Students at the University of British Columbia are developing a probiotic designed for honeybees’ digestive system. Suitably named pro-bee-otic, the ground-breaking microorganism mixture could demonstrate a prevailing defense against the negative effects of pesticides. These probiotics for honeybees protect honeybees from neonicotinoids and the current colony collapse disorder. The UBC students have designed this scheme with a universal outlook and a profound fear for the loss of bees and all they make possible. Bees pollinate more than $20 billion worth of crops in the North America every year, but they are vanishing at startling rates. Helpful bacteria – probiotics can promote health and welfare of the bees by breaking down neonicotinoids – the pesticides thought to play a role in colony collapse disorder. Neonicotinoids are pesticides that kill insects but not mammals.
