Honeybees, on which many commercial crops depend, are in especially bad shape, say the scientists. In addition to pesticides and habitat loss, they are threatened by a scourge of parasites that has cut their population by 25% since 1990. Other pollinators--insects, rodents, birds and bats--are in trouble too, and many are on the verge of extinction, the authors say.

"This is the most perilous decline of any serious agricultural [resource] in our lifetime. We anticipate declining yields of food crops if nothing's done," says lead author Gary Paul Nabhan, an ecologist at the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum in Tucson. The authors urge reductions in pesticide use, as well as plantings to create "nectar corridors" along highways so insects have an alternate pollen source when crops are out of season.

Last Updated on 6/3/98
By Karen Lutz
Email: karen@hillnet.com