Don’t you want to know what’s happening to the bees? Don’t worry, we aren’t about to delve into a discussion of Shyamalan’s worst movie that wasn’t named The Last Airbender. Rather, we want to talk about what might be killing all the bees.
You’ve no doubt heard about the collapse of bee populations around the world. It’s gotten so bad that there are people who make a living transporting their bee colonies around the United States so they can pollinate crops in different areas. If you are aware of that, then you are also aware that bees play an essential role in the entire food chain. There is a very real chance that if bees go extinct, then we won’t be far behind. That’s why scientists have been working hard on trying to figure out just what is happening to the bees.
A recent study suggests a major contributor to the decline in bee population is soil pesticides. Yes, this might seem to be a ‘scientists confirm that water is wet’ situation. After all, it stands to reason that something designed to kill bugs is in fact killing bugs. So, if this is so obvious, why didn’t science already confirm that this was the case years ago?
This is where we get to learn a few things. Things I certainly didn’t know before. Most of our knowledge of bees is confined to honeybees and bumblebees. Apparently they are relatively tame and docile, making them easier to work with. However, there are around 20,000 species of bees in the world and most of them don’t even live in a hive. Most actually live separately in tiny underground nests.
One type of pesticide that is of particular concern is the neonicotinoids family. They mimic nicotine which as it turns out attacks an insect’s nervous system. This is another thing that should not be surprising. After all, it’s a pretty potent stimulant for humans. Now take that chemical and spray seeds with it and shove them in the ground. Now the chemical leaches into the ground, the same ground the bees make their nests in. Given what nicotine does to people, when you apply a similar substance to something as small as a bee, it’s basically nerve gas. The negative effects of this potent pesticide are so well known that it is all but banned in Europe starting back in 2019.
Yet, the chemical was being used back in the 1980s. Why did it take so long for people to recognize its harmful effects? Because it is used on the ground and those honey and bumblebees that we tend to study just don’t spend that much time there. They are usually buzzing around ruining your picnic. Yet, ground bees have been getting hammered and they play as big a role or bigger in doing the pollinating that is necessary for most of our food to grow.
The researchers who discovered this set up tunnels where they ‘farmed’ various plants, coating the seeds with neonicotinoids and introducing bees. The results were that there were 85% fewer nests, indicating many bees were not surviving or at least no longer had the drive to build their nests. This creates a problem in that the pesticides are used to make sure enough food is being grown. Yet, the pesticides may make it impossible for the food to grow at all in the long term. This is a dilemma that needs to be solved, and the sooner the better.
Solving the problem is something that is going to take a lot of data, data that could be acquired from farmers, bee keepers, and pesticide companies within the TARTLE data marketplace. With that data, people may be able to find a solution that protects the bees and the plants and by extension, us.
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Data and the Bees
We use data to identify and solve problems all the time. In truth, this is nothing new. When wheelwrights were making wagon wheels, they paid attention to what went into a wheel that lasted longer than another. How many spokes, what kind of wood to use, and whether or not it was worth putting a metal hoop around the wheel. The Roman Legions paid attention to the most effective shield formations and used that data to build a massive empire. Farmers learned that cross-pollinating different varieties of the same plants could create whole new varieties by promoting desired characteristics. They just needed the right mix of plants and bees to help in the process.
For a while now, there has been concern about the number of bees dying off around the world. Whole colonies have been collapsing. Already, the bee population has dropped sufficiently that some beekeepers are actually driving their colonies around to different farms to make sure the crops are pollinated. Given the role they play in the food chain – pollinating all sorts of flora to keep the bottom of the chain going – people have been looking feverishly to find the cause.
Researchers from Penn State’s Ecology Program recently made some headway in this area. A recent study looked at the combined effect of habitat loss and a changing climate on the bee population. Habitat loss is of course fairly obvious. The more people spread out, the less room there is for a natural bee colony. Especially in the big cities where there is little grass to be had, to say nothing of the lack of forests and fields full of flowers. A changing climate is naturally more difficult to quantify as one has to take into account a number of factors such as day-to-day weather and longer term cycles that exist both in the earth’s orbit and the sun’s sunspot cycle. However, it was found that the warmer winters and increased rains in the northeastern part of the United States had a definite negative effect on the bee population.
