Record Bee Colony Losses Spur Global Alarm
Colony Losses Reach Historic Highs
WORLD — Beekeepers around the globe are sounding the alarm over unprecedented colony losses. In the United States alone, commercial operations report losing as much as 62 percent of their hives in a single season—an historic high that industry groups warn could force many beekeeping businesses to close. “We’re facing challenges that threaten the survival of our entire industry,” says Patty Sundberg, president of the American Beekeeping Federation. Danielle Downey of the nonprofit Project Apis m. calls the winter of 2024–25 “the worst on record” for U.S. colonies. Without swift action, she warns, honey production will drop, pollination costs will rise, and the price of fruits, nuts and vegetables could climb at the grocery store.
Varroa Destructor: The Hive’s Deadliest Enemy
At the center of this crisis are tiny parasitic mites that invade honey-bee hives, drain the insects of vital nutrients, and spread deadly viruses. The most notorious villain is Varroa destructor, a sesame-seed-sized brown mite originally native to Asia. Since hitching a ride on western honey bees in the 1980s, Varroa has circled the planet and become what entomologists describe as “one of the greatest threats to bee health.” Left unchecked, an infestation can wipe out a hive in a single season.
Varroa’s life cycle is perfectly tuned to honey-bee biology. Adult female mites slip into brood cells just before the wax cap is sealed over a developing larva. Safe inside, the mites feed on the pupa’s fat body—an organ that functions like the bee’s liver and immune system—and lay several eggs. When the young worker or drone emerges, so do a new clutch of mites, ready to repeat the process. Meanwhile, adult mites ride nurse bees around the hive and cling to foragers that drift into neighboring colonies, spreading the scourge far and wide.
The damage is two-fold. First, feeding weakens the developing bees, shortening their life span and reducing their ability to forage. Second, Varroa acts like a dirty syringe, transmitting viruses such as deformed-wing virus, which leaves young bees unable to fly. Researchers have found that colonies with high mite loads can collapse within months, sometimes leaving piles of crawling, wing-twisted bees at the entrance.
How Beekeepers Are Fighting Back
Beekeepers have a toolkit of chemical “acaricides” (mite killers) to fight back—plastic strips infused with amitraz, or slow-release gels loaded with formic or oxalic acid. But mites develop resistance quickly, and residues can contaminate honey and wax. Many beekeepers now rotate treatments, combine organic acids with essential oils such as thymol, and adopt hive-management tricks like drone-brood trapping or screened bottom boards to knock mites off bees.
Tropilaelaps: An Even Faster‑Killing Mite
If Varroa weren’t bad enough, scientists are increasingly worried about a second genus of mites, Tropilaelaps. Native to Southeast Asia, Tropilaelaps mites are even smaller than Varroa and reproduce faster, producing new generations every six or seven days. They once parasitized only wild Asian honey bees, but two species—Tropilaelaps mercedesae and T. clareae—have now jumped to the European honey bee and are spreading across South and East Asia.
Unlike Varroa, Tropilaelaps can’t feed on adult bees; its mouthparts are too short to pierce the hard exoskeleton. That means it must constantly move from brood cell to brood cell, multiplying at breakneck speed. Some scientists predict Tropilaelaps could cause “more damage than Varroa” if it reaches North America or Europe. Australia, which discovered Varroa for the first time in 2022, has stepped up inspections at ports and mandated rigorous monitoring in beekeeping hot spots. U.S. officials, wary of repeating past mistakes, now test hive samples for Tropilaelaps DNA as part of a nationwide survey.
Food and Farm Economy at Risk
Honey bees do more than fill jars on breakfast tables; they are critical pollinators for roughly three-quarters of all crop species. Almond orchards in California, blueberry farms in Maine, and apple growers in Washington each rent thousands of bee colonies every spring. Altogether, pollination services in the United States alone are valued at more than $18 billion annually. When hives collapse, farmers scramble to secure replacement colonies or, in extreme cases, resort to labor-intensive hand-pollination.
