Honey bees produce less honey; a study from Pennsylvania State University provides clues on this subject

2024-02-21 08:31:13

Honey bees produce less honey; a study from Pennsylvania State University provides clues on this subject

AGDAILY Reporters *

Honey yields in the United States have been declining since the 1990s, with honey producers and scientists unsure why; but a new study by researchers at Pennsylvania State University has uncovered clues to the mystery of the missing honey.

Using five decades of data from across the United States, the researchers analyzed potential factors and mechanisms that might influence how many flowers grow in different regions and, by extension, how much honey produced by bees.

The study, recently published in the journal Environmental Research, found that changes in honey yields over time were linked to herbicide application and land use, including fewer conservation of lands that support pollinators. Annual weather anomalies also contributed to the evolution of yields.

The data, drawn from several open access databases, including those of the National Agricultural Statistics Service and the Farm Service Agency of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), included information such as the average honey yield per colony of bees, land use, herbicide use, climate, weather anomalies, and soil productivity in the continental United States.

Overall, the researchers found that climatic conditions and soil productivity – the ability of soil to support crops based on its physical, chemical and biological properties – were among the most important factors in estimating honey yields. States located in both warm and cold regions had higher honey yields when their soils were productive.

Eco-regional conditions of soil and climate set baseline levels of honey production, while changes in land use, herbicide use and weather conditions influence the amount produced over a given year, summarize the researchers.

Ms. Gabriela Quinlan, lead author of the study and a National Science Foundation postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Entomology and Pollinator Research Center at Pennsylvania State University, said: She was inspired to conduct the study following attending beekeeper meetings and conferences and repeatedly hearing the same comment: “We just can’t make honey like we used to.” »

According to Ms Quinlan, climate became increasingly linked to honey yields in the post-1992 data.

“It is unclear how climate change will continue to affect honey production, but our results can help predict these changes,” Ms Quinlan said. “For example, pollinator resources might decrease in the Great Plains as the climate warms and becomes more moderate, while resources might increase in the Mid-Atlantic as conditions become warmer. »

Ms. Christina Grozinger, co-author of the paper, Publius Vergilius Maro Professor of Entomology and director of the Pollinator Research Center, said scientists already knew that many factors influenced the abundance of flowering plants and the flower production, but that previous studies had only been conducted in one region of the United States.

“What’s really unique regarding this study is that we were able to take advantage of 50 years of data from across the continental United States,” she said. “This allowed us to study the role of soil, eco-regional climate conditions, annual weather variations, land use and land management practices on nectar availability for honey bees and other bees. pollinators. »

One of the biggest stressors for pollinators, researchers say, is a lack of flowers that provide enough pollen and nectar for them to feed on. Since different regions can support different flowering plants depending on climate and soil characteristics, they said there is growing interest in identifying regions and landscapes with enough flowers to make them hospitable to the bees.

“Many factors influence honey production, but one of the main ones is the availability of flowers,” she said. “Honey bees are very good foragers, they collect nectar from a wide variety of flowering plants and transform it into honey. If beekeepers are seeing less honey, does that mean there are fewer floral resources available to pollinators in general? And if so, what are the environmental factors causing this change? »

For Quinlan, one of the most interesting findings was the importance of soil productivity, which she says is an under-explored factor in analyzing the suitability of different landscapes for the needs of pollinators. While many studies have examined the importance of nutrients in soil, less work has been done on how soil characteristics such as temperature, texture, structure – properties that help determine productivity – affect pollinator resources.

The researchers also found that decreasing acreage devoted to soybeans and increasing acreage devoted to the Conservation Reserve Program, a national conservation program that has been shown to be pollinator-friendly, both had positive effects on soybean yields. Honey.

Herbicide application rates were also important in predicting honey yields, perhaps because removing flowering weeds can reduce the nutritional sources available to bees.

“Our results provide valuable information that can be applied to improve models and design experiments to enable beekeepers to predict honey yields, growers to understand pollination services, and land managers to support plant communities. -pollinators and ecosystem services,” Ms Quinlan said.

To learn more regarding land use, floral resources and weather conditions in specific areas, visit the Beescape tool on the Center for Pollinator Research website.

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* Source : Honey bees are making less honey; Penn State study has clues | AGDAILY

My note: Here is the figure from the scientific article relating to the influence of temperature and soil fertility:

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