Researchers have created a special “superfood” for honeybees that may help safeguard them from the challenges posed by climate change and declining habitats.
Hives that consumed the supplement in experiments produced as many as 15 times more young bees that reached maturity.
Honeybees play an essential role in agriculture and help pollinate 70% of major worldwide crops.
“This innovation supplies all the essential nutrients required for bees’ survival, allowing us to nourish them even during periods with insufficient pollen,” said Senior Author Professor Geraldine Wright from the University of Oxford, speaking to LFHCK.IDNews.
“That truly is a major achievement,” she states.
Global honeybee populations are experiencing significant reductions caused by poor nutrition, viral infections, climate change, and additional reasons. In the United States, yearly hive losses have fluctuated between 40-50% over the past ten years and are projected to rise further.
UK beekeepers have also encountered significant difficulties.
Nick Mensikov, head of the Cardiff, Vale and Valleys Beekeepers Association, stated to LFHCK.IDNews that he experienced the loss of 75% of his bee colonies during the previous winter, with similar situations reported throughout South Wales.
“Even though the hives were completely filled with provisions, the bee population has significantly decreased. Many of the bees managed to survive until January and February, after which they simply disappeared,” he explains.
Honeybees consume pollen and nectar from blossoms which provide essential nutrients, such as lipids known as sterols, crucial for their growth.
Bees produce honey within beehives, serving as their primary nourishment during the winter months when floral sources cease to provide pollen.
Whenever apiarists remove honey for sale, or more frequently now when there is insufficient pollen, they provide the bees with additional nourishment.
However, this food consists of protein powder, sugar, and water, and has consistently been missing the essential nutrients that bees need. It is similar to humans consuming a diet lacking carbohydrates, amino acids, or other necessary nutrients.
Cholesterol has long been challenging to produce synthetically, yet Professor Wright has directed a team of researchers for 15 years to determine precisely which cholesterol compounds bees require and how they can be synthesized.
At the laboratory in Oxford, PhD candidate Jennifer Chennells demonstrated to us tiny transparent containers holding honeybees inside an incubator, which she nourishes with various diets she has prepared.
She employs household kitchen tools to prepare the basic components and then shapes them into smooth, white strips of edible material.
“We add components similar to cookie dough, including various proteins, fats, differing levels of carbohydrates, and essential micronutrients that bees require. The aim is to determine which combinations they prefer and which are most beneficial for them,” she explains.
She inserts the tubes into the containers while bees feed on the substance.
This laboratory is where Professor Wright’s group, through genetic modification, created a yeast capable of generating the six sterols required by bees.
“It’s a major advancement. When my student managed to modify the yeast to produce the sterols, she shared with me an image of the chromatogram resulting from her research,” she explains, mentioning a diagram illustrating the composition of the compound.
She clarifies, ‘I still keep it hanging on the wall of my office.’
The “superfood” was provided to bees within the laboratory’s beehives over a period of three months.
The findings indicated that colonies receiving the food had as many as 15 times more young bees surviving to become adults.
“If bees receive full nutritional support, they will likely be healthier and more resistant to illness,” Professor Wright states.
Professor Wright states that the food would be especially beneficial during summers such as this one, where blooming plants seem to have ceased production prematurely.
She explains, ‘It’s crucial during years when spring arrives early, leaving bees without enough pollen and nectar to survive the winter.’
As the number of months they spend without access to pollen increases, so does their nutritional strain, leading to higher bee mortality during the winter, according to her explanation.
Further large-scale studies are required to evaluate the prolonged effects of this diet on honeybee well-being; however, the supplement might become accessible to apiarists and agricultural workers within the next two years.
The research was conducted under the leadership of the University of Oxford, in collaboration with the Royal Botanic Gardens Kew, the University of Greenwich, and the Technical University of Denmark.
The study appears in the publication Nature.