The problem isn’t limited to North America. In Europe, beekeepers battle Varroa year-round, timing treatments for late summer so mites don’t rebound before winter. In Asia, both Varroa and Tropilaelaps plague commercial hives, threatening crops such as lychee and longan. Tropical regions in Africa and Latin America are uniquely vulnerable: coffee, cocoa and melons depend heavily on pollinators, and subsistence farmers have little cushion if yields decline.
Wild plants suffer too. Scientists warn that the drop in pollinator diversity—driven by mites, pesticides, habitat loss and climate change—could unravel entire ecosystems. Fewer bees mean fewer seeds for the next generation of flowering plants, which in turn feed birds and mammals. As one ecologist puts it, pollinators are “the keystone that holds food webs together.”
Integrated Pest Management and Breeding Breakthroughs
Because no single weapon works forever, experts advocate an integrated approach: combining chemical treatments with mechanical and biological controls, and—perhaps most important—breeding bees that fight back on their own.
Chemical rotation – Amitraz remains the workhorse acaricide in many countries, but resistance is emerging. Beekeepers are advised to alternate with formic-acid pads that penetrate capped brood, or with thymol-based products that vaporize in warm weather. Oxalic-acid dribbles, applied when colonies are brood-free (for example, during a late-autumn brood break), can deliver a quick knock-down of phoretic mites riding adult bees.
Hive-management tactics – Drone-brood trapping exploits Varroa’s preference for drone larvae. Beekeepers provide a dedicated frame of drone comb; once capped and packed with mites, the frame is removed and frozen. Screened bottom boards let fallen mites drop out of the hive instead of climbing back up. Dusting bees with powdered sugar encourages grooming, dislodging more mites.
Breeding better bees – A longer-term solution lies in the bees themselves. Russian honey-bee stock, imported from the Primorsky region where Varroa originated, exhibits twice the natural resistance of typical U.S. bees. Similarly, USDA scientists have developed “VSH” (Varroa-sensitive hygiene) lines that detect and remove mite-infested brood. Over time, these behaviors reduce mite populations without chemicals.
Emerging innovations – Cutting-edge research explores RNA interference: feeding bees strands of RNA that silence crucial mite genes, effectively vaccinating the hive. Early field trials cut Varroa levels by a third compared with untreated controls. Other labs are testing heat treatments that warm brood frames to temperatures lethal to mites but tolerable for bee larvae.
Climate, Policy & Monitoring Challenges
Protecting bees is hard enough in temperate zones, but climate change multiplies the challenge. Warmer winters allow mites to reproduce year-round; hotter summers can render some organic treatments ineffective. Increasingly, experts call for regional “mite forecasts” similar to weather reports, alerting beekeepers when conditions favor a population explosion.
Policy makers are taking notice. The U.S. Department of Agriculture funds annual surveys that track mite loads, virus prevalence and pesticide residues in thousands of colonies. The European Union requires integrated pest-management plans as part of beekeepers’ subsidy applications, nudging the industry toward sustainable practices. International working groups share data on emerging threats like Tropilaelaps to ensure early detection.
Still, meaningful progress hinges on everyday beekeepers. Regular monitoring—counting mites on sticky boards or washing samples of bees in alcohol—remains the cornerstone of control. Many hobbyists resist chemical treatments altogether, but experts caution that laissez-faire beekeeping can create “mite-bombs” that reinfect neighboring yards. Community-wide coordination, they argue, is vital.
Why Protecting Pollinators Matters
From backyard gardens to sprawling almond groves, honey bees pollinate a third of every bite we eat. With global demand for fruits, nuts and vegetables climbing, their services have never been more valuable—or more vulnerable. Varroa and Tropilaelaps mites exploit a biological loophole and spread like wildfire, but the tools to fight back are improving every year. Integrated pest-management plans, resistant bee strains and new biotechnologies offer hope that beekeepers can stay one step ahead.
For consumers, the message is simple: healthy bees mean affordable produce. Supporting local honey, planting pollinator-friendly flowers and backing research into sustainable beekeeping all help tip the balance in favor of the insects that keep food on our tables. As Dr. Downey puts it, “Pollinators are the invisible workforce of agriculture. Protecting them protects us all.”
