Worldwide Loss of Bees a Growing Concern

What problem does this article mainly discuss?

• Bees can sting us.

• Bees can ruin outdoor events.

• Bees are disappearing around the world.

• Bees are annoying to humans.

The USDA and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) believe that “it is imperative that we increase honey bee survival” by meeting the demands of U.S. agriculture for pollination and thus ensure food security.

• True

• False

Experts think that pesticides, parasitess and diseases, as well as land development and changes in agricultural practices around the world, are some possible causes of bee death.

According to this article, what is the most important effect of this new bee shortage?

• Researchers are publishing new findings.

• Many crops will be unable to survive without pollination.

• Scientists are studying bees.

• Gardeners are having a harder time growing larkspurs.

In the article, Kevin Hackett, the national program leader for the bee and pollination program at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), calls the massive honeybee disappearance “the biggest general threat to our food supply.”

What evidence from the article supports his claim?

• Honeybees are not the only ones disappearing in large quantities.

• Bees are used to pollinate many food plants, such as California’s almond crops, apple crops and citrus fruit crops.

• The larkspur, a purple wildflower, requires pollination from its own species—other larkspurs—to survive.

• Over 1 million bee colonies disappear every year, never to return.

What is this article mostly about?

• Threats to bees' health from human development

• The origins of the crops we eat

• The science of bee pollination

• The causes and effects of bee death around the world

Leaders from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), researchers from the National Academy of Sciences, and the USDA and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) are all reported to be working hard to understand and solve the problem of the disappearance of honeybees.

Based on this evidence, what can be concluded about the organizations trying to solve this problem?

• The organizations do not play an important role in keeping humans and the environment safe.

• The organizations play an important role in keeping humans and the environment safe.

• The organizations are dealing with a problem that is not relevant to their focus.

• The organizations are being forced to deal with a problem they do not care about.

The mass deaths of honeybees have been linked to Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD)—a mysterious loss of bee colonies with many potential causes—as well as a variety of pesticides, parasites, and diseases, all of which hurt bee populations.

• True

• False

Habitat enhancement was not an option to decrease the loss of bees.

• True

• False

The bees____the flower.

• Eat

• Destroy

• Pollinate