"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
A)
Use the article excerpt to answer the
question.
What text evidence supports the statement
that human actions are harming bees? Select
the two correct answers.
(1 point)
The author claimed that when bees are
moved around to pollinate farms, there is
a greater chance for diseases to spread.
The author claimed beekeepers and
farmers need to think more deeply about
how they are managing bees.
A pollinator ecologist claimed disease
transmission goes both ways between
human-managed bees and wild bees.
A researcher claimed habitat loss is
already a major issue for bees.
A conservation biologist claimed that
planting bee-friendly flowers might
actually increase disease levels.
1 answer
The two correct answers that support the statement that human actions are harming bees are:
