercial beekeeping because more than one million settlements pass there. summer by giving a feast of pollen and nectar of wildflowers and other plants.

] However, from 2006 to 2016, more than half of the protected lands at just under one and a half kilometers of settlements were used for agricultural purposes, mainly crops such as soybean and corn , according to the main author. from the study, Clint Otto, from the United States Geological Survey. These crops do not provide food to bees .

For over a decade, bee populations and other pollinating insects have declined in the United States due to various problems, such as poor diet, pesticides , parasites and diseases. And external experts say that the study has highlighted another problem that affects the health of bees.

This area – which Otto called the "last refuge of bees in the United States" – lost about 1,630 square kilometers (629 square miles) of principal habitat for them, according to the study published Monday in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

And bees that have problems finding food are less likely to survive during the winter, Otto said. They may not be hungry, but they are not healthy either, he says.

John Miller, a 49-year-old commercial beekeeper in North Dakota, said the Dakotas and Minnesota were once the best place for bees. they are the least good. "

Miller, whose great-grandfather started the business in 1894, saw honey production decline from 54.4 kilograms (120 pounds) per hive 30 years ago. At 22.68 today, however, the price has gone up fivefold and beekeepers like Miller are also earning income by bringing their bees into California trucks to pollinate local crops, mostly almonds.

Farmers to keep wild parts of their land, which benefits bees who find food in pastures, flowers and weeds, Otto said, however, the conservation program limits the amount of land The government would pay and during the ethanol boom, farmers have warned that they could earn more with corn and soybeans.

Commercial beekeepers are struggling to find places to transport their bees when insects are not not in a Culture The American researcher Cox-Foster, Diana Cox-Foster, who did not participate in the study, said in an email

More than a third of the US commercial colonies spend the summer. in the Northern Great Plains. The area to the east of the Dakotas is too urbanized and the weather in the west is too dry, says Otto.

Bees are crucial pollinators for over 90% of the country's flower crops, such as apples, walnuts, avocados, broccoli, peaches, cranberries and cherries.

No bees, "said Otto," our plate of food has less variety. "

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