There is an ongoing honey bee population and dependency crisis, according to some scientific literature. (Whether that amounts to an "apocalypse" is a matter of opinion.) The gist is that, in many parts of the world natural honeybee populations have drastically declined as agricultural production dependent on pollination and therefore on beekeeper-managed hives has grown.
Here is an excerpt from the review paper Global honeybee health decline factors and potential conservation techniques in Springer Food Security from January 2023:
Given the vital role of honeybees in maintaining food security,
population decline and conservation of honeybees have gained
exponentially increasing concern over the past several decades
(Cameron & Sadd, 2020). Multiple surveys have shown that the number of
honeybee colonies in the USA and Europe has experienced a consistent
collapse between the 1960s and 2000s by approximately 50% and 25%,
respectively (Potts et al., 2010; Vanengelsdorp & Meixner, 2009). In
recent years, high colony loss rates beyond the acceptable level were
identified in several countries across North America, South America,
and Europe (Castilhos et al., 2019; Gray et al., 2020; Kulhanek et
al., 2017). Among more resource-restrained countries such as China,
Brazil, and Ethiopia, honeybee decreases are less severe since there
are adequate economic stimuli for beekeepers to protect against
honeybee health issues. The economic loss from the honeybee decline is
nevertheless noticeable. In those countries, a winter colony loss of
8.7% (below the world average) would amount to a 0.12% decline in GDP in the long term (Gray et al., 2020; Lippert et al., 2021; Tang et
al., 2020). While there is no pronounced evidence for a pollination
crisis at current levels of loss, a challenging goal of elevating 70%
of food production by mid-century is not likely to be fulfilled
without a sustainable pollination service (Mc Carthy et al., 2018). As
dependence on pollination continues to grow, a pollination deficit
caused by dwindling honeybee populations will exacerbate the problem
of food availability and quality.
This builds on the more commonly cited review paper Global pollinator declines: trends, impacts and drivers from 2010 by Potts, et.al. which concluded (in part):
There is clear evidence of recent declines in both wild and
domesticated pollinators, and parallel declines in the plants that
rely upon them. Here we describe the nature and extent of reported
declines, and review the potential drivers of pollinator loss,
including habitat loss and fragmentation, agrochemicals, pathogens,
alien species, climate change and the interactions between them.
Which noted:
There is clear evidence for severe regional declines in domestic honey
bee stocks in the USA (59% loss of colonies between 1947 and 2005, 6,
7) and Europe (25% loss of colonies in central Europe between 1985 and
2005, [8]) making the dependence of agricultural crops, and possibly
wild plants, on a single species worrisome.
And in 2006 there was a National Academy of Sciences report on the Status of Pollinators which summarized:
There is evidence of decline in the abundance of some pollinators, but
the strength of this evidence varies among taxa. Long-term population
trends for several wild bee species (notably bumble bees) and some
butterflies, bats, and hummingbirds are demonstrably downward.
The report notes that part of the U.S. response to the lack of domestic honeybees was to import honeybees and to seasonally move hives around inside the country, which exacerbated existing problems by introducing new pests and predators and distributing them around inside the country. This also raised the costs of maintaining healthy hives.
