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Why bees are disappearing

3,184,474 views | Marla Spivak • TEDGlobal 2013

Honeybees have thrived for 50 million years, each colony 40 to 50,000 individuals coordinated in amazing harmony. So why, seven years ago, did colonies start dying en masse? Marla Spivak reveals four reasons which are interacting with tragic consequences. This is not simply a problem because bees pollinate a third of the world's crops. Could this incredible species be holding up a mirror for us?

Honeybees have thrived for 50 million years, each colony 40 to 50,000 individuals coordinated in amazing harmony. So why, seven years ago, did colonies start dying en masse? Marla Spivak reveals four reasons which are interacting with tragic consequences. This is not simply a problem because bees pollinate a third of the world's crops. Could this incredible species be holding up a mirror for us?

This talk was presented at an official TED conference. TED's editors chose to feature it for you.

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Marla Spivak researches bees’ behavior and biology in an effort to preserve this threatened, but ecologically essential, insect.

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This talk was presented at an official TED conference. TED's editors chose to feature it for you.