Ohio is big in agriculture and that $124 billion industry relies on a small insect to survive: the honeybee.
Despite their vital role in nature, producers in Greene County have started reporting a rapid decline in numbers of bee sightings since 2024.
That decline is largely due to invasive and pesticide resistant mites that OSU reported killed 30 to 50% of colonies last year.
"This mite is called a Varroa destructor. It's an ectoparasitic mite," said Hongmei Li-Byarlay, principal investigator at Central State University’s Bee Research Lab. "We're seeing a lot of colony losses because the mite population increase in the honeybee colonies."
As these mites have grown resistant to pesticides, they have spread further, causing higher hive death rates across Ohio and beyond.
“From the USDA research and publications, we know there are emerging new resistance of these mite colonies, which made them more powerful, but made the bee colonies suffer even more," Li-Byarlay said.
But Li-Byarlay and other researchers at Central State's Bee Research Lab and Purdue are working to address this issue by developing mite-resistant bee species that can bite back at these damaging insects.
“We also work with master beekeepers to do instrumental insemination that we can select the genetics, that particularly with the high mite-biting behavior and breeding the queens and breeding more of those colonies," Li-Byarlay said.
Bees are responsible for helping both wild and agricultural plants grow and thrive, pollinating native plant populations while maintaining colony diversity.
According to Li-Byarlay, without bees, one out of every three spoonfuls of the food we cultivate and consume would not exist.
"In Ohio we have apples, we have strawberries, blueberries, watermelon, you know pumpkins and squash, all these are pollinated by bees," she said. "When we don't see bees anymore, you won't have any of these fruits anymore."
More pollinator-friendly plants, less pesticide
While honeybee numbers are decreasing faster than ever, Li-Byarlay said people can prevent this through further research, reducing pesticide use and even buying local bees to promote local businesses and prevent the spread of pathogens.
"That's the problem with the packaged bees is that you can order online, you click and it's easy, it's convenient. But you get all these bees from other states and those bees have been tracked around and go around the country for a long time. And they may have a lot of different viruses, bacteria, pathogens that you don't know," she said.
Ohio residents can also plant and preserve more pollinator-friendly greenery to help those bee populations thrive. She said dandelions and clover help provide their daily food.
"They love to go out and explore and get their flower nectar and pollen," she said. "So I want to recommend people to mow their lawn maybe less frequently just to give bees some food in that way."
Li-Byarlay said some of the plants and trees she would suggest planting for bees in Ohio include black eye cornflowers and linden trees.
A full list of pollinator-friendly plants that are native to Ohio can be found at osu.edu.
People can also learn more about beekeeping and how to help local populations through Central State's programming and local beekeeper associations, Li-Byarlay said. Her team will be at the Ohio State Fair with more information on bees and beekeeping.
