Insights from U.S. beekeeper triage surveys following unusually high honey bee colony losses 2024-2025

Authors: NEARMAN, ANTHONY - Orise Fellow; CRAWFORD, CHRISTOPHER - US Department Of Agriculture (USDA); GUARNA, MARTA - Project Apis M; CHAKRABARTI, PRIYADARSHINI - Washington State University; LEE, KATIE - University Of Minnesota; Chen, Yanping; Cook, Steven; HILL, ELIZABETH - US Department Of Agriculture (USDA); LAMAS, ZACHARY - Orise Fellow; SESHADRI, ARATHI - US Department Of Agriculture (USDA); SLATER, GARETT - Texas A&M University; DOWNEY, DANIELLE - Project Apis M; Evans, Jay

Submitted to: Science of the Total Environment
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 9/27/2025
Publication Date: 10/7/2025
Citation: Nearman, A., Crawford, C., Guarna, M., Chakrabarti, P., Lee, K., Chen, Y., Cook, S.C., Hill, E., Lamas, Z., Seshadri, A., Slater, G., Downey, D., Evans, J.D. 2025. Insights from U.S. beekeeper triage surveys following unusually high honey bee colony losses 2024-2025. Science of the Total Environment. 1003. Article 180650. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2025.180650.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2025.180650

Interpretive Summary: Honey bees are vital for U.S. agriculture. Commercial beekeepers expressed concern in early 2025 regarding heavy colony losses, leading to action by researchers and industry groups. Researchers collected critical samples and are processing these samples to investigate clues, while industry groups are focused on immediate financial support for beekeepers. To better understand the problem, two industry groups (Project Apis m and the American Beekeeping Federation) developed and deployed beekeeper loss surveys to their constituents. This study describes an exploration of actionable research targets to help reduce future colony losses. Statistical analyses support a role of parasitic mites in colony losses, while also highlighting that losses occurred evenly across the country. In parts of the U.S., nutritional stress drove the use of supplemental colony feeding. Commercial beekeepers expressed high levels of financial concern, in line with losing over half of their standing colonies. This effort ranks key threats including disease, nutrition, geography, and management by importance, driving current and future efforts by researchers, beekeepers, and regulators. These surveys also validate the widespread economic costs faced by beekeepers during major loss events.

Technical Abstract: In January of 2025, U.S. commercial beekeepers noted unusually high honey bee colony losses as they gathered colonies for almond pollination. Two industry groups launched nationwide surveys to document colony losses between June 2024 and February 2025 across all scales of beekeeping, ranging from backyard hobbyists to commercial beekeepers. These surveys aimed to assess honey bee colony losses, estimate financial impacts, and identify correlations with beekeeper management practices and geographical locations. The study at hand presents an analysis of the survey data, which represents over half of the managed honey bee colonies in the US and revealed that commercial beekeepers experienced more severe losses in comparison to smaller scale beekeepers during this period. For commercial beekeeping operations that were surveyed , the most frequently cited cause of colony losses was Varroa mites, followed by pesticides and pathogens for commercial beekeepers. In contrast, queen failure and weather were frequently reported by sideliner and hobbyist beekeepers. Of note is that commercial beekeepers who did not identify using a specific miticide to treat for Varroa mites reported significantly higher losses than commercial beekeepers that did identify the miticide product(s) they used in the survey. Similarly, different feeding frequencies of both protein and carbohydrates as a bee diet supplement also had a role in net losses. While colony loss rates and financial concern varied widely among respondents, commercial beekeepers understandably showed markedly higher sensitivity to financial impacts, with their concerns increasing linearly with the severity of their losses. Together with direct analyses of bee samples and longitudinal studies, this study exemplifies the value that beekeeper surveys offer in identifying effective management strategies and highlighting environmental risks. Such understandings supply critical insights into how to best address the leading causes of honey bee losses on a national scale, and ultimately aid in safeguarding honey bee health, pollination services, and agricultural production.