The End of the Bee?

16juli2008
Source: vroegevogels.vara.nl
During the winter around ten percent of all bees dies. In the summertime bees increase again by this number. Usually. But during the last two years, the losses during the winter have been too great to overcome.
In the coastal provinces of the Netherlands losses could even be as high as forty percent. Beekeepers have rung the alarm. The bee is not only important for nature, but also for agriculture. The chair of the Dutch Beekeepers Association warns for negative consequences. Expert Tjeerd Blaquiere of the university of Wageningen does not believe in a mysterious disease but takes the case very seriously. He believes the causes for the death of the bees is very complex. The bees have been troubled by the varroa mite for a long time. But there is also a lot of agricultural pesticide and a decrease in the variety of plants. The combination of these factors may proof to be a fatal one.