Why Denmark's bees are becoming a rarer sight
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Loading... - Anne Nielsen
- 19 May 2022
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As many as 56 species of bee – one in five of the insects in the wild – is in danger of disappearing from Denmark’s nature, according to the World Wildlife Fund, WWF.
35 of the bee species are categorised as endangered or critically endangered, while 21 are “vulnerable”. 19 can already no longer be found in Denmark.
“One thing is that wild bees live their lives, reproduce and are prey for animals like birds and thereby form part of the food chain. Another thing is that they pollinate our wild flowers and in part our crops, along with many other insects,” Thor Hjarsen, senior biologist with WWF, told news wire Ritzau.
Denmark has around 300 different species of bee altogether.
Part of the cause of their decline is the removal of many of their natural habitats from urban and agricultural areas. Some fertilizers are meanwhile poisonous to the insects.
Bees and butterflies, both important pollinators, are among the most endangered species in Denmark, an expert said.
“The bees represent a loss of diversity. There are some bees and butterflies we simply don’t see anymore in our nature,” Rasmus Ernjæs, a biodiversity researcher at Aarhus University, told Ritzau.
Hjarsen said the loss of bees represented a potential problem for food security.
“The important role played by bees in the ecosystem and our food production is at the core of this problem,” he said. Read More...
