The case of the vanishing honeybees - Emma Bryce

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In the past decade, the US honeybee population has been decreasing at an alarming and unprecedented rate. While this is obviously bad news for honeypots everywhere, bees also help feed us in a bigger way -- by pollinating our nation's crops. Emma Bryce investigates potential causes for this widespread colony collapse disorder.

Lesson by Emma Bryce, animation by Lillian Chan.

There was an environmental mystery afoot,

and it begins
with a seemingly trivial detail

that reveals a disaster
of global proportions.

One day, you notice that the honey
you slather on your morning toast

is more expensive.

Instead of switching to jam,

you investigate the reason
for the price hike.

What you find is shocking.

The number of domesticated
honeybees in the US

has been decreasing at an alarming rate.

This decline appears too big

to be explained by the usual causes
of bee death alone,

disease, parasites or starvation.

A typical crime-scene
has almost no adult bees left in the hive,

except, perhaps, a lonely queen
and a few other survivors.

It's full of untouched food stores
and a brood of unborn larvae,

suggesting that the adults vacated
without waiting for them to hatch.

But what's particularly eerie

is that there's no tell-tale mass
of dead or dying bees nearby.

Either they have forgotten
their way back to the hive

or they have simply disappeared.

These mysterious
disappearances aren't new.

Humans have been collecting
honey for centuries.

But it wasn't until European settlers
in the 1600's

introduced the subspecies Apis mellifera

that we domesticated bees.

Since the 19th century,

beekeepers have reported
occasional mass disappearances,

giving them enigmatic names

like disappearing disease,
spring dwindle disease

and autumn collapse.