Why pollinator numbers are crashing, and the impact on SC?

It’s a common enough human impulse every summer when people are enjoying outdoor activities and are interrupted by

buzz of insect wings.

Thoughts of being stung or bitten may move hands to reach for something to swat or spray, seldom pausing to consider what role that insect plays in a healthy environment.

But the sharp population decline in recent years of crucial pollinators such as bees and butterflies, and the vital link they play in the health of food crops and flowering plants, is gaining public attention. The problem is especially evident this year as commercial honey bee populations have plummeted more than 60%.

The problem with mites

According to Pollinator Partnership, a national nonprofit dedicated to promoting the health of a variety of species crucial to food production and healthy ecosystems, pollinator populations have been declining for decades due to disease, habitat loss, and overuse or misuse of pesticides and other chemicals. 

This year the problem is particularly acute for U.S. honey bees due in large part to the varroa destructor mite, a tiny arachnid so suited to its prey it might fairly be called the honey bee’s nemesis.

Originating in Asia, the mite was unintentionally introduced to the U.S. in the 1980s, according to Ben Powell, head of Clemson University’s Cooperative Extension Apiculture and Pollinator program.

In the ensuing years, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, among others, has monitored the mites’ impact on honey bee populations and preliminary census results this year indicate a population decline of about 62%, Powell said.

Large, commercial beekeeping operations seem to be the hardest hit, but the impacts extend to smaller commercial and hobby apiarists, according to Tim Dover, co-owner of The Carolina Honey Bee Co. in Travelers Rest.

“(Varroa mites are) devastating to honey bee populations,” Dover said.

The wounds created by the mites in a bee’s exoskeleton make them more susceptible to infection to pathogens, and the combined work of mites and infections can kill the whole colony, according to Powell and Dover.

“The insects around us are like factory workers in our ecosystems. While one of them might be a bad actor in causing some problems, the vast majority of them are helping keep the system up and running.”—Ben Powell, head of Clemson University’s

Cooperative Extension Apiculture and Pollinator program

Powell said initial data this year indicates mites are developing a resistance to some of the treatments used to control them — somewhat similar to what has happened with the overuse of antibiotics producing resistance in many of the pathogens they are meant to combat.

The problem is more acute in large commercial operations, Powell said, because they maintain so many colonies and often rely on a single product. If the mites infesting those colonies are resistant to that product, then the mortality rate in those colonies will almost certainly be significantly higher.

“Because the vast majority of our bees are kept by a relatively small group of people, the fact that these mites may be becoming resistant to the treatments does not bode well for the future,” he said.

The problem with chemicals

Aside from varroa mites, the overuse or misuse of insecticides and other chemicals is one of the other greatest contributors to pollinator loss, Powell and Dover said.

Dover said one of the most common problems with insecticides is homeowners failing to follow instructions in the proper application of a pesticide. For instance, he said it’s all too common for someone to use a product meant to treat five acres on a residential property of a half-acre or less.

While he said he doesn’t begrudge anyone the right to control the population of pests like mosquitoes or biting ants in their homes or on their property, there’s a responsible way to use an appropriate product while being mindful of the potential harm to beneficial insects.

Powell said there also needs to be a much wider public awareness that most insects in the environment are actually beneficial.

“We’ve got to raise our tolerance of bugs,” he said. “But we manage other insects, these pest insects to a point where we completely sterilize the environment and make it unsuitable to all the other beneficial insects, too.”

Herbicides and fungicides can also pose a mortal threat to pollinators, especially to honey bees in their hives, Dover said. He said that while the products in themselves might not be a threat, bees returning to the hive can increase the accumulation of those chemicals until a toxic threshold is reached that can kill the entire colony.

How to help

There are ways to help, and the simplest step in that direction is being mindful that pollinators matter.

Part of it is understanding pollinators like honey bees are, in fact, essential to the production of such food staples such as vegetables, fruits and nuts. According to Powell, the 1.5 million acres of almonds being grown in California require almost all of the large-scale commercial bee producers in the U.S. to come together each year to ensure that single crop is pollinated.

In a South Carolina context, pollinators are crucial to the more than $50 billion generated annually by the agribusiness sector, which includes countless farms, orchards, forests and garden plots.

For Danny Bruce, owner of Red Hill Orchard in the heart of peach country in northern Spartanburg County, a healthy and abundant pollinator population is a matter of survival.

A farmer for decades, Bruce said the volume and variety of wild pollinator species he remembers from his childhood are largely gone. Instead, his moderate acreage now relies on the roughly 60 hives a local apiarist — a keeper of bees and hives — maintains on his property, to the benefit of both.

Beyond the symbiotic relationship farmers have with beekeepers, any property owner can take an active role in establishing and maintaining a landscape where pollinators can thrive.

“Habitat trumps toxins,” Powell said. “Better nutrition, better plant diversity in the landscape is going to be a net benefit.”

There are a wide variety of plants — including shrubs, trees, annuals or perennials — that are either native or introduced species that can greatly benefit pollinators, according to Josh Brockman, the chief grower and production manager at Martin Garden Center in Mauldin.

He tends to recommend perennials, as they provide pollinators sustenance year after year. Popular species include coreopsis, rudbeckia and the many varieties of asclepias tuberosa (butterfly bush).

Brockman said herbs like lavender, basil, chocolate mint, and alliums — like chives, garlic and onions — are also good, multipurpose plants that are good for pollinators.

Powell said popular but nutritionally useless landscape plants like boxwoods can be replaced with native holly species, which support a wide variety of pollinator species. He said people need to remember every insect they encounter serves a purpose.

Hands-on help

Beyond planting pollinator-friendly species around your home and exercising care when applying pesticides and herbicides, there’s a way to become more directly involved in supporting healthy honey bee populations.

When Jessica Barley and Kristin Fisher founded the Happy Hive Bee Co., they were looking for a way to introduce more people to the rewarding and sometimes challenging world of beekeeping.

As amateur apiarists they were constantly learning new things about bees and beekeeping and gaining greater appreciation for the role bees play in a healthy environment.

From this idea was born their Adopt-A-Hive program through which a person, organization or company can directly support the maintenance of a honey bee hive through an annual fee and learn firsthand about beekeeping.

“Honey bees are truly fascinating,” Barley said. “(Adopt-A-Hive) is about getting people to love the honey bee.”

For $500 a year, participants get:

• A custom-painted hive at the Happy Hive Bee Co. apiary

• Regular care and maintenance of the hive by the company’s team of apiarists

• Monthly digital updates with video and photos

• An annual visit to the hive through hosted “pollinator picnic” events

• A share of the hive’s honey at the end of the season

Barley said the program was designed for people who are interested in supporting healthy pollinators but who might not have the time or space to become beekeepers themselves.

The company also offers a Host-A-Hive program for those interested in even more direct support of honey bees.

For more information, visit happyhivebeecompany.com.