This analysis focuses on what effects the decline of both domestic and wild bee populations has on the environment. It will analyze the 21st century-coined phenomenon known as “Colony Collapse Disorder,” and will investigate research methods that have improved numbers within bee populations over the last two decades. Within this study, the impacts and interactions between the Colony Collapse Disorder phenomenon and various environmental factors will be discussed, as well as the interactions between the four main spheres of the Earth (i.e., the biosphere, lithosphere, atmosphere, and hydrosphere). In so doing, this study will evidence how and why bee populations are declining, why that decline affects each Earth sphere, as well as how this condition could create both loophole and contagion effects. Finally, this analysis will also briefly touch upon NASA’s increasing involvement with replenishing the world’s bee populations, the agency’s monitoring of CO2 levels, various ecosystems, and other such relevant and ongoing research.
References
[1]
Sánchez-Bayo, F. and Wyckhuys, K.A.G. (2019) Worldwide Decline of the Entomofauna: A Review of Its Drivers. Biological Conservation, 232, 8-27. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0006320718313636 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2019.01.020
[2]
Leather, S.R. (2017) “Ecological Armageddon”—More Evidence for the Drastic Decline in Insect Numbers. Harper Adams University, Newport. https://doi.org/10.1111/aab.12410
[3]
Nieto, A., Roberts, S.P.M., Kemp, J., Rasmont, P., Kuhlmann, M., Criado, M.G., Biesmeijer, J.C., Bogusch, P., Dathe, H.H., De la Rua, P., De Meulemeester, T., Dehon, M., Alexandre, D., Ortiz-Sanchez, F.J., Lhomme, P., Pauly, A., Potts, S.G., Praz, C., Quaranta, M., Michez, D., et al. (2014) European Red List of Bees (European Commission, 2014). Publication Office of the European Union, Luxembourg. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/273849563_European_Red_List_of_Bees_Euro pean_Commission_2014
[4]
Koh, I., Lonsdorf, E.V., Williams, N.M., Brittain, C., Isaacs, R., Gibbs, J. and Ricketts, T.H. (2016) Modeling the Status, Trends, and Impacts of Wild Bee Abundance in the United States. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 113, 140-145. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26699460
[5]
Woodard, S.H., Federman, S., James, R.R., Danforth, B.N., Griswold, T.L., Inouye, D., McFrederick, Q.S., Morandin, L., Paul, D.L., Sellers, E., Strange, J.P., Vaughan, M., Williams, N.M., Branstetter, M.G., Burns, C.T., Cane, J., Cariveau, A.B., Cariveau, D.P., Childers, A., Wehling, W., et al. (2020) Towards a U.S. National Program for Monitoring Native Bees. Biological Conservation, 252, Article ID: 108821. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2020.108821 https://experts.illinois.edu/en/publications/towards-a-us-national-program-for-monitoring-native-bees
[6]
Cho, Y., Jeong, S., Lee, D., Kim, S.-W., Park, R.J., Gibson, L., Zheng, C. and Park, C.-R. (2021) Foraging Trip Duration of Honeybee Increases during a Poor Air Quality Episode and the Increase Persists Thereafter. Ecology and Evolution, 11, 1492-1500. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7882926 https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.7145
[7]
Williams, N.M. and Kremen, C. (2007) Resource Distributions among Habitats Determine Solitary Bee Offspring Production in a Mosaic Landscape. Ecological Applications: A Publication of the Ecological Society of America, 17, 910-921. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17494406 https://doi.org/10.1890/06-0269
[8]
Belsky, J. and Joshi, N.K. (2019) Impact of Biotic and Abiotic Stressors on Managed and Feral Bees. Insects, 10, Article No. 233. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31374933 https://doi.org/10.3390/insects10080233
[9]
Aizen, M.A., Aguiar, S., Biesmeijer, J.C., Garibaldi, L.A., Inouye, D.W., Jung, C., Martins, D.J., Medel, R., Morales, C.L., Ngo, H., Pauw, A., Paxton, R.J., Sáez, A. and Seymour, C.L. (2019) Global Agricultural Productivity Is Threatened by Increasing Pollinator Dependence without a Parallel Increase in Crop Diversification. Global Change Biology, 25, 3516-3527. https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.14736 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6852307
[10]
Bar, Y.M., Phillips, R. and Milo, R. (2018) The Biomass Distribution on Earth. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 115, 6506-6511. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29784790
[11]
Hallmann, C.A., Sorg, M., Jongejans, E., Siepel, H., Hofland, N., Schwan, H., Stenmans, W., Müller, A., Sumser, H., Hörren, T., Goulson, D. and de Kroon, H. (2017) More than 75 Percent Decline over 27 Years in Total Flying Insect Biomass in Protected Areas. PLOS ONE, 12, e0185809. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29045418 https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0185809
[12]
Virues-Contreras, P., Monjardin, L. and Valle-Cárdenas, B. (2020) International Cooperation in Adaptation to Climate Change: Foreign Agendas or Local Necessities? American Journal of Climate Change, 9, 480-505. https://doi.org/10.4236/ajcc.2020.94030
[13]
Gérard, M., Vanderplanck, M., Wood, T. and Michez, D. (2020) Global Warming and Plant-Pollinator Mismatches. Emerging Topics in Life Sciences, 4, 77-86. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7326340 https://doi.org/10.1042/ETLS20190139
[14]
Miller-Rushing, A.J., Høye, T.T., Inouye, D.W. and Post, E. (2010) The Effects of Phenological Mismatches on Demography. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological Sciences, 365, 3177-3186. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2981949 https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2010.0148
[15]
Nightingale, J.M., Esaias, W.E., Wolfe, R.E., Nickeson, J.E. and Ma, P.L.A. (2009) Assessing Honey Bee Equilibrium Range and Forage Supply Using Satelite-Derived Phenology. IGARSS 2008-2008 IEEE International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium, Boston, 7-11 July 2008, III-763-III-766. https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/4779460 https://doi.org/10.1109/IGARSS.2008.4779460
