Emily Chan
Tens of millions of bees in the western part of the United States die every day due to car collisions, according to a new study by researchers at Utah State University.
Americans drive miles of long, winding roads on the daily, without giving much thought to the insects that splatter on their windshields as their vehicles barrel down highways.
One of these victims is bees. Their deaths are a big deal because bees pollinate almost 75 percent of food crops around the world, and they are already at risk because of climate change.
A previous report revealed that the cost of pollinating services for bees in the U.S. comes out to $20 billion a year. As you can see, bees provide so much for us and nature. Yet, we are treating them rather poorly in return.
To calculate the bee deaths that were caused by car collisions, a team of researchers counted the number that were killed by their own vehicles during driving trips around Utah.
In the past, research has shown that bee populations around the world are dwindling. Many factors based on human activity are responsible for the decline, such as pesticide use and global warming. Now, collisions with cars can be added to the list.
“Bees play a pivotal role in our ecosystem. The consequences of their frequent collisions with vehicles extend well beyond a minor travel inconvenience,” said Joseph Wilson, the lead author of the study and a professor at Utah State University Tooele.
“In fact, the impacts of bee deaths, occurring minute-by-minute each day, may have a greater negative impact than we realized.”
The team applied sticky paper to the bumpers of their vehicles and drove them around Utah on 29 different trips that took place from 2018 to 2021. After each trip, they removed the dead bees from their bumpers, identified the genus, and counted the total that were killed.
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