"Are Commercial Honeybees Making Wild Bees Sick?"

Question

by Berly McCoy

Everyone wants to save the bees. But as populations decline every year, we may be saving them to death.

Human efforts to breed more of these insects in artificial beehives and plant more flowers may seem the obvious way to stave off heavy losses.

New research shows the answer is not that clear cut, because viruses may be spilling over from commercial honeybee colonies into wild bee populations, according to a study from the University of Vermont published Wednesday in PLOS One.Like honeybees, which are invaluable for agriculture, wild bumblebees also play a significant role in crop pollination. Though people are more familiar with honeybee die-offs — such as with colony collapse disorder — wild bumblebees have been struggling too. A handful of bumblebee species have declined by up to 96 percent in the U.S., according to the National Agricultural Library’s website.

The causes have been largely understudied, although pesticides, infectious disease and shrinking habitat due to climate change have been suspected, said Samantha Alger, an ecologist from the University of Vermont who led the new research.Filling in one piece of the puzzle, the study revealed wild bumblebees pick up more viruses the closer they forage to managed honeybee colonies. But if bumblebees don’t venture into the commercial hives, how are they picking up viruses?

Flowers have been suspected as reservoirs for bee viruses, but no researcher had linked virus deposits on flowers to bumblebee infections in the wild until this study. And the results could have implications for how we lend our inter-species help.

What evidence from the text best supports the analysis that human-raised honeybees may be responsible for harming wild bumblebee populations?

(1 point)
Responses

“A handful of bumblebee species have declined by up to 96 percent in the U.S., according to the National Agricultural Library’s website.”
“A handful of bumblebee species have declined by up to 96 percent in the U.S., according to the National Agricultural Library’s website.”

“Flowers have been suspected as reservoirs for bee viruses, but no researcher had linked virus deposits on flowers to bumblebee infections in the wild until this study.”
“Flowers have been suspected as reservoirs for bee viruses, but no researcher had linked virus deposits on flowers to bumblebee infections in the wild until this study.”

“Human efforts to breed more of these insects in artificial beehives and plant more flowers may seem the obvious way to stave off heavy losses.”
“Human efforts to breed more of these insects in artificial beehives and plant more flowers may seem the obvious way to stave off heavy losses.”

“Filling in one piece of the puzzle, the study revealed wild bumblebees pick up more viruses the closer they forage to managed honeybee colonies.”

Answer 1

The evidence from the text that best supports the analysis that human-raised honeybees may be responsible for harming wild bumblebee populations is:

“Filling in one piece of the puzzle, the study revealed wild bumblebees pick up more viruses the closer they forage to managed honeybee colonies.”

This statement directly links the proximity of wild bumblebees to commercial honeybee colonies with an increase in viral infections, suggesting a harmful impact of human-raised honeybees on wild bee populations.