Scientists have developed a new "vaccine" that can help bumblebees survive lethal doses of one class of pesticides.
Neonicotinoids, which have been outlawed in the European Union but are still legal in many U.S. states, damage bees' nervous systems, leading to paralysis and ultimately killing them. The Guardian reported on a new study, published in Nature Sustainability, that found that feeding bumblebees hydrogel microparticles via sugar water can increase survival by 30% in individuals that have been exposed to lethal doses of neonicotinoids, which are also known as neonics.
The Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education notes that bumblebees are important pollinators for more than 25 crops worldwide, including cranberries, zucchini, melons, tomatoes, alfalfa, sweet peppers, strawberries, blueberries, and sunflowers. According to the Xerces Society of Invertebrate Conservation, bumblebees also act as an important insurance policy to pollinate crops when honeybees are scarce.
However, a number of bumblebee species are on the decline in North America, Europe, and other parts of the globe. In addition to pesticides, threats to bumblers include habitat loss and warmer temperatures.
Meanwhile, a number of projects are working to turn things around for bumblebees. For instance, community volunteers in one part of Wisconsin are doing citizen science to help researchers identify and conserve rare bumblebees. A national meadow restoration project in the United Kingdom has helped to bring about the return of a rare bumblebee.
"Bees are crucial for crop pollination and agriculture and food security, so it's important for people to take bee health seriously," Julia Caserto, the lead author of the new bumblebee study, told the Guardian.
That said, a bee "vaccine" should only be one part of the solution when it comes to neonics, as "finding wild bees across the U.S. and feeding them microparticles seems both impractical and ridiculous," Environment America notes. "The infinitely better solution is to stop using neonics," according to the organization, which reports that 11 states already have restricted the sale of these insecticides to ordinary consumers.
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