Pesticides are meant to be a helper to farmers and home gardeners – but they have had a devastating effect on the bees. These hard-working pollinators are key players in the survival of the ecosystem, but they’re under significant threat.
In the United States, annual bee losses have been estimated at 30% to 50% or more. Among native bees, one in four bee species is imperiled.
One of the primary causes of these bee deaths is the increasing use of pesticides on agricultural crops, residential lawns, and home gardens.
In this article, we’ll discuss exactly how pesticides put bees at risk and a few ways you can help protect the bee while taking care of your pest problems.
What’s Happening to Bees and Why It Matters
The devastation of the bee population is shocking, and the deaths can be linked to multiple causes: parasites, habitat loss, drought, air pollution, and stress caused by moving hives for agricultural use – as well as pesticide use. Scientists and conservation activists fear the extinction of some bee varieties in America.
Several bumblebee varieties are classified as imperiled by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service.
Others, including multiple varieties of the Hawaiian yellow-faced bee, the rusty patched bumble bee and Franklin’s bumble bee, have either been granted endangered status or have been submitted for endangered status.
Honey bees, while not endangered, have also declined significantly. From the 1940s to mid-2010s, the number of honey bee colonies dropped from 6 million to 2.5 million. The latest report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s annual honey bee survey, estimated 2.8 million to 2.9 million hives in 2022 after replacement and rehabilitation of lost hives.
However, the bee problem is not particular to the United States: Over the last 75 years, bee populations worldwide have declined.
Why Should You Care About Bees?
Without a robust bee population, America risks severe economic losses to the agriculture industry, food shortages and damage to the overall health of the planet. Why? Because bees are a major player in the survival of our ecosystem.
Without bees to pollinate, animals lose their food sources and habitats. Bees also play a leading role in our food supply, pollinating 90 commercial crops in the United States alone. That translates to one-third of the food we eat. Crops pollinated by bees worldwide are valued at $577 billion annually. In the U.S., pollinators are given credit for $20 billion in crops, according to EarthDay.org.
Did You Know
Crops pollinated by bees worldwide are valued at $577 billion annually. In the U.S., pollinators are given credit for $20 billion in crops.
Moreover, bees and other pollinators support 70% of all flowers and plants. Bees also play a role in the development of new medicines, prevention of soil erosion, and providing half of the world’s fibers, oils, and other raw materials, the environmental activist group Friends of the Earth reports.
How Pesticides Affect Bees
While the bee crisis is multi-faceted, pesticides are a significant threat. The environmental watchdog group Greenpeace reported that more than 150 chemical residues have been detected in bee pollen.
This can largely be attributed to the rise of commercial agriculture, which has brought about increased pesticide use. These chemicals, especially those in the neonicotinoid family, have been linked to bee deaths and severe weakening of the bee population.
The neonicotinoid family of pesticides, formulated by scientists at Bayer and Shell in the 1980s, are the most widely used insecticides in the world, according to the nonprofit Xerces Society, which is dedicated to invertebrate conservation.
Neonicotinoids are used on agricultural crops and in urban and suburban settings throughout the United States. While less dangerous to birds and mammals, this group of pesticides is toxic to bees and other pollinators, affecting their nervous systems. Sometimes referred to as neonics, this group of pesticides is chemically similar to nicotine.
Neonicotinoids-coated seed is planted in tens of millions of acres across the United States and Canada, and the pesticide has been detected in various bodies of water, from rivers, lakes, and streams to wetlands and even puddles. These pesticides can then be absorbed by plants, potentially exposing bees and other pollinators through contaminated pollen and nectar.
Key Fact
Neonicotinoids can remain potent for months or even years, allowing the risk to bees to persist long after the pesticide’s original intended use. Alarmingly, products approved for home garden usage may pose an even greater threat because they may be applied at rates greater than those approved for agricultural crops.
What Pesticides Can Do to Bees
There are numerous ways that neonicotinoids pose a risk to bees. Evidence shows the neonicotinoids can be immediately lethal when bees come in direct contact with pesticides while they forage in the fields as the pesticides are applied. The bees can die on the spot.
An even deadlier version of events occurs when a bee returns to the hive with contaminated nectar or pollen or with the pesticide on its body. A University of Georgia Bee Program article describes a gruesome scenario: “The main symptom of honey bee pesticide kill is large numbers of dead bees in front of the hives.”
While there has been no direct link between neonicotinoids and the phenomenon known as colony collapse disorder, a study by the Xerces Society suggests that the pesticides may leave the bees more susceptible to parasites and viruses, including the intestinal parasite Nosema, which has been linked to colony collapse disorder.
