Bee Decline May Spell End of Some Fruits, Vegetables

Bee Decline May Spell End of Some Fruits, Vegetables

Bee Decline May Spell End of Some Fruits,
Vegetables
John Roach
for National Geographic News
October 5, 2004
Bees, via pollination, are responsible for 15 to
30 percent of the food
U.S. consumers eat. But in the last 50 years the
domesticated honeybee
population—which most farmers depend on for
pollination—has declined by
about 50 percent, scientists say.
Unless actions are taken to slow the decline of
domesticated honeybees
and augment their populations with wild bees,
many fruits and
vegetables may disappear from the food supply,
said Claire Kremen, a
conservation biologist at Princeton University in
New Jersey.