Nutritional stress due to habitat loss may explain recent honeybee colony collapses

In spite of the tremendous public interest in the recent large honeybee losses attributed to colony collapse disorder, there is still no definitive explanation for the phenomenon. With the hypothesis that nutritional stress due to habitat loss has played an important role in honeybee colony collapse, I analyze the land use data in United States to show that the colony loss suffered by each state is significantly predicted by the extent of its open land relative to its developed land area. I provide further support for this hypothesis by showing that states with the largest areas of open land have a significantly higher honey yield on a per colony basis. I discuss how increasing loss of foraging resources could be synergistically acting with emerging diseases to stress honeybee populations and the importance therefore for preserving natural areas that act as important pollinator habitats.