One in five bee colonies failed to survive Swiss winter
Select your language
Generated with artificial intelligence.
Listening:
One in five bee colonies failed to survive Swiss winter
Almost a fifth of bee colonies in Switzerland failed to survive the winter. Losses have been greater than in previous years.
+Get the most important news from Switzerland in your inbox
The Lake Geneva region has been hardest hit, Apisuisse reported on Wednesday.
According to the traditional winter mortality survey, 18.9% of colonies did not make it through the cold season, a proportion up 4% on the previous year.
+ Read about Switzerland’s ‘battle of the bees’
Bee colony mortality was highest in the Lake Geneva region, at 28.9%. The canton of Zurich (23.3%) and Ticino (22.5%) were also above the national average. Central Switzerland has the lowest mortality rate, at 15.8%.
‘Cement’ honey
Winter mortality in bee colonies is a complex phenomenon. For around two decades, losses have fluctuated at a high level, with no clear trend, according to Apisuisse.
This winter, forest honey has attracted particular attention. Colonies that spent the winter on forest honey recorded significantly higher loss rates (23.4%) than those fed other foods (16.4%).
The reason could be linked to so-called cement honey, which contains a high proportion of melezitose, a sugar that causes honey to crystallise in the combs. According to Apisuisse, bees need a lot of energy and water to process this honey. It is also difficult for them to digest.
More
More bee colonies but fewer beekeepers in Switzerland
Translated from French by DeepL/mga
We select the most relevant news for an international audience and use automatic translation tools to translate them into English. A journalist then reviews the translation for clarity and accuracy before publication.
Providing you with automatically translated news gives us the time to write more in-depth articles. The news stories we select have been written and carefully fact-checked by an external editorial team from news agencies such as Bloomberg or Keystone.
If you have any questions about how we work, write to us at english@swissinfo.ch
More
Why Switzerland is among the ten fastest-warming countries in the world
More
In Switzerland four out of ten people have a migrant background – who are they?
More
Suicides in Switzerland quadruple among older people
More
French gangs target luxury cars in Switzerland
More
Renewed controversy in Switzerland over US fighter jets – explained
In compliance with the JTI standards
More: SWI swissinfo.ch certified by the Journalism Trust Initiative
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.