From the excerpt, it can be inferred that future efforts to save bee populations must focus not only on promoting bee-friendly flowers but also on addressing the health of both commercial and wild bees and their potential disease transmission. The text highlights that "keeping more bees and planting more flowers may be contributing to the steep losses in commercial pollinators," suggesting that simply increasing the number of managed bees and planting more floral resources may exacerbate health issues due to the spread of pathogens. Additionally, the mention that “it’s likely the transmission is going both ways” indicates that a holistic approach is necessary, which includes managing disease risks from both sides—commercial and wild bee populations. This implies that conservation strategies might need to incorporate pathogen monitoring and management practices alongside creating habitats for pollinators.
"Are Commercial Honeybees Making Wild Bees Sick?"
by Berly McCoy
If human-managed bees and bee-friendly flowers are acting as hotspots for pathogens, keeping more bees and planting more flowers may be contributing to the steep losses in commercial pollinators seen in the U.S. each year, as well as fueling the decline of wild bees. The more that bees are transported and concentrated for larger-scale pollination events, the more opportunities for diseases to spread. And it’s not just a one-way street. “It’s likely the transmission is going both ways,” said Scott McArt, a pollinator ecologist at Cornell University who was not involved in the study. Even if diseases in commercial bees are eliminated, new infections from the wild bee population, which are known to harbor pathogens, could spill back into managed populations, making disease eradication even tougher than it is now. From the urban gardener to the rural farmer, people are encouraged to grow “bee-friendly” plants. 1 of 2
Question: Use the article excerpt to answer the question. It is possible to infer from this excerpt something about future efforts to save the bees. What inference can you make? In 3–5 sentences, state your inference and provide strong and thorough textual evidence from the excerpt to support the inference.
1 answer