Summer Environmental StudyKaitlyn Culbert
2025 The Garden Club of America Awards for Summer Environmental Studies
Why Are Our Bees Dying? the Significance of Native Plants in Foraging and the Interplay of Parasites and Pathogens as Contributing Factors to Colony Health.
Honey bees (Apis mellifera) provide essential ecosystem services and pollinate a third of the world’s major food crops. Unfortunately, bee populations are experiencing unsustainable losses. The aim of my study is to examine why honey bee colonies are experiencing such high levels of colony loss in comparison to regions where honey bee colonies are thriving. Specifically, if the foraging of native plants was significantly correlated to overwintering success. The examination of the distinctive interplay between the type of plant forage and colony stressors to overwintering survival, may reveal answers that one day can benefit all pollinators.
The Garden Club of America Awards for Summer Environmental Studies
To encourage studies and careers in the environmental field, with the opportunity to gain knowledge and experience beyond the regular course of study.
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