–Jeremy WebbRecord Bee Colony Losses Spur Global Alarm
Colony Losses Reach Historic Highs
WORLD — Beekeepers around the globe are sounding the alarm over unprecedented colony losses. In the United States alone, commercial operations report losing as much as 62 percent of their hives in a single season—an historic high that industry groups warn could force many beekeeping businesses to close. “We’re facing challenges that threaten the survival of our entire industry,” says Patty Sundberg, president of the American Beekeeping Federation. Danielle Downey of the nonprofit Project Apis m. calls the winter of 2024–25 “the worst on record” for U.S. colonies. Without swift action, she warns, honey production will drop, pollination costs will rise, and the price of fruits, nuts and vegetables could climb at the grocery store.
Varroa Destructor: The Hive’s Deadliest Enemy
At the center of this crisis are tiny parasitic mites that invade honey-bee hives, drain the insects of vital nutrients, and spread deadly viruses. The most notorious villain is Varroa destructor, a sesame-seed-sized brown mite originally native to Asia. Since hitching a ride on western honey bees in the 1980s, Varroa has circled the planet and become what entomologists describe as “one of the greatest threats to bee health.” Left unchecked, an infestation can wipe out a hive in a single season.
Varroa’s life cycle is perfectly tuned to honey-bee biology. Adult female mites slip into brood cells just before the wax cap is sealed over a developing larva. Safe inside, the mites feed on the pupa’s fat body—an organ that functions like the bee’s liver and immune system—and lay several eggs. When the young worker or drone emerges, so do a new clutch of mites, ready to repeat the process. Meanwhile, adult mites ride nurse bees around the hive and cling to foragers that drift into neighboring colonies, spreading the scourge far and wide.
The damage is two-fold. First, feeding weakens the developing bees, shortening their life span and reducing their ability to forage. Second, Varroa acts like a dirty syringe, transmitting viruses such as deformed-wing virus, which leaves young bees unable to fly. Researchers have found that colonies with high mite loads can collapse within months, sometimes leaving piles of crawling, wing-twisted bees at the entrance.
How Beekeepers Are Fighting Back
Beekeepers have a toolkit of chemical “acaricides” (mite killers) to fight back—plastic strips infused with amitraz, or slow-release gels loaded with formic or oxalic acid. But mites develop resistance quickly, and residues can contaminate honey and wax. Many beekeepers now rotate treatments, combine organic acids with essential oils such as thymol, and adopt hive-management tricks like drone-brood trapping or screened bottom boards to knock mites off bees.
Tropilaelaps: An Even Faster‑Killing Mite
If Varroa weren’t bad enough, scientists are increasingly worried about a second genus of mites, Tropilaelaps. Native to Southeast Asia, Tropilaelaps mites are even smaller than Varroa and reproduce faster, producing new generations every six or seven days. They once parasitized only wild Asian honey bees, but two species—Tropilaelaps mercedesae and T. clareae—have now jumped to the European honey bee and are spreading across South and East Asia.
Unlike Varroa, Tropilaelaps can’t feed on adult bees; its mouthparts are too short to pierce the hard exoskeleton. That means it must constantly move from brood cell to brood cell, multiplying at breakneck speed. Some scientists predict Tropilaelaps could cause “more damage than Varroa” if it reaches North America or Europe. Australia, which discovered Varroa for the first time in 2022, has stepped up inspections at ports and mandated rigorous monitoring in beekeeping hot spots. U.S. officials, wary of repeating past mistakes, now test hive samples for Tropilaelaps DNA as part of a nationwide survey.
Food and Farm Economy at Risk
Honey bees do more than fill jars on breakfast tables; they are critical pollinators for roughly three-quarters of all crop species. Almond orchards in California, blueberry farms in Maine, and apple growers in Washington each rent thousands of bee colonies every spring. Altogether, pollination services in the United States alone are valued at more than $18 billion annually. When hives collapse, farmers scramble to secure replacement colonies or, in extreme cases, resort to labor-intensive hand-pollination.
