Norway is home to 212 different bee species. Or perhaps rather: the country used to have 212 species. Insect numbers are generally in decline, and some bees are either struggling or have already disappeared.

Insect expert Frode Ødegaard is worried about bees, but not in the way you might think. He is not worried about honeybees dying out.

“They’re domesticated animals,” he explained.

This means we humans more or less decide how many of them we should have. His concern for honeybees is different.

Honeybees can outcompete wild bees. They often compete for the same flowers, which are only diminishing in number. They can also infect wild bees with diseases,” said Ødegaard, whose day job is as an associate professor from the University Museum at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) in Trondheim.

Numerous species of wild bees are endangered, and setting up beehives with honeybees can actually make the situation worse. This is because the wild bees may be forced to fight for the same food or be infected with previously unknown diseases.

Ødegaard has been trying to spread this message for years, but the myth of the imminent demise of the honeybee is proving hard to dispel.

However, other species give him much greater cause for concern.

“In recent years, we have seen a decline in the number of insects in Norway,” said Ødegaard.

This is in line with a global decline in insect numbers. From one year to the next, this may be due to random variations in the weather, but this is not the case when we look at the long-term trend.

Yet, the total number of insects does not give the whole picture either. It may be even worse.

“Some species may be doing so well that they are increasing in number, perhaps at the expense of certain other species. This may mask the fact that some species are struggling.”

The myth of the imminent demise of honeybees is proving hard to dispel.

In other words, we might find many more specimens of a handful of species, but fewer or even no specimens of another species. That is what we mean by ‘a decline in biodiversity’.

Some of the species that are struggling the most are bees.

Ødegaard knows what he is talking about. He even has two insect species named after him. He has personally given Norwegian names to several species of bee, and has discovered many past and present species in Norway, either on his own or in collaboration with others.

“Around the year 2000, we thought we had about 180 species of bee in Norway,” he said.

But this was not the case. Ødegaard was pivotal to the work of putting things straight. Some species had been classified incorrectly and were not actually found here, while he and his colleagues found other species than had not previously been registered in Norway.

Ødegaard is therefore not just anybody when it comes to bumblebees and other bees.

All bumblebees are bees, but not all bees are bumblebees.

What was that? Bumblebees and other bees?

“All bumblebees are bees, but not all bees are bumblebees,” explained Ødegaard.

You learn something new every day!

As per 2025, the researchers estimate that we have 212 species of bee in Norway. Some of these have only recently been observed for the first time.

“Three or four new species of bees have come to Norway in recent years, perhaps as a result of climate change.”

By contrast, other species are disappearing. In the hundred years leading up to 2015, around 10 species disappeared.

Over the past 10 years, Norway has probably lost another four species.

The downland furrow bee, four-spotted furrow bee, Kirby’s Nomad bee and the bear-clawed nomad bee have not been seen in Norway during this period.

We will probably never be able to put a precise figure on the number of species that are present inside the country’s borders at any given time. There are not that many bee experts in Norway, so it is not easy to keep track. However, the experts we do have are often very enthusiastic.

Ødegaard and his wife Åslaug Viken recently went on an excursion to Northern Norway to do a survey of the situation in the Bodø area.

Some of the species that are struggling the most have unusual diets and lifestyles. They may only eat from a single, specific flower, which may also be rare and must be situated within a reasonable distance of a habitat in which the bee thrives. In other words, a lot of different factors have to come together.

“The specialists are facing the biggest problems. The generalists are doing better.”

Disappearances may also be partly explained by the fact that Norway is at the very edge of the distribution area of a number of bee species. Conditions in Norway can be challenging, and some species come and go. Fortunately, none of the species that have disappeared from Norway have become extinct everywhere else too. In other words, the species still exist, just not here.

The most important thing to do first is to provide emergency assistance for the species for which the situation is most dramatic.

Warmer climates are enabling some new species to come to Norway. Other species have been introduced intentionally. This includes the buff-tailed bumblebee (Bombus terrestris).

“Although it’s a species we don’t want in nature, it has become one of the most common species in recent years.”

This species has been intentionally introduced for use in greenhouses in order to pollinate vegetables. It’s not difficult to escape from a greenhouse. As a result, they outcompete local species in the natural environment.

“The most important thing to do first is to provide emergency assistance for the species for which the situation is most dramatic,” said Ødegaard.

A few years ago, action plans were actually drawn up for the species that were struggling the most in Norway. The authorities allocated resources to saving the most vulnerable species.

“It worked. However, for the past ten years, no more action plans of this type have been drawn up.”

This is because confrontations were commonplace. The interests of insects do not necessarily always coincide with those of humans. And this brings us to another matter.

Why do the fortunes of insects fluctuate so much?

“There are three main reasons for the decline in insect numbers,” Ødegaard said.

Loss of habitat is the most common reason why insect species struggle. The Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) holds that this is the world’s most pressing environmental problem.

Habitats are disappearing due to the development of new roads, residential areas and commercial areas. A wind farm here and an area cleared for holiday cabins there.

The most popular areas for humans are often in mild, sun-facing coastal districts. Precisely the same areas that most bees like.

“Humans and insects often compete for the same areas. Habitats have probably never been declining as fast as they are at present.”

Eight billion people are demanding ever more space, especially since almost everyone now also wants a higher standard of living. Norway’s population long remained stable at around 4 million. We have now passed 5.6 in just a few years. As a result, other species often have to give way.

We still use large quantities of poisons. Last year, glyphosate was approved for use for a further ten-year period. This chemical can be found in the notorious Roundup, which is known to harm biodiversity, not only where it is used, but also in surrounding areas.

“Agriculture is still using large quantities of insecticides,” said Ødegaard, and stopping using it in private gardens may actually not help that much.

Additionally, of course, all these people need food.

It can be difficult to interpret the impact that climate has on insects, he admits.

“However, some species that are already on the brink may collapse during periods of drought or heavy rainfall.

For example, summers that start with a long drought, followed by a cold, rainy spell are very unfavourable. The drought makes the flowers fade faster, and most bees do not like the cold and the rain. Norway has experienced summers like this over the past couple of years.

It might be easy to despair. Is there any good news among all this doom and gloom?

“The good news is that many people have become more aware of the situation,” he said.

As a result, more people are willing to do something to help their six-legged friends. We therefore round off this article by giving a number of recommendations.

• Do not mow your lawn, or at least leave a corner of it for flowers. This must be the easiest measure for many of us who are not very keen on gardening!
• Plant local flowers in your pots and garden. Use local seed mixes that thrive in your particular area. These mixes have been developed by the Norwegian Institute of Bioeconomy Research (NIBIO)(in Norwegian).
• Leave roadside ditches alone. Plants that insects like can often be found in these ditches.
• Insect hotels are an excellent addition. If you want to help bees, the holes should have a diameter of between 4 and 8 millimetres. You can drill these yourself. Just make sure the holes are not too big. If you buy a readymade hotel, buy one without pine cones and twigs, because these are of no use in this context.
• The most enthusiastic people with the most space can set aside a corner of their land with felled trees and perhaps a sun-facing slope with sand, although this is not something most people will be able to do.