Largest threat to honey bees in Canada? Bears

Honeycomb Enrichment

Contrary to what some headlines and marketing campaigns would lead us to believe, honey bee numbers in Canada are at record highs and trending higher.

At the end of 2016, there were a record 750 thousand colonies in the country, according to Statistics Canada.

“The state of the bee industry is quite strong right now,” says Gregory Sekulic, agronomy specialist with the Canola Council of Canada, in this interview.

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  • Researchers have recently identified nearly 400 native bee species in Canada, but are still working on establishing baseline data for tracking populations. Declines in population are usually associated with loss of habitat, notes Sekulic.
  • [W]hat is the single largest threat to bees? Bears, of course (*groan*). There are 250,000 bears in Canada, or about 1 for every 3 colonies…. Sekulic explains when bears invade bee hives, they’re not actually going for the honey. They want the brood — the larvae are a nutritious source of protein.

The GLP aggregated and excerpted this blog/article to reflect the diversity of news, opinion, and analysis. Read full, original post: Record Colony Numbers, Neonics, & the Single Largest Threat to Bees

For more background on the Genetic Literacy Project, read GLP on Wikipedia

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