The researchers fear that bees will face their own global pandemic caused by an infectious fungus that passes through flower petals during pollination.
- Researchers from the University of Colorado at Boulder studied bees infected with nosema
- Nosema is a single-celled parasite that emits spores that form in a fungus.
- Different variations of the fungus have infected bees worldwide.
- Researchers fear new novel form of fungus may trigger pandemic
As humans continue to fight the COVID-19 pandemic, some scientists fear that bees are quietly dealing with a pandemic of their own.
Researchers from the University of Colorado Boulder have documented how bees in Europe have been affected by a deadly, contagious fungus that can spread through flower petals during pollination.
Called nosema, different varieties of the fungus have been documented worldwide, including in South Africa, Kenya, Russia, Brazil, the United States, and Canada.
Researchers at the University of Colorado Boulder studied nosema, a deadly parasitic fungus that could be about to cause a pandemic among bees.
According to the researchers, exposure to the fungus is contributing to the collapse of bee colonies in Europe and could have serious consequences for bee populations around the world.
Nosema is a type of fungus known as microsporidia, a single-celled parasite that forms spores that become fungi.
When it doesn’t infect a bee, it first breaks down the infected cells, then releases spores that spread through the body and eventually kill the bee.
Before the bee dies, it can also excrete these spores in its feces and during pollination, leaving them on flowers where other bees can be exposed and infected.
In some areas, this has caused year-round nasal infections for hive colonies, according to a report in the team’s findings on the University of Colorado Boulder news blog.
Infected bees can excrete Nosema cells during pollination, leaving active spores on flower petals that could then expose other bees
Beekeepers have helped combat the spread of nosema by raising particular types of resistant bees and using plant extracts to treat bees with current infections.
Bees in different regions have developed immunity to different types of nosema, which has helped limit the spread of the fungus, but researchers fear that a new strain may spread across multiple regions of the world despite local resistance.
“More work is needed to understand Nosema infections in native bee species and the possible consequences for native ecosystems if native bees suffer a fate similar to that of bees when they become infected,” said Arthur Grupe II of the University from Colorado Boulder.
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