premise: The dramatic decline of the bee population in the UK has been attributed to a number of causes such as the loss of wild flowers in the countryside. Bees require these wildflowers for food and it has been estimated that 97% of the flower-rich grassland has been lost since the 1930s. Other causes include climate change and pesticides that are toxic to bees. This is particularly problematic in the UK, which has had a 50% reduction in the honey bee population between 1985 and 2005 whilst the rest of Europe has only averaged a 20% reduction during the same time period. This loss of flowers from the British countryside has been caused by agricultural pressures. In order to increase food production, traditional farming methods have been abandoned in favour of techniques that increase productivity. These techniques, however, involve the reduction of wild flowers. Bumblebees are required to pollinate wildflowers and commercial crops. A reduction of wildflower pollination will result in their decline, which will ultimately affect other wildlife as they can be involved in a complex food chain. The commercial crops will need to be pollinated artificially using expensive methods that will ultimately drive up the price of fruits and vegetables. The global economic value of pollination from bees has been estimated at 265 billion annually.
hypothesis: The UK is the country with the largest decline in bee population