The heart of the American commercial honey bee industry is under threat from land use changes.
A U.S. Geological Survey study says the Northern Great Plains of North and South Dakota – which support more than 40% of U.S. commercial honey bee colonies, are quickly becoming less conducive to commercial beekeeping as a result of land-use changes.
The researchers say that conversion of pasture, conservation grasslands and bee-friendly cultivated crops to biofuel crops likely impact both managed and wild pollinators because it reduces forage availability and increases the use of chemicals that negatively affect pollinators and their ecosystem services.
Most of the commercial honey bee colonies that spend the summer in the Dakotas provide pollination services for crops such as almonds, melons, apples and cherries elsewhere in the U.S.
The USGS study says the Northern Great Plains have served as an unofficial refuge for commercial beekeepers because of their abundance of uncultivated pasture and rangelands, and cultivated agricultural crops such as alfalfa, sunflower and canola that provided forage for bees.
Source: Bee Culture Magazine, September 4, 2016