Reasons for the fact that the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere rises and the bees die altogether

ByKamil Porembińsk

"Declining bees worldwide"The United Nations announced,"Climate change is affecting the decrease in the number and range of bumblebee populations"As a result of publication of the results of research to reduce the population of bees worldwide is a problem. Although research to investigate the cause of massive decrease of bees has been widely done,Increasing carbon dioxide concentration is a cause of mass mortality of bees"Research results are published and topics are announced.

How Rising CO2 Levels May Contribute to Die-Off of Bees by Lisa Palmer: Yale Environment 360
http://e360.yale.edu/feature/bee_collapse_co2_climate_change_agriculture/2991/


It is one of Smithsonian museumsNational Museum of Natural HistoryNumerous plant specimens are kept in. The oldest one of the plant specimens kept here is the one in 1842, which means that there are more than 5 million specimens of plants from all over the world.

It is widely distributed in the North American continent, and flowers can bloom from summer to autumnAbutmentA kind ofAkinokirin sois. There are many specimens of this Aquinola lucidum at the National Museum of Natural History, but one researcher has investigated the "concentration of protein contained in pollen of Aquinone birch tree" in order to investigate "bees with honeys of flowers of Aquinorhynchus flower" We studied using specimens of the National Museum of Natural History.

ByBridget Leyendecker

In the survey, protein concentration of pollen is measured from specimens of Aquinoptera from 1842 to 2014. From the investigation period from 1842 to 2014, the atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration in the Earth rose from 280 ppm to 398 ppm. On the contrary, comparing the protein concentrations of pollen from 2014 and 1842, it is clear that the amount of protein in 2014 has decreased by 30% from that in 1842. Particularly large protein content in pollen decreased in the period from 1960 to 2014, and the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has risen sharply at the same timing.

In addition, it was also confirmed that the amount of protein in the pollen decreases as the carbon dioxide concentration rises when exposing Aquinophilus to a carbon dioxide concentration of 280 ppm to 500 ppm in the field experiments.

ByBen Salter

Over 100 previous studies have indicated that "As the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere increases, the nutritional value of plants decreases like wheat and rice." However, the results of the investigation of the specimen of Aquinophilia have claimed that "rising carbon dioxide concentration causes massive death of bees".

"The pollen is a junk food for bees" says Mr. Lewis Jissica, the first author of a paper that investigated specimens of Aquinchinaceae. Carbon dioxide forms the basis of the sugar produced by plants, and this sugar is a nutrient for growing plants themselves. Therefore, the higher the carbon dioxide concentration, the quicker the plant grows. In the case of Aquinophila, sugar is formed to grow, and instead the protein content in the body appears to decrease.

And from this influence, it is clear that the number of honey bees in the US decreased by 33% in the period from 2006 to 2011.

ByMicolo J

"I know that the same thing happens even in the world of insects.In the case of insects, the amount of protein contained in the leaves is decreasing due to the rise in carbon dioxide concentration, so more leaves to live We need to eat it, "says Jissica.

There are mainly 2 bee foods. One is "honey" and the other is "pollen". These are mainly composed of "sugar" and "protein". The bee looks for better flower nectar and, when discovered, it can inform the companion's bee about the existence of that honey. However, since bees do not have a means to transmit proteins, they can not tell if their own protein to eat is of good quality.

"There are not many foods in bees like other species, and Aquinophilus and Aster are the only food sources for bees living bees and the natural world," says Joanne of Williams College Mr. Edwards. Why the lowering of the amount of protein affects the mass mortality of bee? As for bee, bees accumulate food to overcome winter by late autumn. However, as the amount of protein contained in pollen is decreasing, there is not enough protein to accumulate in winter.