Dwindling Bees

Bees are dwindling in numbers seen in mass animal extinctions. So far, eight bee species have been placed on the endangered list.

How do Bees Benefit Us?

Bees are widely known to people as just honey makers. But, most bees actually do not make honey. They do much more for nature and our environment than we actually think.

Bees are essential for farming, they are the leading pollinators and pollinate a lot of the foods that are consumed daily. Foods like avocados, cucumber, mangos, kiwis, etc. are all foods dependent on bees to pollinate them. It is said that 80% of all US crops are dependent on honeybees. Not only do they pollinate food but also things like cotton and flax. Many of the products like soap and cleaning products are dependent on bees.

Not only would plants be affected but people too, to the food we eat, would be dull and less nutritious. Without these pollinators, there would be an increased number of people that suffer from vitamin A, iron, and folate deficiency.

Bees boost the color and beauty of our environment. It is said that the health of our bees correlates with the health of our natural ecosystem. Many plants like wildflowers and poppies have shown visible parallel declines. Plants like these, usually pollinated by bumblebees, have declined over the recent decades.

What is Happening to the Bees?

Over the years we have seen a decline in the bee populations but what is really causing this? The are many factors why bees are dying out. Some of them being climate change, pesticides, and the loss of biodiversity.

When natural land and natural areas are being turned into homes or cities, it leaves bees with a loss of habit. Since WW11, 97% of wildflower meadows have been lost leaving bees without a real natural habitat. Governments have made protected sites so bees can prosper in that area. But a lot of these lands are not in what is considered “favorable conditions.”

Climate change isn’t killing bees but it is throwing their behavior off. The signs of change in a new season are becoming harder and harder for the bees to distinguish. Climate change can affect the timing that plants bloom leaving bees without a food source. Some bee species have adapted to this by moving to the north. But not all bee species are going to adapt as well leading them to die out.

Pesticides are a very big problem for bees. The reason for pesticides is to kill unwanted insects, but it also harms beneficial insects like bees. Applying pesticides to crops can affect the honeybee's ability to navigate, the bumblebee's ability to reproduce, and solitary bees to reproduce young at all. Pesticides like neonicotinoids are especially harmful to them because when a bee pollinates a plant with this it can affect its central nervous system.

Sources

“What Are the Causes of Bee Decline?” Friends of the Earth, friendsoftheearth.uk/nature/what-are-causes-bee-decline.

“Why Do We Need Bees?” Friends of the Earth, friendsoftheearth.uk/nature/why-do-we-need-bees.

“Why Bees Are Important.” Sustain, www.sustainweb.org/foodfacts/bees_are_important/.