By: Dewey Caron
Every three of four living species on our planet is an insect. And several recent studies say they are in trouble. Oliver Millman, a journalist with the Guardian Newspaper (UK), documents the why and wherefor of their plight In The Insect Crisis The Fall of the Tiny Empires that Run the World. Norton ISBN 978-1-324-00659-6
Millman starts his third paragraph “…a torrent of recent findings have pointed to major declines in the abundance and species diversity of insects in places around the world.” He then documents studies to support this statement. For the majority of humans, most of who are adverse to “bugs,” that might be news to celebrate. As beekeepers, however, we know our beloved honey bees are suffering unsustainable annual colony losses (>40% per the BeeInformed survey). But the insect crises is more than just honey bees and pollinating insects. Millman thoroughly but interestingly weaves the insect apocalypse story.
If you are new to bees you will appreciate the coverage of Chapter 6, The Labour of Honeybees. In 28 pages, the longest chapter after a chapter discussion of pesticides, Millman discusses how almonds came to dominate California’s Central Valley and our beekeeping. At just under 1.2 million acres, U.S. growers produce 80% of the worldwide product. To do so, almond growers need honey bees at the rate of two colonies per acre. The “Superbowl of Beekeeping” sucks up 85% of all the available managed bee hives. All those colonies in one small area, early in the bee growth phrase, means extreme stress and is ideal for transmission of harmful pests and pathogens.
Chapter 6 also discusses CCD, its beginnings in 2006, and how this calamity was a turning point in governmental recognition and support for the honey bee. Why and how we need to aggressively fight mites to reduce their transmission of viruses that cause sudden losses to our managed colonies, is also thoroughly covered. But this chapter, and the other eight chapters, are more than just an accounting of our state of knowledge of how factors such as climate change, habitat loss, modern agriculture practices and other factors are reducing insect, including pollinator, populations. The author “talks” with knowledgeable authorities and his chapters populate a human perspective to the crises of bees and their relatives.
In the chapter on honey bees for example, he mentions his conversations with over a dozen beekeepers, bee scientists and specialists in the field. He includes individuals such Alex Zomcheck (EAS Divelbiss 2017 Award winner), Denise Qualls (an almond bee colony broker) and George Hansen (past president of American Beekeeping Federation (ABF), an Oregon commercial beekeeper and almond (and other crop) pollinator). The author recounts how he donned a bee suit to examine healthy bee hives at the Beltsville Bee Lab with Bee Scientist Jay Evans. They all help give a human voice to the story.
New beekeepers will also appreciate the chapter on Pesticides. Millman takes us, following along with Doug Tallamy, for a ride across the agricultural landscape to explain how alien and unsupportive the habitat is to butterflies and bees. He then continues to document studies that support how changing agriculture and its increasing reliance on pesticides is harming pollinators. This chapter, as well as all the others, includes documentation from peer reviewed publications, BBC news coverage and popular press stories. The honey bee chapter (which includes other bees such as bumble and mining bees) has 26 references for example to allow us to dig further into topics of particular interest.
My personal favorite, besides the bees, was Millman’s Chapter 7 on Monarch butterflies. We can easily follow his conversations with Art Shapiro, UC Davis Evolutionary biologist and world renowned butterfly expert. We quickly learn of the marvelous migratory habits of the Monarch. We even have an introduction to Cuauhtémoc Sáenz-Romero, as the author joins him to climb to the two mile high Oyamel fir forests of the Chincua sanctuary in central Mexico to view the clumped overwintering butterflies. A lofty adventure indeed, once one gets their breath.
In the words of May Berenbaum, renowned University of Illinois Entomologist, what we need is “an inaction plan.” Do we have time to sit back and let nature, with its tiny empires of insects, have a chance against our assault on them? If you love your bees, and can tolerate insects, this book will serve as a call to arms – time for an inaction plan is now.
