The FAO database—colony numbers

More than 100 countries provided data to the FAO-database and
globally there is a significant trend of colony increase of more than
60% over the past 50 years from 1961–2013 (Fig. 1). Clearly, the
globally collected data does not support the notion of a global
colony decline.

The few atypical declines were again associated with grave
socioeconomic changes. These include:

1) A dramatic decline of 66% of the colonies in Madagascar after
1977, subsequent to the political coup from which apiculture
never recovered.

2) A 73% decline in Burundi during the civil war, a loss which has
however rapidly overcompensated during the past decade with
three times as many colonies today as in 1961.

3) A similar effect can be seen in Zambia, where the country
recovered after the implementation of multi-party democracy
from more than two decades of decline of about 66% during the
rule of the one-party politics.

4) After the oil boom in Venezuela in the late 1970s–early 1980s
the number of managed colonies dropped to only 11% of that of
1961. The colony numbers recovered to 86% but only to crash
again after the economic crisis in Venezuela in 1994. Apiculture
never recovered during the last two decades and remained at
28% of the colony number reported 50 years ago.

5) The start of the military rule in Bolivia in 1964 was also followed
by an extreme decline in managed colonies.

In spite of potential ambiguities in the FAO data base, none of
the colony number dynamics of the past 50 years, neither increase
nor decrease, show any relation to the arrival of novel pests or the
use of novel pesticides or toxins in the respective countries.

it appears the long term declines, as shown for Western Europe and
the US, are those of largest concern because they have been almost
linear, consistent and stable over more than two decades. These
declines cannot be explained by pests, pathogens, pesticides or
societal collapses and hence it may be helpful to use additional
information to extract potential causes.

Perhaps disappointing for some media, the
declines detectable in the FAO data set are not due to pathogens,
pests, pesticides, climate change or any other factor of timely
public interest. It is the decline in beekeeping activity and the
increase of honey trade (Fig. 5) that is of concern. A global honey
market with low honey prices in exporting countries may make it
less attractive for professional beekeepers in importing countries
to produce honey with their own colonies. This is well supported
by the negative correlation between honey production and the
number of colonies in countries with a colony decline 

Moritz, R. F., & Erler, S. (2016). Lost colonies found in a data mine: Global honey trade but not pests or pesticides as a major cause of regional honeybee colony declines. Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment, 216, 44-50.

             ***********************************************
The BEE-L mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software.  For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html