Honeybee Population Continues To Decline

Published May 11, 2016 at 1:11 PM EDT

A new survey shows that 44 percent of the country’s honeybee colonies died in the past year. It was the second year in a row that losses have surpassed 40 percent, and now there are signs that the die-off is spreading into the summer months. Here & Now’s Jeremy Hobson speaks with May Berenbaum, professor and head of the Department of Entomology at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign about the decreasing bee population.

Guest

May Berenbaum, entomologist, head of Dept. of Entomology University of Illinois at Urbana-Champlaign. She tweets @MayBerenbaum.

Honeybees are seen at the J & P Apiary and Gentzel's Bees, Honey and Pollination Company on May 19, 2015 in Homestead, Florida. U.S. President Barack Obama's administration announced May 19, that the government would provide money for more bee habitat as well as research into ways to protect bees from disease and pesticides to reduce the honeybee colony losses that have reached alarming rates. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

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