Can Mushrooms Save our Bees?
Bees Are in Trouble. Mycelium Can Help.
By Paul Stamets
We are facing a global immunity crisis - one that spans species, from bees to humans - and mushroom mycelium offers some of the most powerful, overlooked solutions.
People often say that “solutions are literally under the very footsteps we take” or “hiding in plain sight.” Mushroom mycelium is a perfect example. Mycelium is a fine, sometimes cobweb‑like cellular network that threads through nearly all land‑based ecosystems. It appeared hundreds of millions of years before animals and helped life migrate from shorelines onto land by partnering with plants to establish terrestrial habitats. Mycelium formed cooperative guilds of organisms that gave rise to forests and the healthy, resilient soils that support them. For mushrooms to appear in woodlands, you need woodlands first—and mycelium helped build them.
Today, thousands of scientists recognize that mycelium is not only a primary pillar of the food web—the “wood wide web”—but also functions as an immune system that trees depend on to survive. The two are inseparable: remove one, and the other collapses. Mycelial networks embody deep reservoirs of ecological intelligence that we can now tap to address some of our most urgent challenges. One of the most pressing is the loss of domesticated and wild bees.
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Roughly 100 foods we eat depend directly on bee pollination, and about 30% of global food volume relies on bees. The indirect effects are even greater because food webs are tightly interconnected. The honey bee is, in many ways, an “enslaved” or domesticated species that props up large‑scale monocrop agriculture. The predominant species, Apis mellifera, evolved in European, Asian and African hardwood forests. This bee was brought to North America in the 1600s by European newcomers.
The USDA classifies honey bees as minor livestock, and historically we have treated them accordingly—breeding and managing them primarily for pollination services. Apis mellifera was favored because it produces large colonies (up to 100,000 bees) and abundant honey, making it the preferred species for commercial crop pollination. A single queen can lay up to 3,000 eggs per day under ideal conditions. Interestingly, feral honey bee colonies—the ones that escape managed hives—can become the largest of all. These feral bees often nest in the hollows of trees. Those hollows can be created and shaped by mushroom mycelium.
Many woodpeckers carry wood‑decaying fungi on their beaks and, when pecking at a tree, they excavate cavities while inoculating the wood with fungi that promote decay and hollow formation. Insects like beetles feed on the mycelium; later, woodpeckers and other birds feed on the developing larvae. Over time, the hollows grow larger, the mycelium spreads, and the resulting cavity becomes an ideal, nurturing home for bees. I hypothesize that bees are attracted to rotting wood, in part, for immune benefits inherent in these mycelium‑rich microhabitats.
Many of us grew up with Winnie‑the‑Pooh, who famously tried to steal honey from feral colonies nesting in the hollow of an oak tree. Yet, as far as I know, no one made the connection between bees and mushroom mycelium until my own accidental discovery.
“Colony Collapse Disorder” is a simple phrase for a harsh reality: a net loss of honey bees—both in quantity and diversity—spreading like a plague across the planet. In the United States, recent statewide losses have ranged from 50–95%, with a national average of 62%. The causes are numerous, but two stand out as major drivers of collapse: parasitic mites and the viruses they vector. A 2025 research article, “USDA Researchers Find Viruses from Miticide Resistant Parasitic Mites are Cause of Recent Honey Bee Colony Collapses,” highlights how miticide‑resistant mites transmitting viruses are central to recent losses.
My own journey into this intersection of bees and fungi began in my garden in the 1980s. I noticed a steady convoy of bees traveling from my hives to my mushroom beds, pushing aside woodchips and sipping golden droplets—extracellular secondary metabolites exuded by the mycelium. (I describe this observation in my book, Growing Gourmet & Medicinal Mushrooms.) Later, after discovering surprising results against potentially weaponizable viruses under the BioShield Biodefense program (created after 9/11), I began to suspect that polypore mushroom mycelium—especially species that grow on dead wood—might help bees as well.
Working with USDA and Washington State University researchers, we tested this idea and published the results in Nature: Scientific Reports in a paper titled “Extracts of Polypore Mushroom Mycelium Reduces Viruses in Honey Bees.”
Two leading entomologists and coauthors on the study were struck by the findings. Walter S. Sheppard, PhD, of Washington State University, noted:
“As an entomologist with 39 years’ experience studying bees, I am unaware of any reports of materials that extend the life of worker bees more than this.”
Jay Evans, PhD, of the USDA Agricultural Research Service, stated:
“I have never seen such strong antiviral activity against bee viruses as I have seen with Stamets’s extracts.”
Adding mushroom mycelium based extract (1%) to sugar-water (50:50)
Washington State University (WSU) team with Steve Sheppard, PhD and Brandon Hopkins, PhD sampling bees 12 days after treatment with mushroom mycelium based extract.
We are now actively working with government regulators to establish that mycelium‑based extracts are part of a normal, healthy diet for bees. This recognition led me to a larger insight: mushroom mycelium can enhance immunity across many animal species, from bees to humans, with particular relevance for viral pandemics.
However, we face a conceptual and regulatory problem. Our default assumption is that any reduction in viruses must come from a discrete antiviral “drug” molecule. In reality, many natural systems work by modulating innate immunity—raising the baseline level of readiness so the organism can suppress viruses endogenously. When we conduct bio‑guided fractionation, using solvents to isolate what we think must be the “active ingredient,” we repeatedly find that no single molecule can fully explain the effects we observe.
In nature, immunity is not built on one molecule but on a synergistic array of compounds interacting with a network of immune receptors to trigger a coordinated, innate response—whether in bees or humans. This understanding aligns with Traditional Chinese Medicine, which has used polypore mushrooms for thousands of years to support human immunity as complex, whole‑system interventions rather than single‑compound drugs. If the goal of mycelium is survival and, ultimately, reproduction, then mushroom fruitbodies are the culmination of a complex decision‑making and adaptive process. Mushrooms are made of mycelium, and we now recognize mycelium as the immune stage of the fungal life cycle. With modern cultivation methods, we can grow mycelial products at scale and purity levels far beyond historical practices, opening the door to interspecies immunomodulatory benefits.
These are immunomodulatory foods: a class of foods that influence immune function in measurable ways. The FDA and USDA, however, do not formally recognize this category for making claims in terms of reducing viruses or extending longevity. Under current frameworks, if a substance reduces viral levels, it is treated as a “drug.” Because humans consume honey, mushroom extracts given to bees are viewed as an undeclared drug input, which effectively blocks their use. This is especially ironic given that these extracts are most valuable early in the pollination season, well before honey supers are added.
We find ourselves in a now‑familiar conundrum: science and practice move forward, but regulatory structures lag behind, creating friction that slows or halts innovative solutions. Navigating these hurdles is expensive—not only financially and personally, but also in terms of ecological and community health.
It is frustrating.
Bureaucratic constructs are preventing the deployment of solutions that could save billions of dollars and potentially millions of lives across our food webs. We absolutely need government regulations where they are appropriate and protective. But when they become misaligned with emerging evidence, we must be able to adjust. We need to follow the science, not rely on outdated mental models that force every novel solution into a pre‑existing “box.” When no existing box fits, we should create a new one. I propose immunomodulatory foods as that new box—the nexus between healthy foods and drugs.
Using mycelium could play a major role in reducing the impact, spread, and damage of viral pandemics. It is no longer hiding in plain sight; the results are visible right now. The question is whether governments will remove the obstacles needed for responsible, timely deployment. Time will tell. In the meantime, losses continue to mount across ecosystems and food systems—unnecessarily.
Respectfully,
Paul StametsMycologist, Earthling
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