![\"Glacier](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/a0b09a59ba557a7989bb9dc0244af55c377a6f30-91943604.jpg\")
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Glacier retreat could spread diseases amongst bees <\/p>\n
Keystone-SDA <\/p>\n
Changing fauna caused by melting glaciers could make it more likely for bees to pass diseases on to one another. This is shown by a new study led by the University of Lausanne in Switzerland.\n<\/p>\n
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August 24, 2026 – 11:15\n<\/p>\n
Normally, wild bees and honeybees avoid each other whilst foraging by specialising in different plant species. This natural separation reduces the risk of cross-contamination with pathogens.<\/p>\n
However, as a result of changes to the plant world caused by glacial melt, bees are increasingly using the same food sources. The flowers act as sources of infection. If a diseased bee leaves infectious particles there, these can be picked up by the next bee visiting the flower.<\/p>\n
+\u00a0Glaciers of the world \u2013 local melting and global impactsExternal link<\/a><\/p>\n For their study, researchers from the Universities of Lausanne and Milan and the Italian research organisation Crea investigated bee populations at the Mont-Min\u00e9 Glacier in the Val d\u2019H\u00e9rens, canton Vaud. They focused on three viruses and two parasites.<\/p>\n In honeybees, the scientists found all five pathogens under investigation in the areas that had only recently become ice-free. Only two pathogens were detected among wild bees in areas that were still relatively well protected. <\/p>\n + Why melting glaciers affect us all<\/a><\/p>\n However, a completely different picture emerged in the older ice-free zones, where the vegetation has already undergone significant changes. Here, the prevalence of the wing-deforming virus \u2013 a pathogen typically found in honeybees \u2013 increased significantly amongst wild bees.<\/p>\n The study thus sheds light on a less visible consequence of climate change. The retreat of a glacier not only means the loss of ice and water resources, but also alters the entire subsequent ecosystem and the complex interactions between organisms. <\/p>\n \u201cUnderstanding these processes is crucial for developing effective strategies to protect pollinators and the ecosystem services they provide,\u201d commented Gianalberto Losapio, co-author of the study at the University of Lausanne.<\/p>\n \n More<\/p>\n More <\/p>\n Switzerland\u2019s battle of the bees <\/p>\n This content was published on <\/p>\n Jun 25, 2021 <\/p>\n Do Swiss measures to support the domestic honeybee disadvantage the equally important wild bee? <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Read more: Switzerland\u2019s battle of the bees + How we produce English news<\/a> Articles in this story <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Glacier retreat could spread diseases amongst bees Keystone-SDA Changing fauna caused by melting glaciers could make it more…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":119635,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[4],"tags":[101,454,457,100,103,41,17],"class_list":["post-119634","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-switzerland","tag-article","tag-beat-climate-adaptation","tag-environment","tag-latest-news","tag-production-type-deepl-autotranslation","tag-swiss","tag-switzerland"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ch\/117149766183148049","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119634","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=119634"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119634\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/119635"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=119634"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=119634"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=119634"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Swiss](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/5b91d7def23d4043249a84ad1787c826-screenshot_20190801_190843-data.jpg\")
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Translated from German, reviewed by an\u00a0English Department<\/a> journalist.\u00a0<\/p>\n