From New Scientist, 14 Nov 2022, on a 50% fall in honeybee life expectancy since the 1970s:
“For the most part, honeybees are livestock, so beekeepers and breeders often selectively breed from colonies with desirable traits like disease resistance,” says Nearman.
“In this case, it may be possible that selecting for the outcome of disease resistance was an inadvertent selection for reduced lifespan among individual bees,” he says. “Shorter-lived bees would reduce the probability of spreading disease, so colonies with shorter lived bees would appear healthier.”
From New Scientist, 14 Nov 2022, on a 50% fall in honeybee life expectancy since the 1970s:
Another story of Conjuring an Evolution?