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Hindustan Times
20 hours ago
- Science
- Hindustan Times
Shy, secretive world of bees
Incredible India houses a dazzling richness of bee diversity. Of the 20,925 species recognised globally, India hosts 755. Further, of the nine traditional honey bee species of the world, India is the home to four of them. Many of the world's prominent land masses such as North America, Central America, South America, Europe, Africa and Australia have only one honey bee species, the Western honey bee (Apis mellifera). These hard-working insects which play a foundational role in pollination and some yield nature's incredible amrit or nectar in the guise of honey. Despite India fortuitously sporting such an array of bees, these insects are under increasing threat from varied quarters. Apis cerena in a wall and (right) hollow in tree roots, PU. (Arun Bansal) The diversity of bee existence in India was underscored by observations by the naturalist, Arun Bansal, of these insects 'unusually' pouring out of dark hollows in the roots of a tree at the Panjab University's (PU) Dr PN Mehra Botanical Gardens and from a secretive hole in a reddish wall at the Teachers' Flats. The entrance to the cavity nests was small and thus easier guarded against predators such as ants, hornets, wasps, birds and humans. There were multiple hives within. These were not the typical, huge hives one associates hanging in the open from trees, underneath the eaves of buildings and ceilings of tall water tanks etc, and which are formed by the famous Rock honey bee (Apis dorsata). These big Rock bees are the ones infamous for delivering dreaded stings when disturbed. On the other hand, the honey bees coming out of the PU tree and wall cavity were smaller than the Rock bees. I sought their identification from professor Pardeep Chhuneja, an award-winning apiculture scientist and former head, department of entomology, Punjab Agricultural University (PAU), Ludhiana. 'It is the native species, Apis cerena cerena (Asian honey bee), in the tree roots and wall of PU. Along with the Apis mellifera (Western honey bee), which is an imported bee for apiculture, these two species are cavity-dwelling ones. These two species are the ones used for beekeeping in India,' Chhuneja told this writer. Scientific research has established that the Apis cerena can forage as far as 1.5-2.5 km from the hive. They gather nectar and pollen from the flowers. Nectar is turned into honey by these 'flying Lilliputians of the natural world' and is stored to provide energy in the guise of carbohydrates for adults and larvae of the bee colony. Honey-making is not an enterprise that nature has predestined for human lip-smacking but is actually for the benefit of the bees themselves. Some forest department employees criminally smoke out, destroy and displace hives of wild Rock honey bees under their protection in wildlife sanctuaries. They steal honey from the mouths of the hungry little ones to oblige senior officers/VIPs by delivering honey jars to official residences. Bees are remarkable, cooperative creatures but we know little of them more vaguely as pollinators. Honey bees are able to maintain temperatures with tolerable limits even when the outside temperatures range from freezing point to searing heat. This task is carried out by the fanning bees which stand at the 'doorway to their hive and produce a current of air by beating their wings, which serves to air condition the hive'. The Apis cerena (AC) resorts to various colony defensive behaviours to ward off predators, such as abdomen shaking, hissing (through wing vibrations) and group defence (including grasping, pulling, and biting, killing by overheating). 'Heat balling is a unique defence of AC to kill predatory hornets. Several hundred bees surround the hornet in a tight ball and vibrate their thoracic muscles to produce heat. The AC workers are able to raise the temperature inside the ball to an average of 46°C for approximately 20 minutes. This is high enough to kill the hornet inside, but not high enough to kill the bees, who can tolerate temperatures up to 48°C and 50°C,' states a research paper, Comparative Study of Apis cerena and Apis mellifera, by DR Katuwal, Alina Pokhrel and Dipak Khanal. vjswild2@
Hindustan Times
3 days ago
- Health
- Hindustan Times
That stinging feeling: Rising mercury, nectar shortages trigger bee attacks
