Honey bees at risk for colony collapse from longer, warmer fall seasons, per WSU research

Original source (on modern site) | Article images: [1]

by KELLY KOOPMANS | KOMO News Anchor

Sun, May 19th 2024 at 7:00 AM

Updated Mon, May 20th 2024 at 5:16 AM

New research out of Washington State University finds honey bees are at risk for colony collapse due to longer warmer falls seasons. Researchers blame a warming climate for tricking bees into flying later into the season when they should be staying inside their hive. (Photo: WSU Bee Program)

SEATTLE (KOMO) — New research out of Washington State University finds honey bees are at risk for colony collapse due to longer warmer falls seasons.

Researchers blame a warming climate for tricking bees into flying later into the season when they should be staying inside their hive.

"When they're in there they're kind of in a hibernation state," said researcher Gloria Hoffman. "I mean, they're active but most importantly they're not aging."

The study, published in the Scientific Reports journal, focused on bees in the Pacific Northwest and found with warmer falls, the bees are flying later and more often, leading more to die. Study authors said when flight begins in the spring, there are fewer viable bees and the colonies can collapse.

Lead author Kirti Rajagopalan said even small amounts of warming in our climate can have an immediate impact.

"With climate change, we tend to focus on hot summers and things like that, but even small changes in temperatures in seasons that we don't usually pay attention to can exacerbate the issues," Rajagopalan said.

To fight back, some researchers are trying to create artificial winters of sorts by keeping bees in indoor refrigerators.

According to WSU, the researchers also simulated a potential mitigation, placing honey bee hive boxes in cold storage so the bees start to cluster earlier and save workers. For instance, in the Richland scenarios, by the end of the century, having bees in cold storage from October to April would boost the spring hive population to over 15,000 compared to around 5,000 to 8,000 if they were kept outside.

"Placing bees in these refrigerated storage facilities allows us to control the temperature so that we can keep them in a winterlike state regardless of what the outdoor temperatures are," WSU entomologist Brandon Hopkins said.