In 1921 a San Jose, California newspaper reiterated the statement about plants and bees "It is interesting to know it has been accurately estimated, that more than 100,000 varieties of our plants would disappear if they were not visited by the bees. Our blossoms-covered valley owes a large part of its wonderful fruition, to the little people of the hive. "
While we can agree or - not - about how important that honey bee do brought a large part out ecosystem in earth.
Bees are beneficial because of their pollination services, providing food in the form of fruits, berries, nuts, leaves, roots and seeds. Arguably, it is the most interesting parts of our diet are reliant on bees (and other pollinators) for cross pollination (pollination with other type of plant).
Pollination is is important because it leads to the production of fruits we can eat, and seeds that will create more plants. Pollination begins with flowers. Flowers have male parts that produce very small grains called pollen.
Pollination is the transfer of pollen grains from one flower to another. Many insects help move pollen between flowers and act as “pollinators”. Butterflies, moths, bees, and flies are examples of insect pollinators. When a pollinator visits a flower it is looking for food but while feeding these insects accidentally transfer pollen grains between flowers and help the plants produce fruits and seeds.
What is often ignored is the fact that bees also pollinate foods eaten by other animals and birds.
Birds and mammals may rely on berries, seeds and also some fruits and nuts. It also has to be said that some domesticated animals benefit from pollination too – cows, for example, eat alfalfa which is pollinated by bees (leafcutter bee species are especially effective).
Pollination is not just important for the food we eat directly, it’s vital for the foraging crops, such as field beans and clover, used to feed the livestock we depend on for meat. Just as importantly, it helps to feed many other animals in the food chain and maintains the genetic diversity of the flowering plants.
The Declining of Bee Colonies Growth
while i looking for a chart for how the honey bee growth in this modern era,
here's the chart from Bee Informed Partnership chart about the declining honey bee colonies in United States ;
In late 2006, Beekeepers in United States began reporting sharp declines in their honey bee colonies. Becaue of the severity and unusual circumstances of these colony declines, scientists named this phenomenon Colony collapse disorder (CCD) which can be identified by the absence of bees in dead colonies and apiaries.
Possible causes of colony collapse disorder ; Insecticide, Pesticide ,Parasite/pathogen, combination of stresses, radiation, GMO plant or food, global warming and so on..
Dave Goulson, who studies the impacts of neonicotinoids (insecticide) on bees the University of Sussex in the UK, says this new research provides ‘clear evidence’ that fipronil bioaccumulates in honeybees, and it is therefore very likely to do so in other beneficial insects. ‘Exposure to fipronil is a likely cause of some instances of collapse of honeybee colonies,’ he states, suggesting that the regulatory process for pesticides has failed to protect the environment by ‘not detecting and flagging up’ fipronil’s potential for bioaccumulation. The use of fipronil for crop protection has only been banned within the EU since 2013.
‘I had my dead bees analysed and the results came back with the only pesticide being fipronil,’ Ashley-Cooper tells Chemistry World. He notes that some farmers admitted to using fipronil for the last decade or more to control ant problems. ‘We have had smaller losses before without realising what the problem was,’ he recalls.
Honey bees are the insect that contribute by it's pollinations around of agricultural crops worldwide and are the only bee species kept commercially in the United States. Bee pollination of agricultural crop is said to a account for about one-third of our diet. The Depopulation of bees could have the huge impact on the environment which is reliant on the insects for pollination. if taken to the extreme, crops, fodder and therefore the livestock could die off it there are no pollinating insect left.
As Albert Einstein once quote “If the bee disappeared off the face of the Earth, man would only have four years left to live. No more bees, no more pollination, no more plants, no more animals, no more man.”
The assertion that 100,000 varieties of plants were dependent on the ministrations of the bee for continued existence was spellbinding, and it has been regularly repeated for more than a hundred years.
( BONUS SECTION ) FACT ABOUT HONEY BEES ??
- Honey bees must gather nectar from two million flowers to make one pound of honey.
- One bee has to fly about 90,000 miles – three times around the globe – to make one pound of honey.
- The average bee will make only 1/12th of a teaspoon of honey in its lifetime.
- A honey bee visits 50 to 100 flowers during a collection trip.
- A honey bee can fly for up to six miles, and as fast as 15 miles per hour.
- The bee’s brain is oval in shape and about the size of a sesame seed, yet it has a remarkable capacity to learn and remember things. For example, it is able to make complex calculations on distance travelled and foraging efficiency.
- Honey bees communicate with one another by dancing.
- A colony of bees consists of 20,000-60,000 honey bees and one queen. Worker honey bees are female, live for about 6 weeks and do all the work.
- The queen bee can live up to 5 years and is the only bee that lays eggs. She is the busiest in the summer months, -when the hive needs to be at its maximum strength, and lays up to 2500 eggs per day.
- Larger than the worker bees, the male honey bees (also called drones), have no stinger and do no work. All they do is mate.
- Honey has always been highly regarded as a medicine. It is thought to help with everything from sore throats and digestive disorders to skin problems and hay fever.
- Honey has antiseptic properties and was historically used as a dressing for wounds and a first aid treatment for burns and cuts.
- The natural fruit sugars in honey – fructose and glucose – are quickly digested by the body. This is why sportsmen and athletes use honey to give them a natural energy boost.
- Honey bees have been producing honey in the same way for 150 million years.
- The honey bee is the only insect that produces food eaten by man.
- Honey lasts an incredibly long time. An explorer who found a 2000 year old jar of honey in an Egyptian tomb said it tasted delicious
- The bees’ buzz is the sound made by their wings which beat 11,400 times per minute.
- When a bee finds a good source of nectar it flies back to the hive and shows its friends where the nectar source is by doing a dance which positions the flower in relation to the sun and hive. This is known as the ‘waggle dance.’
- Honey’s ability to attract and retain moisture means that it has long been used as a beauty treatment. It was part of Cleopatra’s daily beauty ritual.
- Honey is incredibly healthy and includes enzymes, vitamins, minerals. It’s the only food that contains “pinocembrin”, an antioxidant associated with improved brain functioning.
- In this new study, scientists at RMIT University in Melbourne, Australia. Wanted to know if the honey bee could also prove their understanding of zero as a quantitative value. The team was surprised to find that indeed The bees could discriminate a value of one from zero with moderate ability, and that success increased when higher values were compared to zero. in short, honey bee knows math.
Source of articles and photos :
https://bit.ly/2XMTb87 (beehacker.com)
https://bit.ly/2EZLNz0 (this.deakin.edu.au)
https://bit.ly/2VLi8yT (civileats.com)
https://goo.gl/4oocGm (matteroftrust.org)
https://goo.gl/wPxecA (popsci)
https://bit.ly/2F0ZZI1 (chemistryworld.com)
https://bit.ly/1TzX1Hl (beeinformed.org)
https://bbc.in/W7QCwA (bbc.co.uk)
https://bit.ly/2HaCkqz (quoteinvestigator.com)
https://bit.ly/2liscPW (buzzaboutbee.com)