Department of Entomology Penn State University's College of Agricultural Sciences

What's Behind the Mysterious Death and Disappearance of Honey Bees and What Impact is this Having on the Globe's Ecosystem

kcollins | May 27, 2011

Bees represent some of the most resilient, adaptable and enterprising insects on earth. Not only that, they pollinate about one-third of all the food we eat. So when honey bees began dying or disappearing at alarming rates in the U.S. and around the world more than four years ago, scientists such as Nifty Fifty Speaker Dennis vanEngelsdorp, as the acting Pennsylvania state apiarist (beekeeper) and one of the nation's most prominent advocates and researchers of bees, was naturally deeply concerned. "Bees and other pollinators are a barometer and referendum on the state of our environment,"…