Ravishankar Agarwal, a 70-year-old iron trader known for his punctuality and soft-spoken manner, stepped out of his car on an April morning in Kanpur for a morning walk. As he fell a few steps behind his companions near the tree-lined flank of the Cantonment area, a furious swarm of bees descended without warning. Agarwal's death, though sudden, was part of a quiet, unsettling pattern that has emerged across India in recent months. In just the last three months, bee attacks have surged and three deaths have been reported in Uttar Pradesh. Two of the deaths, including Agarwal's, are from Kanpur. The month of May alone brought at least six separate attacks across the state. Among the injured were two Indian Administrative Service officers, and a number of state police services officers in Lalitpur, Bundelkhand. A number of trainee forest guards in Mirzapur in eastern Uttar Pradesh landed in hospital because of the swarm in May. The bees, it seems, are not distinguishing between farmer or official, morning walker or forester. The pattern has become so alarming that the Uttar Pradesh government has now proposed adding bee attacks to its list of recognised disasters. In a recent meeting chaired by the state's chief secretary, it was proposed that victims of such attacks would be eligible for compensation under disaster relief provisions—up to ₹4 lakh in the case of death. According to the proposal, bee attacks will now be treated alongside incidents involving wild animal encounters and house collapses. Scientists, who study bee behaviour, see the recent aggression not as randomness, but as an ecological warning. The surge in attacks is directly linked to environmental stress, according to Dr Ankit Upadhyaya, an entomologist at the Chandra Shekhar Azad University of Agriculture and Technology, Kanpur. 'Bees are struggling to find food,' he explained. 'The flowering cycle has been severely disrupted by soaring temperatures and erratic rainfall. With fewer blooms, bees face nectar shortages that leave colonies on edge—starved, hypersensitive and primed for defense,' he said. The resulting aggression, he noted, is a stressed reaction to scarcity. When hungry hives are disturbed—by pedestrians, by traffic, by construction and by birds – they respond out of instinct for survival. In Kanpur, as in many urban and rural ecosystems, the bees are not just attacking, they're reacting. The scientists, who work with bees daily in controlled settings, said the signs of distress are not abstract theories but observable shifts. 'We're dealing with domesticated species here—Apis mellifera and Apis cerana—and even they're showing agitation,' said Dr. Upadhaya, who supervises student training at apiary sites in Kanpur. 'Normally, these bees are docile and don't attack. But with the rise in temperatures, they react sharply, especially during feeding. When we offer sugar concentrate, they sometimes swarm aggressively at first, then settle. That spike in hostility wasn't typical before,' he said. The behaviour is consistent in the field, Upadhyaya added, suggesting that environmental stress is overriding their domesticated temperament. 'Bees are under pressure—and like any species, they adapt under pressure,' explained Dr Akhilesh Singh, an associate professor at Rani Laxmi Bai Central University for Agriculture in Jhansi, who has studied bee behavior extensively across Nagaland and Bundelkhand. 'India hosts four main types of honeybees, but it's Apis dorsata and Apis florea that are inherently more aggressive. Dorsata, in particular, has a strong defensive instinct. It doesn't hesitate—it retaliates, and once provoked, the colony doesn't stop.' What makes Apis dorsata especially formidable, Singh said, is its use of biochemical signaling during an attack. 'Each sting releases an alarm pheromone—a scent trail that tells the rest of the colony to join in. It's not just one bee defending—it's a cascade.' In such cases, the initial sting isn't the end of the event; it's the beginning of escalation. Scientists point out that as food becomes scarce, bees are now swarming more often and covering greater distances than before. 'Bees usually forage within a three-kilometre radius of their hive,' explained Dr Upadhaya. 'But when flowers are fewer and nectar runs low, they expand their search—and that increases the chances of encounters with people,' he said. In many recent cases, the bees weren't defending a hive—they were in transit, unsettled, scanning for food. When hungry swarms feel threatened, even by accident, they respond with immediate aggression. The incidents in Lalitpur and Sonbhadra, where multiple people were stung, are stark reminders of this pattern. 'You'll notice many of these attacks are happening in areas that are less crowded,' he added. 'That's because the bees are migrating away from depleted zones and passing through quieter, more rural spaces where their movement isn't noticed until it's too late.' In east UP's Chandauli, a team of engineers came under attack during routine construction. 'Their equipment was causing 'kampan'—tremors or vibrations—which bees are extremely sensitive to,' said Dr Singh. 'To a stressed swarm, even the sound or shake of a drill can feel like a threat,' he said. Researches have looked at how rising temperatures affect bees—their flight, behaviour and ability to find food—but scientists say much more needs to be studied, especially in India. 