Managed honey bee colonies face severe welfare challenges from parasites, pesticides, and pathogens that also threaten the ecosystem services bees provide.
Individual bees in colonies weakened by Varroa infestation, pesticide exposure, or pathogen burden experience the welfare consequences of damaged health including impaired flight, reduced learning capacity, and shortened lifespan. The colony-level organization of bee welfare is unique - individual bee welfare is inseparable from colony health because individual bees cannot survive independently for extended periods. Colony collapse that kills millions of bees represents aggregate welfare harm at enormous scale. Pesticide sublethal effects that impair navigation cause individual bees to die of exhaustion failing to return to the hive. The welfare and ecological service functions of bees are aligned - protecting bee health protects both individual welfare and the ecosystem services on which billions of people depend.