The researchers relied heavily on data from the United States Geological Survey in conjunction with spatial maps and predictive models to reach their conclusions. One of these conclusions is that different species of bees are affected by different kinds of environmental changes. One species may be heavily affected by sunlight, another by the amount of precipitation. So, what affected the bees more in general? Loss of habitat or climate?
Bees are pretty adaptable as it turns out. Unless you suddenly build a massive industrial complex where there was nothing before, the bees will work around it for the most part. However, the climate is tougher for them to handle. That’s because changes in rainfall and temperature don’t just affect the bees directly, they affect their food supply. If it is hot or cold enough to knock out a weaker bee colony, it’s also bad enough to knock out a lot of the flowers they fed on. That means another colony can’t just move in and take over. There is literally nothing to take over.
How will this research help us come up with solutions to the bee problem? It’s too early to say. Yet, these Penn State researchers have taken an important step in getting us to a solution. They identified the problem at hand and used data to better define it. With this new research others can pick up the baton and keep things moving in the right direction. That’s how things get done, by collecting, refining, and analyzing the data again and again until the solution to the problem finally becomes clear.
That’s why TARTLE puts so much emphasis on data privacy and sharing. In sharing our data to support important work like the above we are helping to solve problems that are bigger than any one of us, but collectively should be well within our grasp.
What’s your data worth?
Have you ever noticed how you stop and listen almost every time a bird sings? Even if you don’t stop, you still listen as you keep going. In fact, it might seem like you can’t help it. The truth is, you can’t. We’re literally genetically hardwired to pick up on the sound of birds. That and a rising or setting sun are things we can’t help but notice whenever we encounter them. Why might that be?
In the case of birds, we can hazard a guess or two. Birds of prey and scavengers let us know that there is likely food in the area. The birds themselves of course would have been a source of food back in the early days of humanity. Not to mention, the presence of a lot of birds means there aren’t a significant amount of predators around, meaning the area is safe. The sound of a bird also lets you know there is probably water nearby. Our ancestors may have also learned to associate the presence of many different kinds of birds with good farmland. A diversity of bird species means there is a diversity of other sorts of life in the area. Plants of different kinds provide homes as well as insects and small mammals to provide food for the birds. And lots of insects and plants means the soil is likely fertile. Those are just educated guesses though. One thing we do know for sure in the modern day is that the presence of birds correlates with human happiness.
How so? Well, on one level, it could be the birds themselves. Who doesn’t enjoy listening to the sound of a robin or nightingale? Or even just watching a hummingbird hovering outside the window? It certainly brings a little smile to my face. Or maybe it’s the fact that where there are birds, there are natural areas. If there are birds around there are trees, streams, flowers, and tons of other beautiful and relaxing things. About the only bird you hear in the city is a pigeon. And even there, people often sit on benches and throw bits of bread to attract the birds. We are literally happier wherever there are birds (except maybe seagulls, nobody likes seagulls). As for whether or not the correlation between happiness and birds is because of the birds themselves or because of the natural areas they tend to be in – it doesn’t matter much. The birds and the natural areas are almost always a package deal anyway.
We tend to create those natural areas wherever we can. For people with discretionary income, one of the things they like to do is get out into nature. Whether it’s camping, rock climbing or backpacking people will spend a lot of money just to go outside and enjoy nature. Even in the cities, wherever there is enough money to do so, parks are a feature, the most famous of them being Central Park which is practically a forest in New York City. We crave to renew our connection with nature, even if only for a little while.
One of the interesting side effects of spending time with the birds and the kinds of places that they like to live in is that it makes us more productive for the rest of our lives. Why? Simply because we are more relaxed, more at peace. After all, we are part of nature too, a fact we often forget. Getting out in it every now and then reminds us of that and recharges us in a way that no amount of modern entertainment can.
Just as data shows us that there is a correlation between happiness and birds, so too can looking at data from birds warn us of problems in the natural world. Even just superficially, birds tend to circle an area where another animal has recently died or is about to. They are amongst the first to flee from a forest fire. And of course, a drop in the diversity of bird species could be an advanced warning for the introduction of a plant disease or a new invasive species. Collecting and analyzing data on bird behavior could help devise better ways of managing and caring for the environment that we both share.
What’s your data worth?
