Peter Spinks

Fairfax Science Columnist

Honeybees lead something of a charmed life, as they flit about collecting nectar and pollen and producing oodles of honey and wax. But now, it seems, their carefree days might soon be numbered.

Feeling the buzz: Bees pollinate the flowers of at least one third of wild and farmed plants but their numbers are dropping due, in part, to a parasite varroa destructor which has now reached New Zealand and Papua New Guinea.

Populations of the four-winged insects, which pollinate the flowers of at least one-third of wild and farmed plants that humans eat, have decreased over the past three decades in the US and Britain. In part, this has been due to the prevalence of crop pesticides, the destruction of flower-rich habitats and pests.