Chaos in nature

The current cold spell is slowing down the bees

The bees are not having an easy time at the moment. The much too cold temperatures are causing the beneficial insects problems.

(Bild: Greenpeace)

At temperatures below twelve degrees, honey producers are unable to fly - so they currently have no chance of taking advantage of the abundant food supply. Experts therefore expect even more bees to swarm out in May. But the current cold phase is also having an impact on the plant world.

"Insects are very resilient and incredibly capable of reproducing. So it's not even particularly bad if a large part of a population dies off during a cold period. As soon as the conditions are better again, the insects will come back," says entomologist Fritz Gusenleitner reassuringly.

Flowering phases exceeded
Experts agree that the weather does not cause insect species to die out. But this spring is certainly causing chaos in nature: "Because the flowering phases of countless plant species overlapped this year, there was a huge abundance of food and the animals couldn't keep up with the pollination," says Thomas Schiefecker, head of the Linz Botanical Garden. "Now, however, it is too cold for the insects to fly out and they are missing out on a very plentiful food supply."

His life is shaped by his love of the crawlies: Insect expert Fritz Gusenleitner was the director of the Biology Center Linz until 2019. The researcher is interested in how climate change will affect these tiny creatures.

(Bild: Dostal Harald)

Unable to fly below twelve degrees
Because bees are unable to fly at temperatures below twelve degrees, many have not returned home from their flights in recent days, agrees beekeeper Bernhard Rihl. The current weather with its strong fluctuations is putting the animals under a lot of stress: "When it was so warm, the queen bees laid a lot of eggs, now the animals are hatching.

But they don't fly out in the cold, which makes things very cramped in the hive," explains the expert. "May will therefore probably be a particularly strong swarming month, because the swarms will split up and half of the tribe will set off in search of a new hive."

Less fruit later
But it's not just the wildlife that is being thrown out of rhythm by the capricious weather: many plants have also flowered far too early this year, as we have already read in the Krone. "As long as there is no frost, the plants will survive," says Thomas Schiefecker. But there is a danger: "If the pollination of the flowers is not optimal or is only reduced due to the cold, this means that there will be less fruit to harvest later."