Why are bees important?

Bees. At first thought, one might not think too highly of them. Why should they? Aren’t bees just another insect? Another bug we have to crush when it gets in our way? How is it so different from those annoying ants and mosquitoes?

Believe it or not, bees play a pivotal role in the agricultural world. 30% of what we eat requires insect pollination, with the mass majority driven by honey bees. To put this in perspective, the UN estimates the worth of global crops with honey bee pollination was estimated close to $200 billion in 2005. And this value only continues to increase as the years go by.

However, over the past few decades, it is shown that the population is dwindling at an alarming rate. Known as Colony Collapse Disorder, many colonies of bees are being depleted all over the world. 20% of American bee colonies died last winter and 43% were lost last summer. Just imagine how devastating it would be to global agriculture, and its effect on the economy.

But why is this happening all of a sudden? Is this another effect of climate change? Yes, it is, but there are more factors leading to this plight. Climate change changes bees behavior, since they behave differently when the weather is hot or wet. With constant fluctuations in the weather leading to extending droughts and rain, bees are reluctant to leave their colonies and pollen are washed away more easily, making it hard to sustain their colonies.

Parasites such as the Varroa Destructor weakens the bees by drinking their blood. While treatments are continuously being made, these parasites mutate at an frightening pace, so the treatments are rendered useless after a few years. It is also shown that bees are not receiving the enough/ correct nutrition from their beekeepers, such as the practice of feeding High-fructose corn syrup or only a single food source, causing life-threatening stress in the colonies. Several states report that malnutrition is a major factor responsible to the death of bees, being over 50% of the cases.

It is getting much harder, more expensive, and more time consuming to raise bees to pollenate crops and produce honey. And unless these problems are addressed, we may be on a path to a desolate world. However, not all hope is lost. Governments are encouraging farmers to plant wildflowers in marginal land near streams and at the end of fields for the bees to ensure they receive the right nutrition, and pesticides are made to combat the parasites. Next week, we will be looking at the Bromsgrove Bee Keeping team and their take on their situation.




References:
Tracy, W. (2018). How Bees Work.
Available: https://animals.howstuffworks.com/insects/bee7.htm. Last accessed 6th Nov 2018.

Wikipedia. (2007). Colony collapse disorder.
Available: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colony_collapse_disorder. Last accessed 6th Nov 2018.