The global stock of domesticated honey bees is growing slower than agricultural demand for pollination.

By M. Aizen, Lawrence D. Harder. Current Biology, 2009

1,082 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Subfields: Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics, Genetics, Insect Science

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/b316475f5442d1b4911c476b4bc1db0528cf5821

How researchers see this paper

The researchers whose trusted networks rank it highest, strongest advocate first. Every researcher gets a different order.

In Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics

In Genetics

In Insect Science

Citations in the corpus

Wild Pollinators Enhance Fruit Set of Crops Regardless of Honey Bee Abundance (2013, background): “Nor is it known whether increasing application of honey bees (9) compensates for losses of wild pollinators, or even promotes these losses.”
Conserving diversity and vitality for honey bee breeding (2010, background): “Between 1970 and 2007, the number of honey bee colonies in Europe gradually decreased from over 21 million to about 15.5 million (FAO, 2009; Aizen and Harder, 2009).”
The impact of honey bee colony quality on crop yield and farmers’ profit in apples and pears (2017, background): “Although the global stock of domesticated honey bee colonies (Apis mellifera) has increased worldwide during recent decades (Aizen and Harder, 2009), demand for animal pollination has increased at a much higher pace (Aizen et al.”
Biotic and Abiotic Factors Associated with Colonies Mortalities of Managed Honey Bee (Apis mellifera) (2019, background): “Although the number of managed beehives globally has increased by 45% since 1961, the proportion of bee-dependent pollinating crops has increased much more steeply—by 300% [24].”
Species richness of wild bees, but not the use of managed honeybees, increases fruit set of a pollinator-dependent crop (2015, background): “But as demand for pollinator-dependent crops increases, honeybees may not be able to meet pollination requirements (Aizen & Harder 2009; Breeze et al. 2014).”
Risk indicators affecting honeybee colony survival in Europe: one year of surveillance (2016, background): “…decline in the number of managed honeybee colonies in Europe are mainly in f luenced by soc ioeconomic fac to r s (Vanengelsdorp and Meixner 2010; Aizen and Harder 2009) and must not be confused with colony losses (meaning the death of honeybee colonies) over winter or during the season…”
Significance of Apoidea as Main Pollinators. Ecological and Economic Impact and Implications for Human Nutrition (2020, background): “Thus, the declines seem to be compensated by increases in the major honey-producing countries (Argentina, China, and Spain) [17].”
Massively Introduced Managed Species and Their Consequences for Plant–Pollinator Interactions (2017, background): “Indeed, the cultivated area of pollinator-dependent crops (i.e. Mass Flowering Crops—hereafter MFC) has strongly expanded in relation with the increase in their demand (Aizen and Harder, 2009), notably for human food supply (Eilers et al., 2011), but also for biofuels (Stanley and Stout, 2013).”
Pollination services in the UK: how important are honeybees? (2011, background): “Furthermore, although global honeybee hives numbers have grown by ~45% since 1961, the area of insect pollinated crops has grown by >300% in the same period, now accounting for 6.1% of global crop land (Aizen and Harder, 2009).”
Trends in beekeeping and honey bee colony losses in Latin America (2018, background): “Although slow increases in livestock and the stagnation of productivity in LA might be partly explained by colony losses, among other factors (see Aizen & Harder, 2009), these trends do not provide by itself information on the rate of colony losses at the country or region scale.”
Effects of neonicotinoids and fipronil on non-target invertebrates (2014, neutral): “Apart from direct biotic and abiotic factors, changes in honeybee populations also depend on the economic value of honeybees and thus on human effort (Aizen and Harder 2009; Mani et al. 2010).”
From research to action: Enhancing crop yield through wild pollinators (2014, background): “Moreover, during the past 50 years, the fraction of animal-pollinatordependent agriculture and the number of managed honey bee hives have increased 300% and 45%, respectively, and honey bees have suffered from major health problems such as colony collapse disorder (Aizen and Harder 2009).”
A national survey of managed honey bee 2013–2014 annual colony losses in the USA (2015, positive): “However, it is unclear if beekeepers will be able to sustain this level of annual loss and meet pollination demand while the acreage of pollinatordependent crops continues to increase faster than the honey bee population (Aizen et al. 2008; Aizen and Harder 2009).”