Not all encounters with neonicotinoids are deadly, but even if the bees live, the exposure can cause crippling effects in bees. The Xerces study cited problems with flight, navigation, sense of taste and delayed learning in honey bees, all of which can lead to poor foraging and lower hive productivity. Bumble bees also showed negative effects from neonicotinoids, including lower reproduction and survival rates, reduced colony survival and foraging activity, and lower queen production.
The use of many neonics was banned in the European Union in 2018, and some states in the U.S. are limiting the use of neonics out of concern for the bees.
12 Ways You Can Help Protect Bees from Pesticides
Fortunately, the threat pesticides pose to bees is something that everyone – from the farmer to the home gardener – can do something about by limiting or eliminating the use of pesticides. Here are a few ways you can play a part at home.
- Keep a bee garden. Try growing, coneflower, great blue lobelia, goldenrod, butterfly weed, milkweed, or columbine (find out how to grow Columbine flowers). These plants are bee magnets. Plant them in between your already established garden. Don’t have a yard? Consider planting a window garden or filling a few pots with bee-loving plants.
- Pick instead of spray. Hand-pick harmful insects off your plants each morning and toss them in a bucket of soapy water.
- Introduce helpful bugs to your garden. Not all insects are pests. Lady bugs, praying mantis, and lacewings will all keep the pest population down. Invite them in by planting yarrow, marigolds, cosmos, dill, angelica, cilantro, and basil.
- Keep your garden neat and tidy. Weeds and rotting produce are an invitation to pests. Fewer pests = less need for using pesticides.
- Call a pro. If you discover a hive or nest inside your home or in high-traffic outdoor areas, call a beekeeper for assistance in removing them rather than using pesticides.
- Report bee kills. The Environmental Protection Agency wants to know about bee deaths to help in making better policy decisions protecting pollinators. Access the form here.
- Treat plans at night. If you must use a pesticide, change the time of day you apply a treatment. Avoid treating plants during daylight hours when temperatures are above 55 degrees. Instead, apply any needed treatment at night when bees have returned to their hives or habitat.
- Consider the application method you use. Dusts and wettable powders are the most dangerous to honey bees. The particles adhere to the thousands of tiny hairs on a bee, allowing it to poison the hive. Solutions and emulsified concentrates dry quickly and do not leave a residue. Granulars applied to the soil can be problematic for native bees that nest in the ground but are not as dangerous to honey bees.
- Consider the ingredients in your treatment. Look for treatments that are less toxic and those that degrade more quickly. Newer products are now manufactured that lose their toxicity after a few hours rather than days or weeks.
- Check the weather. Avoid applying treatments during windy weather. The wind will spread the treatment more widely and pose a greater risk to bees.
- Look for pest control companies that offer eco-friendly products. Ask what chemicals are in their products to be sure they aren’t just paying lip service to bee-friendly services. If you’re a do-it-yourselfer, don’t be fooled by advertising claims and potential greenwashing. Check the back of the label to see what chemicals are listed.
- Skip the spring. Avoid applying pesticides while plants are in bloom and bees are actively foraging.
- Provide a freshwater source for bees and other pollinators. Place a few stones inside to give your bees a place to rest and quench their thirst. Change the water two or three times a week to avoid mosquitoes.
Organizations That Work to Save the Bees
If you want to help save the bees from pesticides, you’re not alone. The dropdown tabs below cover three national organizations taking part in this fight, as well.
Greenpeace is an independent international organization that raises public awareness regarding various environmental issues, including the bee crisis. It has championed the importance of bees through research and published reports and urging citizens to participate in grassroots protests against companies that use pesticides known to be harmful to pollinators.
Specifically, it advocates for the ban of seven pesticides dangerous to bees. It also urges people to write letters to elected officials voicing their concerns about threats to the bee population. Notably, Greenpeace does not accept money from governments or corporations to finance its work.
The Bee Conservancy has been working since 2009 to help save the worldwide bee population. Originally named the Honeybee Conservancy, the organization was renamed in 2020 to better reflect its mission to protect all bees.
The group focuses primarily on four things: teaching adults and children about the importance of bees, advocating for citizen participation in combating the bee crisis, providing scholarships for master beekeeper programs and creating natural bee habitats that have been distributed across the United States and Canada.
Planet Bee Foundation, originally formed by a beekeeping husband and wife team, provides educational programs on the importance of bees to schools and nonprofits across the United States and Canada. The K-12 programs are provided at no cost to students and teachers furthering foundation goals of inclusivity. Many of the programs are hands-on, offering children the opportunity to don protective gear and study bees in action through the foundation’s Adopt-A-Hive program.
