Scientists say warming climate is putting bees at risk

Africanews (in English)

Scientists say warming climate is putting bees at risk   Bees are vital to producing the fruit, vegetables, nuts and other foods humans rely on. And while they’re generally heat-tolerant, scientists say the warming climate is putting bees at risk by reducing their ability to fend off disease and find food.    READ MORE : http://www.africanews.com/2025/07/21/scientists-say-warming-climate-is-putting-bees-at-risk  Subscribe on our Dailymotion channel and receive all the latest news from the continent.    Africanews is available in English and French.  Website : www.africanews.com  Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/africanews.channel/  Twitter : https://twitter.com/africanews

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00:00Bees are vital to producing the fruits, vegetables, nuts, and other foods humans rely on.

00:08And while they're generally heat tolerant, scientists say the warming climate is putting bees at risk.

00:16One of the most interesting things we found is that the vast majority of the species that we are looking at,

00:24as their body temperature heats up, which happens as the environment warms up,

00:30they become dehydrated.

00:32And that was sort of unexpected.

00:33And then when we looked at sort of their limits, like how much heating can they tolerate,

00:37how much dehydration can they tolerate, what we found is as they got hotter,

00:42as their body temperatures got hotter, they became close to their dehydration limits

00:47way before they reached their overheating limits.

00:51And when the bees' environment gets stressful,

00:53they spend their time searching for shade or water instead of pollinating.

00:57Another concern is the lack of diversity among the bees we do have.

01:04The bee diversity does decline when it becomes more urban, when you have more pavement.

01:10But if you plant more flowers, it erases that decline.

01:14So it could be as simple as planting more flowers,

01:17planting more flowers that bloom at different times of year,

01:20that provide nectar and pollen resources for the bees at different times of year.

01:24That could be the biggest solution.

01:27Data is limited on how much climate change is contributing to pollinator decline.

01:33U.S. government cuts to bee research programs could mean a long wait for answers.

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