"Are Commercial Honeybees Making Wild Bees Sick?"

Question

If human-managed bees and bee-friendly flowers are acting as hotspots for pathogens, keeping more bees and 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.

But in some cases you might actually be increasing disease levels when you plant those flowers," said Sheila Colla, a conservation biologist at York University who was not involved in the study. "Maybe we need to have a [buffer] area without flowers to stop diseases from spreading to wild bees."

Nobody is suggesting we stop planting flowers altogether. "We know that habitat loss is already a big problem for bees," said Alger. Instead, she's now investigating if increasing plant diversity, or culling certain plants could help decrease disease transmission.

She added that beekeepers and farmers need to take a long, hard look at how they are managing bees.



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 easy worded sentences, state your inference and provide strong and thorough textual evidence from the excerpt to support the inference. (4 points)
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Answer 1

Inference: Future efforts to save bees may require a more cautious and informed approach to planting flowers and managing bee populations.

• The excerpt highlights that increasing the concentration of commercial bees may lead to the spread of pathogens, stating, “the more that bees are transported and concentrated... the more opportunities for diseases to spread.”
• It suggests that planting "bee-friendly" flowers might inadvertently increase disease levels, with Sheila Colla noting, “you might actually be increasing disease levels when you plant those flowers.”
• The need for a cooperative strategy is emphasized, as Alger states, “beekeepers and farmers need to take a long, hard look at how they are managing bees,” indicating that management practices will be crucial in future efforts.

Answer 2

put it in more easy words

Answer 3

Inference: In the future, saving bees might mean being careful about planting flowers and how we take care of bee populations.

• The passage says that moving and grouping commercial bees can help spread diseases: “the more that bees are transported and concentrated... the more opportunities for diseases to spread.”
• It mentions that planting flowers for bees could actually make disease problems worse: “you might actually be increasing disease levels when you plant those flowers.”
• Alger highlights that beekeepers and farmers need to rethink their bee management, suggesting it will be important for future efforts: “beekeepers and farmers need to take a long, hard look at how they are managing bees.”