While you’re driving down the road, you notice that the grass is brown, the flowers are brown, and the crops are almost dead. You wonder how this could happened. It’s summer! You think about all the possible reasons this could happen. A drought, over farming, excessive sunlight. And finally, it hits you! When was the last time you’ve seen bees? Of course, bees are a nuisance and sometimes you just want to smash them. But, think twice before stepping on a little honey bee. All around the world, there are about 25,000 different types of bees. All these different bee species share an important trait. They all serve as pollinators of our agricultural world. Here’s how the pollination process works. All bees have stiff hairs and pockets on …show more content…
Losing bees. Beekeepers first started losing a dramatic number of bees in the United States in 2006. Healthy bees were abandoning their hives and never returning. Researchers are calling the mass disappearance Colony Collapse Disorder, and they estimate that nearly one third of all honey bee colonies in the U.S. have vanished. The amount of hives in the U.S. is now at its lowest point in the past 50 years. What’s causing colony collapse disorder? There are a few possible interwoven factors. Global warming, since it has caused flowers to bloom earlier and or later than normal. When the pollinators come out of hibernation, the flowers that prove food they need to start the season have already bloomed. Pesticide use on farms. The toxic pesticides that are meant to kill pests can also harm honey bees. Many pesticides banned by other countries because they harm bees are still available in the United States. Habitat loss brought about by development, abandoned farms, growing crops without leaving habitat for wildlife, and growing gardens and flowers that are not friendly to pollinators. And parasites such as harmful