by Amy Renee Toler, Indiana University
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – For the past decade, beekeepers in the U.S. and Europe have been reporting annual bee and hive losses that are considerably higher than what would be considered normal or sustainable.
U.S. beekeepers lost more than 40 percent of their colonies in 2014-15 — the second-highest loss since the Bee Informed Partnership, a partnership with the USDA and the National Institute of Food and Agriculture that studies bee declines in the U.S. — began recording losses nine years ago.
In Indiana, the total colony loss last year was 49 percent.
Ellie Symes, an Indiana University School of Public and Environmental Affairs graduate student, is one of a growing network of IU students, faculty and Bloomington residents who have taken up the plight of the bees.
“I explain it to people as humans and bees are totally in sync,” Symes said. “We need them for our survival, and they really need us because they have been groomed by us for hundreds of years. Who knows if they would still be on this planet without us?”
Check out the IU Newsroom’s multimedia project: Keeper of the Bees.
Through Symes, dozens of IU students have joined the Beekeeping Club at IU to help establish hives on the Bloomington campus and raise awareness of the ongoing demise of bee colonies.
Retired IU microbiology professor and longtime beekeeper George Hegeman has served as a mentor to students and continues to educate others in the area.
In the lab, IU researcher Irene Newton and her team continue to study the role that gut bacteria play in the honey bee’s metabolism, how commercial practices may or may not affect honey bee health and what this might mean for the big picture of honey bee colony loss.
Symes also inspired Julie James, career advisor and career development instructor at IU’s School of Public and Environmental Affairs, to install her own hives on the farm she lives on with partner Mark Blaney.
“Initially the goal was ‘I like beekeeping so let’s do this and it will help our garden,’” Symes said. “Then it really evolved. Colony collapse disorder became a hot issue in the news, so it became more of ‘Now I want to share my passion with other students and I want other students and other people in the community to realize how easy it is.’ This is an opportunity for anyone in Bloomington who wants to try it out and see if it’s a hobby they want to take on.”