One of the main reasons responsible for the decline in the number of honeybees is the increasing use of cellphones, a study claims.

Researcher Daniel Favre, a former biologist with the Lausanne-based Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, recorded honeybees' reactions to cellphones by placing cellphones next to beehives.

He conducted a total of eighty-three experiments. In some experiments he turned the cellphones off, while in others he put them in standby mode and used them to make calls.

The researcher found that honeybees increased their noises by ten times when the cellphone was in use. The electromagnetic fields created by cellphones make honeybees to depart their hives and never find their way back to their hive, which eventually leads them to die.

Around 43 per cent of all bee loses take place loses their track back to their hives.

Commenting on the findings, Favre states, "Recent efforts have been made to study another potential cause responsible for bee losses: manmade electromagnetic fields."

According to a UN report, as many as 20,000 flowering plant species could vanish in the next two decades if bees are not protected.