The problem isn’t limited to North America. In Europe, beekeepers battle Varroa year-round, timing treatments for late summer so mites don’t rebound before winter. In Asia, both Varroa and Tropilaelaps plague commercial hives, threatening crops such as lychee and longan. Tropical regions in Africa and Latin America are uniquely vulnerable: coffee, cocoa and melons depend heavily on pollinators, and subsistence farmers have little cushion if yields decline.
Wild plants suffer too. Scientists warn that the drop in pollinator diversity—driven by mites, pesticides, habitat loss and climate change—could unravel entire ecosystems. Fewer bees mean fewer seeds for the next generation of flowering plants, which in turn feed birds and mammals. As one ecologist puts it, pollinators are “the keystone that holds food webs together.”
Integrated Pest Management and Breeding Breakthroughs
Because no single weapon works forever, experts advocate an integrated approach: combining chemical treatments with mechanical and biological controls, and—perhaps most important—breeding bees that fight back on their own.
Chemical rotation – Amitraz remains the workhorse acaricide in many countries, but resistance is emerging. Beekeepers are advised to alternate with formic-acid pads that penetrate capped brood, or with thymol-based products that vaporize in warm weather. Oxalic-acid dribbles, applied when colonies are brood-free (for example, during a late-autumn brood break), can deliver a quick knock-down of phoretic mites riding adult bees.
Hive-management tactics – Drone-brood trapping exploits Varroa’s preference for drone larvae. Beekeepers provide a dedicated frame of drone comb; once capped and packed with mites, the frame is removed and frozen. Screened bottom boards let fallen mites drop out of the hive instead of climbing back up. Dusting bees with powdered sugar encourages grooming, dislodging more mites.
Breeding better bees – A longer-term solution lies in the bees themselves. Russian honey-bee stock, imported from the Primorsky region where Varroa originated, exhibits twice the natural resistance of typical U.S. bees. Similarly, USDA scientists have developed “VSH” (Varroa-sensitive hygiene) lines that detect and remove mite-infested brood. Over time, these behaviors reduce mite populations without chemicals.
Emerging innovations – Cutting-edge research explores RNA interference: feeding bees strands of RNA that silence crucial mite genes, effectively vaccinating the hive. Early field trials cut Varroa levels by a third compared with untreated controls. Other labs are testing heat treatments that warm brood frames to temperatures lethal to mites but tolerable for bee larvae.
Climate, Policy & Monitoring Challenges
Protecting bees is hard enough in temperate zones, but climate change multiplies the challenge. Warmer winters allow mites to reproduce year-round; hotter summers can render some organic treatments ineffective. Increasingly, experts call for regional “mite forecasts” similar to weather reports, alerting beekeepers when conditions favor a population explosion.
Policy makers are taking notice. The U.S. Department of Agriculture funds annual surveys that track mite loads, virus prevalence and pesticide residues in thousands of colonies. The European Union requires integrated pest-management plans as part of beekeepers’ subsidy applications, nudging the industry toward sustainable practices. International working groups share data on emerging threats like Tropilaelaps to ensure early detection.
Still, meaningful progress hinges on everyday beekeepers. Regular monitoring—counting mites on sticky boards or washing samples of bees in alcohol—remains the cornerstone of control. Many hobbyists resist chemical treatments altogether, but experts caution that laissez-faire beekeeping can create “mite-bombs” that reinfect neighboring yards. Community-wide coordination, they argue, is vital.
Why Protecting Pollinators Matters
From backyard gardens to sprawling almond groves, honey bees pollinate a third of every bite we eat. With global demand for fruits, nuts and vegetables climbing, their services have never been more valuable—or more vulnerable. Varroa and Tropilaelaps mites exploit a biological loophole and spread like wildfire, but the tools to fight back are improving every year. Integrated pest-management plans, resistant bee strains and new biotechnologies offer hope that beekeepers can stay one step ahead.
For consumers, the message is simple: healthy bees mean affordable produce. Supporting local honey, planting pollinator-friendly flowers and backing research into sustainable beekeeping all help tip the balance in favor of the insects that keep food on our tables. As Dr. Downey puts it, “Pollinators are the invisible workforce of agriculture. Protecting them protects us all.”
–Jeremy Webb