'We know heat makes bees more restless. It affects how they fly, how active they are, and how well they can gather nectar,' said Dr Akhilesh Singh. 'But we don't fully understand what happens when this heat stress continues over time—especially in noisy, crowded cities where their natural habitats are already shrinking.' Most of the current studies, he said, come from colder countries where bees face different conditions. 'In India, bees live in much hotter and more unstable environments. Their reactions may be very different—not just stronger, but completely different in nature,' Singh said. Both he and Dr Upadhaya agreed that India needs long-term research focused on local bee species, across different regions and seasons. 'We're noticing changes, but to understand them clearly, we need more detailed studies. Right now, we're seeing warning signs. What we need is a clearer picture of what's really happening.' Dr SN Sunil Pandey, a senior weather scientist at the CSA University, said this year's heat began much earlier than usual. 'In March, April, and May, temperatures were already six to eight degrees above normal,' he explained. 'Even when the daytime heat dropped a little later, it stayed high for most of the day. didn't get cooler like they usually do.' This constant heat, scientists said, has added to the stress on bees and may be one of the reasons why they've become more aggressive. The impact of heat is showing in flower fields too. CP Awasthi, district horticulture officer of Kannauj, a region known for using flowers to make itr (traditional perfume), said the rising temperatures have clearly hurt flower production. 'There's definitely been a drop in flower yield,' he said. 'Nectar production is down, and the pollination process has also been affected.' Scientists at the Indian Institute of Pulses Research, though not officially allowed to speak to the media, echoed this concern. They said bees play a crucial role in pollination, and that role is being disrupted. 'Bees have their own way to cool down—they buzz their wings 1,200 to 1,300 times per minute,' a researcher explained. 'But with constant heat in the air, even that coping mechanism is starting to fail.' Amid growing concern, scientists are also offering clear advice to the public—especially those venturing into forested or semi-rural areas. 'Avoid wearing strong perfumes or black clothing,' said Dr. Upadhaya. 'Both tend to attract bees. Dark colours can appear threatening to them, and scented products confuse their senses, making them more likely to approach—and possibly attack.' If a swarm does descend, the most important thing is to remain still. 'Don't swat or wave your arms. Any sudden movement is seen as aggression,' warned Dr. Singh. 'Lie down flat on the ground and stay motionless. Struggling only makes the bees more defensive.' Using leaves to gently brush off stings, without rubbing the skin, can help reduce the spread of venom. And if there's a water source nearby, take shelter in it—bees typically won't follow into water. 'These are basic steps, but they can be life-saving,' Singh added. 'The key is not to panic. Bees aren't looking to attack—they're reacting to fear.'
The Age
12-06-2025
- Science
- The Age
‘Wake-up call': A sting in the bee love story for native pollinators
Public attention on the plight of European honeybees could be coming at a cost for 1700 species of Australian native bees that also play a crucial role as pollinators. Dr Judy Friedlander, an adjunct fellow in sustainability at the University of Technology Sydney, said hosting native bees in backyards or on balconies was one of the biggest things that urban dwellers could do to boost biodiversity. 'When people read about the supposed decline of European bee here due to things like the varroa mite, they panic, and they think that it's the end of the world and the end of our agriculture, but it's not,' Friedlander said. 'Beekeepers should be supported, and it needs to be taken seriously, but the focus on [varroa mite] has been to the detriment of native bees and native beekeepers. The whole varroa mite thing should be a big wake-up call because when we start relying on one species for our crop pollination, we're in big trouble.' Dr Katja Hogendoorn, of the University of Adelaide, said there were not enough native bees to pollinate all crops, so European honeybees (Apis mellifera) were also needed – but they did not belong in nature. Hogendoorn, who recently published a paper that described 71 new species of native bee, said there was 'a lot to discover still'. She previously published a review that found European honeybees compete with wild bees globally, including native species in Australia. 'In my head, there is no shadow of a doubt that honeybees, especially in this country where we've got enormous densities, have a negative impact on our native bee populations,' Hogendoorn said.
