Decline in Bee Pollination

The pollination of plants and flowers by bees appears to be declining, a phenomenon that is likely linked to a drop in overall bee numbers as well as a mismatch in bee hibernation and plant flowering that seems to be linked to climate change, according to a new study. James Thomson, a University of Toronto evolutionary biologist who has studied bees and pollination in the Rocky Mountains for more than 20 years, reported a progressive decline in pollination over the years. He attributes it, in part, to declining bee populations possibly caused by colony collapse disorder. But the most important factor appears to be a “climate-driven mismatch between the times when flowers open and when bees emerge from hibernation,” Thomson said. His studies of pollination rates at a test plot in the Colorado Rockies show that the fruiting rates of plants and flowers are especially low early in the season, when flowers are opening but bees are still hibernating. “This is sobering because it suggests that pollination is vulnerable even in a relatively pristine environment that is free of pesticides and human disturbance but still subject to climate change,” said Thomson, whose study appeared in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B.