Agriculture Report - Seeking Causes of Honeybee Loss

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Dennis	English	He	Mike	New	The	This	VanEngelsdorp	blame	contained
disease	flower	for	fungi	grains	insects	learn	of	plant
the	vegetables	with

studies have found that a chemical commonly used to fight plant is harming honeybees. Experts say the chemical may be partly to for the widespread loss of honeybees in the United States. The are important to farmers. When a honeybee lands on a flowering , pollen sticks to its legs. When the bee lands on another , some of the pollen falls off and fertilizes the second plant. act of pollination is important to the growth of many fruits, , nuts and other crops. Yet about 30 percent of honeybees in United States and other areas have died in recent years. Dennis is a researcher at the University of Maryland. He wants to why so many bees are dying. His research team examined pollen that honeybees carried to their hives. They found that the pollen high levels of 35 different pesticides ---- chemicals used to kill . They also found that bees that ate some fungicides became infected a deadly microorganism called Nosema. Fungicides are used to protect against and are widely used for agriculture purposes in the United States. Leggett studies pesticides for the pest management industry group CropLife America. says many of the pesticides found in the pollen examined by VanEngelsdorp actually protect bees from Nosema. Honeybees are important to agriculture. makes the search for an answer to their deaths especially urgent Mr. VanEngelsdorp's team. As he notes, one in every three bites food we eat is somehow pollinated by honeybees. For VOA Learning , I'm Laurel Bowman.

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