Colony Collapse Disorder and Pollinator Health

The Pollinator Partnership’s mission is to promote the health of pollinators, critical to food and ecosystems, through conservation, education, and research. Signature initiatives include the North American Pollinator Protection Campaign (NPPC), National Pollinator Week, and the Ecoregional Planting Guides.
See also: North America Pollinator Protection Campaign: Wildlife Fact Sheet - Invasive Species [PDF, 156 KB] and North America Mite-A-Thon (national effort to collect infestation data and to visualize Varroa infestations in honey bee colonies across North America within a one week window.

National Pollinator Week (June 19-25, 2023) is a time to celebrate pollinators and spread the word about what you can do to protect them. In 2007, the U.S. Senate’s unanimous approval and designation of a week in June as “National Pollinator Week” marked a necessary step toward addressing the urgent issue of declining pollinator populations. Pollinator Week has now grown into an international celebration of the valuable ecosystem services provided by bees, birds, butterflies, bats and beetles.

There are more than 4,000 native bee species in the United States, with many species yet to be described. These native bees pollinate our native plants and agricultural crops, add beauty to our world, and are deserving of protection. The US National Native Bee Monitoring Research Coordination Network (RCN) is a USDA-funded effort to coordinate and support efforts to monitor native bee populations in the US, with the broader goal of conserving our nation's native bee fauna.

From 2020-2023, native bee biologists from across the US will work together to develop a national plan for native bee monitoring. The plan will include components such as monitoring protocols and the designation of priority areas for monitoring. The RCN will also develop new educational and training opportunities in areas that are fundamental to native bee monitoring.
See also: How You Can Help Count and Conserve Native Bees (New York Times, Dec 9, 2020)

Bees are declining in the U.S. and with them the pollination services on which people and wildlife depend. Several national forests have begun to include habitat restoration for bees in their forest plans. Justin Runyon, a Rocky Mountain Research Station research entomologist, and Montana State University scientists identified the most pollinator-friendly plants to include in seed mixes for use in restoration projects in the Northern Rockies.

The researchers developed a scorecard that managers can use to select pollinator-friendly mixes based on local factors such as budget, habitat type, or plant availability.

The worldwide decline in bee populations is threatening the delivery of pollination services, thus leading to the development of pollinator restoration strategies. In the United States, one way to protect and restore bee populations is to use seed mixes composed of pollinator-friendly native plants to revegetate federal lands following disturbance.

Scientists assessed the attractiveness and use by bees of 24 native plant species that are standard for revegetation projects (focal plants) on national forest lands in western Montana.

Pollinators are essential to the survival and health of natural ecosystems but are declining worldwide. Because of this, there is urgent need to restore pollinators and the services they provide. One way to address this need is to use pollinator-friendly plants in revegetation projects (roadsides, fire rehabilitation, etc.), but land managers lack information about which plants are best for pollinators. Rocky Mountain Research Station and partners at Montana State University are assessing the pollinator-friendliness of native plant species that are available for revegetation in Montana to produce a guide identifying the best species mixes to support the greatest number of species and abundance of pollinators. This webinar is part of our Science You Can Use series of land-management focused webinars.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) announced seven grants totaling $6.8 million for research and extension projects to sustain healthy populations of pollinators, which are crucial to the nation’s food security and environmental health. The funding is made possible through NIFA’s Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) program, authorized by the 2014 Farm Bill.

“An estimated $15 billion worth of crops, including more than 90 fruits and vegetables, are pollinated by honey bees alone,” said NIFA Director Sonny Ramaswamy. “With the recent declines in pollinator populations owing to various factors, it is imperative that we invest in research to promote pollinator health, reduce honey bee colony losses, and restore pollinator habitats.”

See also: Announcing New Steps to Promote Pollinator Health (May 19, 2015), which includes the "National Strategy to Promote the Health of Honey Bees and Other Pollinators" and the "Pollinator Research Action Plan" both released in May 2015.

In 2016 NASS began to collect data on honey bee health and pollination costs. Provides reliable, up-to-date statistics help track honey bee mortality.

The European honey bee (Apis mellifera) is known for its importance for honey production. In addition to honey production, A. mellifera is the most commonly used species as a pollinator in the U.S. Honey bees are managed and used to pollinate over 100 crops grown commercially in North America.

After the large-scale, unexplained losses of managed U.S. honey bee colonies during the winter of 2006-2007, investigators identified a set of symptoms that were termed colony collapse disorder, or CCD.

USDA supports the critical role pollinators play in agriculture through research and data collections, diagnostic services and pollinator health monitoring, pollinator habitat enhancement programs, and pollinator health grants.

Pesticide risk management must be based on sound science, consistent with the laws under which pesticides are regulated in the United States. EPA has been working aggressively to protect bees and other pollinators from pesticide exposure.

National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) tracks environment and natural resources legislation to bring you up-to-date, real-time information on bills (from 2015) that have been introduced in the 50 states and the District of Columbia, and U.S. territories. Database provides search options by state (or territory), topic, keyword, year, status or primary sponsor. Topics include: Wildlife-Invasive Species and Wildlife-Pollinators.

Includes a summary of federal and state actions (including state pollinator laws).

Over 100,000 invertebrates—including bees, butterflies, beetles, moths, wasps, and flies—and more than a thousand mammals, birds, reptiles, and amphibians take on the job of pollinating plants. Pollinators worldwide are in decline, losing numbers to threats like pesticide poisoning, habitat loss, and disease. The loss of bee populations in particular poses a big risk to both our agricultural system and the ecosystem that supports other wildlife.