L'Europe en grave déficit d'abeilles - 7SUR7.be

L'Europe en grave déficit d'abeilles - 7SUR7.be

Europe in serious deficit of bees

 Europe has a deficit of 13.4 million bees 7 billion colonies of these insects to pollinate their crops correctly, say researchers at the University of Reading (United Kingdom). According to the findings of the study published Wednesday in the journal PLoS One, due to the development of oilseed crops including biofuels used in the pollination needs grew five times faster than the number of bee colonies between 2005 and 2010 . Hence, today, a deficit situation: "Europe has only two-thirds of bee colonies they need, leaving a deficit of 13.4 million colonies, the equivalent of 7 billion bees, "say the authors. In half of the 41 countries studied, "there are not enough bees to pollinate crops correctly, including France, Germany, the UK and Italy," the researchers said. The case of Britain is of particular concern with less than a quarter of bees needed for pollination. In France and Germany, between 25 and 50% of bee colonies needed are present. So, emphasize science, agriculture is increasingly dependent on wild pollinators (bumblebees etc.), species that may be vulnerable, especially in the case of monocultures. "We are heading towards a catastrophe unless we act now" "This study shows that make us more dependent on wild pollinators European biofuels policy has unintended consequences," notes Tom Breeze, one of the authors of the study. According to his colleague Simon Potts, "we are moving towards a catastrophe unless we act now: wild pollinators need to be better protected." "There is a disconnect between the environmental and agricultural policies in Europe: farmers are encouraged to grow oilseeds, but there is not enough thinking about how to help the insects to ensure pollination," said M . Potts.