Sydney Morning Herald
12-06-2025
- Science
- Sydney Morning Herald
‘Wake-up call': A sting in the bee love story for native pollinators
Public attention on the plight of European honeybees could be coming at a cost for 1700 species of Australian native bees that also play a crucial role as pollinators. Dr Judy Friedlander, an adjunct fellow in sustainability at the University of Technology Sydney, said hosting native bees in backyards or on balconies was one of the biggest things that urban dwellers could do to boost biodiversity. 'When people read about the supposed decline of European bee here due to things like the varroa mite, they panic, and they think that it's the end of the world and the end of our agriculture, but it's not,' Friedlander said. 'Beekeepers should be supported, and it needs to be taken seriously, but the focus on [varroa mite] has been to the detriment of native bees and native beekeepers. The whole varroa mite thing should be a big wake-up call because when we start relying on one species for our crop pollination, we're in big trouble.' Dr Katja Hogendoorn, of the University of Adelaide, said there were not enough native bees to pollinate all crops, so European honeybees (Apis mellifera) were also needed – but they did not belong in nature. Hogendoorn, who recently published a paper that described 71 new species of native bee, said there was 'a lot to discover still'. She previously published a review that found European honeybees compete with wild bees globally, including native species in Australia. 'In my head, there is no shadow of a doubt that honeybees, especially in this country where we've got enormous densities, have a negative impact on our native bee populations,' Hogendoorn said.
National Geographic
29-05-2025
- Science
- National Geographic
A quiet island experiment reveals a battle of the bees
When beekeepers introduced honeybees to a protected island, wild bees nearly vanished. Could removing the hives reverse the damage? Domestic honeybees (Apis mellifera) help with pollinating crops worldwide, but they also compete with wild bees for nectar resources. Photograph by Ingo Arndt, Nat Geo Image Collection Since 2018, honeybees have feasted on wildflowers across a remote Italian island called Giannutri every spring. But for the last four years, Lorenzo Pasquali had the unusual task of shutting the honeybee hives down and watching wild bees as they scrambled to claim the flowers, racing for every drop of nectar in the absence of their domesticated rivals. Managed honeybees, often used in agriculture, and native bees feast on the same floral nectars and pollens. Ecologists have long suspected that honeybees may be pushing wild bees to the margins, but carrying out experiments in these wild insects has turned out to be tricky. Pasquali, an ecologist now at the University of Bialystok, Poland, and his colleagues turned the islet—just over half the size of New York's Central Park—into a living laboratory to test honeybees' impact. The results, recently published in the journal Current Biology, suggest that wild bee numbers alarmingly dropped. With the temporary removal of honeybees, nectar and pollen levels surged, allowing wild bees to forage more and feed on nectar longer and altering their daily routines. 'It is surprising and a nice experiment,' says Alfredo Valido, an entomologist at the Instituto de Productos Naturales y Agrobiología in Spain, who was not involved in the research. The researchers designed a very clear experiment relating honeybees, flowers and wild bees, he adds. (Native bees that pollinate many of our favorite foods.) A new honeybee (Apis mellifera) emerges from a brood cell to live for six short weeks. It spends that time foraging for food, making honey, and raising the next generation. Composite Photograph by Anand Varma, Nat Geo Image Collection The buff-tailed bumblebee (Bombus terrestris) was one of two wild species that saw a drop in numbers on Giannutri Island after honeybees were introduced. Photograph by Chris Gomersall, 2020VISION/Nature Picture Library Beekeepers first brought honeybee queens to Giannutri to raise them in isolation. The island is part of the Tuscan Archipelago National Park, and in 2021, authorities asked Pasquali's advisor, entomologist Leonardo Dapporto of the University of Florence to investigate whether managed honeybees that were recently brought to the island might have an unexpected ecological fallout. Hiking the island with another colleague, Alessandro Cini of the University of Pisa, they noticed plenty of honeybees buzzing around, but just a few wild bees. From scuba diving to set-jetting 'What if tomorrow there are no honeybees on the island?' Dapporto wondered. 