Remarks
Don’t Call It a Honeybee Comeback Yet
Colony collapse disorder isn’t the only threat causing long-term decline.
This article is for subscribers only.
Since hitting a low point in 2008, beset by the apocalyptic-sounding colony collapse disorder, America’s honeybees have been on the comeback trail. The number of colonies the U.S. Department of Agriculture counts is back up to almost 3 million, a level last seen in the early 1990s.
Beekeepers in the U.S. continue to lose about 40% of their colonies annually, though, according to the nonprofit Bee Informed Partnership. Its surveys, which date to 2006, don’t show a clear trend, but researchers have estimated that yearly losses before 2000 were much lower. Colony numbers can still rise in the face of such losses, because it takes only a couple of months to get one up and running, but all does not seem well with the bees.