Reading Comprehension: Honeybees

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Have you heard about the problem of disappearing honeybees?

Why are honeybees important to fruit and many other crops?

Where Have the Honeybees Gone?

Honeybees have been disappearing around the world for several years now. In the United States, billions of bees have already died. Europe, Australia, and Brazil have also reported losses of honeybees. This is a serious problem because bees pollinate crops. Without pollination, apple, orange, and other fruits trees cannot produce fruit. Other crops like nuts also need pollination. In the United States, one third of the food supply depends on honeybees.

Scientists have a name for this problem: colony collapse disorder (CCD). Bees live in colonies or hives, and thousands of beekeepers have been finding their hives empty. A hive that once held 50,000 bees may have just a few dead or dying ones left.

There have been many theories about why this is happened; for example, disease, pests, unnatural growing conditions, and damaged DNA. Scientists now think that the cause may be a combination a virus and a fungus, but they need to do more research to find a solution to this very serious problem.