Worldwide Honeybee Decline Prompts New Darwinian Solutions

In late 2012, a pumpkin field on Hawaii's Big Island saw farmers resorting to hand-pollination due to the near-total disappearance of wild honeybees, leading to the collapse of local pumpkin farming. This situation mirrored a similar crisis in Korea during the winter of 2022, where a survey revealed that 395,017 hives, or 17.2% of the national total, lost approximately 7.8 billion bees, primarily due to the Varroa destructor mite, which had developed pesticide resistance. This issue reflects a global crisis affecting honeybee populations in the U.S. and Europe, despite over 60 years of chemical warfare against the mite.