For several years, the Intergovernmental Science and Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) has been warning of sharp declines in honeybee and wild bee populations, which amount to 37%. nothing butin France, their mortality rate has reached peaks: 30%, against 5% in 1990.
Considered the custodians of biodiversity, bees nonetheless play a crucial role both in human nutrition (we owe them 84% of world crops destined for consumption) and in the conservation (or even in the very existence) of ecosystems. Because through foraging bees allow the reproduction of flowers and trees on which the animals feed.
The plague of the American plague
How to explain their progressive extinction? At the top of the list, human activity: harmful pesticides, used in certain intensive agricultural practices, monoculture, which limits pollination, but also the consequent climate change, with the rise in temperatures, the multiplication of droughts, floods and the interruption of the flowering seasons …
But man is not the only threat: there is also an extremely contagious disease that is decimating millions of beehives around the world. Its name: American foulbrood, caused by a bacterium that resists cold, heat and drought and remains contagious for more than 40 years in the open air… As this American beekeeper tells us, interviewed by our colleagues from FranceInfothe methods to get rid of it are therefore drastic: “The veterinary services are very strict and want to avoid any spread […] then we immediately burn the equipment, the bees “.
A vaccine to save bees
To respond to this scourge, an American start-up has developed the first insect vaccine. How does it work? No needles, no doses to renew: the vaccine is mixed with a sweet paste which each queen colony eats. “Any eggs it lays will be immune to disease. “, he explains to our colleagues from FranceInfo Dr. Joerg Mayer, professor of zoological medicine at the University of Georgia.
A valuable tool to stem the decline of pollinators and therefore hope to save part of our biodiversity.
Source: Madmoizelle
Mary Crossley is an author at “The Fashion Vibes”. She is a seasoned journalist who is dedicated to delivering the latest news to her readers. With a keen sense of what’s important, Mary covers a wide range of topics, from politics to lifestyle and everything in between.
