The Silent Threat: How Microplastics Destroy Honeybee Colonies
"Bees are buzzing around in confusion ,they’re having trouble recognizing flowers, forgetting scents and even struggling to navigate back to their hives. What’s causing this disorientation? Alongside well-known threats such as pesticides and parasites, a new and unsettling risk to bees is emerging … Microplastics." In the past decades, the globe has increasingly become acutely aware of the ubiquitous prevalence of microplastics ,small plastic particles smaller than 5 millimeters in diameter that contaminate our planet. From sea floors to mountain peaks, microplastics are omnipresent. But perhaps one of the more intangible yet extremely more important areas affected by this type of contamination is honeybee colony wellness. These are important pollinators of many types of crops and wild flowers, and loss of them has far-reaching implications for biodiversity, food supply, and ecosystem resilience. "Microplastics are everywhere and are pervasive pollutants of soil, ...