Scientists have discovered another way modern-day farming techniques are killing off bee populations.
published in Proceedings of the Royal Society B on Tuesday has found that the mass-flowering of single plant species is increasing the prevalence of bee populations infected with parasites.A sign marks a flower garden specifically grown to support bees and other pollinators in Massapequa, Long Island, N.Y., Aug. 25, 2017.
Researchers at the University of Oregon surveyed 1,509 bees in sunflower fields and non-crop flowering habitats in California's Central Valley, finding that when the crops flowered for a short period of time across a large space, the events can aggregate pollinator species together, which then results in increased rates of bees becoming infected with parasites as they come in contact with each other.
While in many ways the modification of landscapes is necessary to feed a growing population, Cohen described the mass-flowering crops as the"doorknobs of the bee world" as bees go from flower to flower to collect food amid their daily work. However, the fate of bees is not doomed, Cohen said. On fields where farmers who heeded the call to implement strips of perennial plants, bee aggregation was less likely to be associated with parasitism due to the increased diversity of flowers.A bee searches for pollen in a sunflower in Torrance, Calif., Aug. 17, 2011.
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