Question

1. What is honeybee “colony decline”?

2. What is honeybee Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD)?

3. Based on the information presented in the beginning of this case study, do you think the main characters are dealing with “colony decline” or CDD? Explain.

4. What kinds of agriculturally important plants are pollinated by honeybees?

5. What are some short- and long-term economic, social, and environmental repercussions of a widespread disappearance of honeybees?

• Economic

• Social

• Environmental

Answer 1

Number of honeybees in a colony get reduced, is said to be colony decline. Honeybee colony collapse disorder is a condition in which number of bees in a colony will become very less, because the worker bees will be vanished, due to some reasons, like use of pesticides, climate change(global warming), change in habitat, etc. Colony will be left with queen and nurse bees. Honeybees mainly pollinates plants with attractive, nectar and scent flowers, they pollinate plants like kiwi plant, cucumber plant, apple tree, etc.

• Honeybees disappearing wil reduce the pollination in plants, and farmers will face problems, because productivity of crops will decrease due to less pollination.
• We will face limited availability of nutritious foods like fruits, vegetables, it will badly affect our health.
• It will leads to the destruction of nature because, pollination will not takes place, result in lack of plant diversity. Small birds which depends bees for food, will face shortage of resources.