Bees

Colony life, pollination, and decline.

Bees are pollinating insects with roughly 20,000 known species. Most are solitary; the familiar social colony is the exception rather than the rule.

Colony structure

A honey bee colony holds one reproductive queen, seasonal male drones, and female workers that progress through roles by age — cleaning, then nursing, then guarding, and foraging last.

Pollination

Pollen collected for food is transferred between flowers incidentally, fertilising them. A large share of flowering plant species depends on animal pollination, and bees are the dominant group for many crops.

Decline

Losses are attributed to several interacting pressures rather than one: the Varroa destructor mite and the viruses it spreads, pesticide exposure, habitat and forage loss, and pathogens.