Member News
By Michael Courtney - 11th December 2009
The declining population of bees in the UK could threaten the long term viability of agriculture, the all-party parliamentary group for bees heard earlier this week.
Rebecca Ross from the Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology (Ppost) was invited by the group to present her research in advance of her department's Postnote on insect pollination due for publication in mid January.
Ross addressed four key areas: the importance of pollination; the role of honeybees; threats to and decline of their population; and research required to address the issue.
Pollination allows plants to reproduce and bear fruit and seeds. While bees are famous for being pollinators, there are thousands of insects in the UK which contribute to the process.
Not all plant species in the UK rely solely on insect pollination for reproduction. However, many could begin to produce poor quality or low yields if insect pollinators continue to decline or indeed, go extinct.
If insect pollination were to cease, the UK could face an estimated £400m loss in agricultural production per year. The cost of then employing a man-made pollination system may be as high as £1.5bn per year.
Not only would this limit agriculture, but could create wider problems by affecting natural vegetation which provides flood control and carbon sequestration.
Honeybees, thought to be the most important pollinators for agriculture due to their tailor-made design and human management, have experienced an almost 50 per cent reduction in population since 1965.
Diseases, pests such as varroa, wetter weather and suboptimal bee keeping are contributing significantly to this decline.
Beekeepers, who play a vital role in the health and nutrition of honeybees, have also exhibited a long-term reduction of 50 per cent since the 1960s. This may correlate to the decline in honeybees as it is extremely difficult for them to thrive in the wild due to the varroa mite.
Improved techniques and education about husbandry could improve the health and long-term prospects of managed bees.
Presently, investment in research for honeybee health is uneven and areas such as viruses are getting greater attention than husbandry and varroa.
Ross concluded that greater research is required in bee genetics and disease resistance, causes of hive death, and the necessity of determining a "tipping point", the point at which more severe effects to agriculture and biodiversity will become evident.
One hope may be the Insect Pollinators Initiative, a five-year, £10m project looking at issues affecting insect pollination. Thirty-three applicants have until the end of January to produce full proposals in areas including environmental change, agriculture and land use and husbandry.
Dods Parliamentary Communications Ltd