The annual buzz on bee pollination.

• Position: YOUR LIFE - Brief article

A yearly survey of beekeepers shows fewer colony wipeouts occurred in the U.S. over the winter of 2013-14 than in recent years, but fosses remain higher than the level they consider to be sustainable. According to survey results, total losses of managed honey bee colonies from all causes were 23.2% nationwide. That number is above the 18.9% level of loss that beekeepers say is acceptable for their economic sustainability, but is a marked improvement over the 30.5% loss reported for the winter of 2012-13, and over the eight-year average loss of 29.6%.

More than three-fourths of the world's flowering plants rely on pollinators, such as bees, to reproduce, meaning pollinators help produce one out of every three bites of food Americans eat.

There is no way to tell why the bees did better this year, according to Dennis vanEngelsdorp, assistant professor in the Department of Entomology...