'How [would] the behavior of wild bees change?' The team decided to use the island as a natural experiment. Every other morning, Pasquali would seal off the entrances to all 18 honeybee hives on alternating mornings, making sure the honeybees couldn't leave. Then, he and fellow researchers would observe the island's wild pollinators. The bees were kept inside until late afternoon—just long enough for researchers to observe how wild bees behaved in their absence. 'It was a unique experience. Never boring,' Pasquali says. 'I still remember every plant and rock on the island.' For Pasquali and his teammates, identifying native wild bees was easy. The wild bees are bigger and darker with bright colors. The wild bees also fly with a distinct buzzing sound compared to the honeybees. The researchers tracked how often wild bees entered or exited plots of land, tracking how often they visited flowers, and how long they spent drinking nectar. Using delicate tubes, they also measured the volume of nectar available for the wild bees in presence or absence of honeybees. The team found that when honeybees were locked in their hives, nectar volume increased by over 50 percent in some plants, while pollen level spiked by nearly 30 percent. Subsequently, the researchers found an increased level of searching behavior in wild bees and they also sucked in nectar for a longer time. Over four years, as the team carried out surveys on the island to monitor wild bee populations, they found that Anthophora dispar, a solitary native bee species, and Bombus terrestris, a type of bumblebee, fell by nearly 80 percent compared to their population level at the start of the study in 2021. While in the beginning of the experiment researchers expected to see some impacts to the wild bees, 'we didn't imagine that the impact was this strong,' Dapporto says. The dataset is still a correlation, he adds, but the fact that the wild bee population declined so significantly after the introduction of honeybees puts them on the prime focus compared to other factors. Commercial beekeeping, like this operation on a ranch in California, is extremely important for agriculture, but honeybees may threaten native wild species when they're introduced to protected areas. Photograph by Anand Varma, Nat Geo Image Collection 'We are not against beekeeping practice,' Dapporto adds. But when honeybees are introduced into protected areas, especially those home to rare, endangered, or native wild bee species, park authorities should exercise great caution and ecological assessment. Wild bees on bigger islands and even in sensitive protected areas in mainland regions might be facing similar fates, if honeybees have been introduced without proper assessment, the team says. Wild bees face a range of threats, from habitat loss and climate change to pesticide exposure. But unlike many of these pressures, competition from honeybees is something humans can actively manage. As soon as Dapporto's team informed the national park about the results, the park immediately took action, halting the practice of beekeeping starting this year. That makes the results even more impressive, Valido says, commending the quick action. 'It's not logical to introduce [managed species] in an area where you want to preserve the flora and fauna,' he adds. In addition to beekeeping, 'sometimes conservation areas have a variety of land uses for things like pasture cattle and sheep,' says Victoria Wojcik, Science Director at the Pollinator Partnership Canada, a non-profit dedicated for the conservation of pollinators. Even in these cases, conservationists should look at the ecosystem resources to avoid overstocking. But for an area designated as a critical habitat for an invertebrate species, specifically a bee, 'I would be really confused as to why someone would consider permitting honeybee keeping in that landscape,' she adds. As for Dapporto and his team, they are continuing to track whether the native wild bees would change their behavior and bounce back in number as the honeybees are removed from the island. The team has already collected some data this year and is planning to continue observation for coming years. 'Then we could see if a longer absence of honeybees will produce a [major] effect on the behavior of wild bees,' he adds.
