How the Tech Behind a COVID-19 Vaccine is Helping Save Bees

After more than a decade in the industry, commercial beekeeper Liana Teigen Moreno thought she knew what she was doing when it came to making honey. A hipster pixie with a platinum crew cut and bright blue eyes, Teigen tends to 800 beehives in northern Florida. Her experience at the University of Florida’s Honey Bee Research Lab in Gainesville taught her everything she needed to know about bee diseases, knowledge that came in handy late last year when she realized that an insidious parasite that she had first learned about working her way through college as a part-time beekeeper had decimated her hives—despite her best efforts. “I wasn’t quite thinking that I was immune, but I’d gotten a little cocky,” she confesses. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] She is not alone. American beekeepers lost nearly half their managed bee colonies this year, according to an annual bee survey released by the nonprofit research group Bee Informed Partnership on June 22. It’s a staggering blow for an industry that not only provides honey, but vital pollination services for nearly a third of the fruits and vegetables Americans eat, from blueberries to strawberries, peaches, melons and cucumbers. When it comes to agricultural animals, domesticated bees are as important to the U.S. food supply as cows, chickens and pigs, yet the losses continue to climb. This year’s 48% annual loss, covering the 2022-2023 winter season, is up from 2021-2022...
Source: TIME: Science - Category: Science Authors: Tags: Uncategorized climate climate change Climate Is Everything COVID-19 feature Food & Agriculture healthscienceclimate Londontime Source Type: news