Environmental alerts

Recent studies in theUnited Kingdom and the Netherlands have shown that bee diversity is down80 percent in the sites researched, and that "bee species are decliningor have become extinct in Britain." The studies also revealed that thenumbers of wildflowers that depend on pollination have dropped by 70percent. Which came first, the decline in wildflowers or the decline inpollinators, has yet to be determined. If bees continue to die off sowould the crops they support and with that would ensue major economicdisruption and possibly famine.In the US, bee keepers are experiencing unprecedented die offs of beessome losing as much as 80% of their colonies. Commercial beekeepers in22 states have reported deaths of tens of thousands of honeybeecolonies. So far the cause remains unexplained and somewhat mysterious.