Farm Progress

Pollinator decline has list of prime suspects

Pollinator decline suspects: Pesticides, monocropping, stress caused by transporting bees; and threats such as nosema disease, viruses and mites.

August 7, 2012

1 Min Read

In this video clip, Maryann Frazier talks about the decline of pollinators and the prime suspects behind it. Some of these suspects include the use of pesticides, on both small and large scales, that destroy food sources for bees; agribusiness practices such as monocropping, in which the same single crop is planted year after year, eliminating the plant diversity pollinators need; stress caused by transporting the bees across country for commercial pollination needs; and threats such as nosema disease, viruses and mites. Maryann Frazier is Senior Extension Associate in the Department of Entomology at Penn State. This brief clip was excerpted from Frazier's Spring 2012 Research Unplugged talk titled "Disappearing Bees: An Update on the Search for Prime Suspects."

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