A Study Into Their Feeding Preferences

In “Why Bees Are Disappearing,” Marla Spivak, an American entomologist, sheds light on the importance of bees in the pollination process as well as the decline in bee population. Spivak claims that “bees are the most important pollinators” because over one third of crop production across the world depends on bee pollination. However, bee populations have decreased since the end of World War II due to “multiple, interacting causes of death.” These causes are monocultures, pesticides, diseases, and flowerless landscapes, and they all pose a threat to plant diversity and food production. In order to prevent significant consequences and reverse impacts already made, Spivak encourages the audience to plant bee-friendly flowers without pesticide contamination so that bees, and therefore people, have access to better nutrition.

Furthermore bees specifically are particularly efficient with it being estimated that they are the sole pollinators for 50% of the approximate 80% of flowering plants which rely on insects for pollination (Bradbear, 2009). Their efficiency is further illustrated by the fact that a single colony containing 25,000 forager bees is able to pollinate 250 million flowers per day (Bradbear, 2009). As a result of this it can be seen that bees are hugely important as pollinators with many species of flower being completely dependent on them. Furthermore, the importance of bees extends beyond ecological diversity; certain types of bees are hugely important economically. In addition to pollinating a large variety of fruit and vegetables, bees produce Honey; together this results in them having an estimated value of service of £200m a year in the UK (National Audit Office (NAO), 2009). Overall it can be seen that bees are of significant importance that any decrease in population should be treated with concern, as a result of this a large quantity of research has been conducted into identifying possible

Global Research of CA has found that just within the last five years, “30% of the national bee population has disappeared and nearly a third of all bee colonies in the U.S. have perished.” (Statistic, Global Research Of California)

Bee decline is an increasing issue in the United states of America. An article written by the University of Vermont reveals a map of over 139 troubled zones for the population of bees and why they might be endangered. The University of Vermont is a well-respected establishment when it comes to research and Agriculture.

Since 2006, bee colony numbers have been declining at an alarming rate, about 30% per year. Scientist do not have a pin pointed reason this has been occurring, but it is likely due to a combination of poor nutrition, habitat loss, and pesticides. As the human population’s need for space and food has risen, bee population has decreased. It is imperative that we work to end this issue because without bees our food supply will collapse. Earlier in the month, The US Fish and Wildlife Service granted 7 species Hawaiian native yellow faced Bees endangered status.

Bees are the reason we have jelly, fruit, nuts, coffee and so many other vegetation (Lecture 09/27). Without these creatures we would lose so much more of our biodiversity, which is already suffering from other anthropogenic actions. Our society has a habit of finding the most cost efficient methods to produce goods that please the consumers without considering all the consequences of these actions. More importantly, we do not recognize the harm that we have caused until the damage is outrageous and requires a solution. But, this problem cannot follow those footsteps because it is essential for our ecosystem to thrive. These solution would not only save millions of dollars by being proactive, but would allow us to sustain food sources, biodiversity, and the survival of

The European honey bee interacts with a wide diversity of flora (over 200) and native Australian fauna, especially through the sharing of floral resources. These interactions can be harmful to threatened species if the resources are limited, and due to the degree of how much the honey bee consumes, relative to the other species.

Bees pollinating crops produce every third mouthful of food we eat. Bees contribute to thirty- five Percent of global food production, 87 of the leading 115 food crops are dependent on animal pollinators, including bees. (The United States White House, 2014). Without bees pollinating plants, there would not be very many fruits or vegetables to eat, Bees transfer pollen between the male and female parts, allowing plants to grow seeds and fruit. In the last decade scientist and beekeepers have observed remarkable decline of bees, in the US alone 30% of the national bee population has disappeared and nearly a third of all bee colonies in the U.S. have

Debates have been that the use of neonicotinoids began to deteriorate bee hives bee keepers are dependent on. The decline in productivity may have been caused by neonic, however an explanation has yet to be confirmed. It is believed that media have

The oldest known bee fossil is estimated to be over 135 million years old (The Xerces Society). Knowing this, one would certainly realize the importance of the relationship between plants and bees, as they have depended on each other for survival for such an immense period of time. The colossal variety of plant species are around today on behalf of the pollinators that evolved with them. However, this knowledge has not quite convinced society of the dangers the decline in bee populations pose to life as one knows it, as the loss of plants causes a dangerous chain reaction. At the curtains of every winter, a dwindling number of bees are making their debut in the thriving spring. The decrease can be seen in how United States beekeepers have lost 40 percent of their colonies since 2006 (Johnston,

(2007) upwards of 75% of the leading crops grown worldwide are dependent on or benefit from animal pollination, where as wind and self pollination is responsible of only 24% of pollination. Klatt et al. (2014) studied the affects of bee pollination and strawberry fruit yield the study showed that bee pollination not only improved fruit quality and quantity but also market value compared with wind and self pollination. The fruits pollinated by bees were heavier, had less malformations and reached are high commercial standard. The colour and texture was more vibrant and firmer with sugar to acid ratios reduced enabling a long shelf life to be obtained and over all fruit loss to be reduced by 11% (Klatt et al., 2014) These results showed that pollination by bees increased the commercial value per fruit by 38.6% compared with wind pollination and by 54.3% compared to self

Bees are important pollinators of many plants in the ecosystem (2). Recently, the decline in the number of bees in North America and Europe has shifted the research focus of many ecologists towards pesticide use (2). The impacts of pesticides on bees and other pollinators can have a major influence on honey production and biodiversity.

The beetles are originally gathered from infested honey bee colonies, and harvested for future generations. For the purposes of this experiment, nothing is used passed Generation 2 in order to keep the natural characteristics of the beetle. The beetles were also differentiated between male and female so that there could be equal amounts of males and females in each of the pollen doughs for more accurate results. There was a total of 740 beetles (370 males and 370 females) and each pollen substitute contained 240

The Dutch have figured out how to use bumblebee as pollinators because they share so many similarities with honeybees; both honeybees and bumblebees are social nesters, their colonies are headed by a single queen, who is the main egg-layer (The Silence of the Bees, 2009). The daughters of the queen, also known as the “worker bees” do almost all the work and the drones ( which are the males) are only produced during the mating season. Perhaps the biggest consideration is an economic one. Considering the fact that bumblebees only last about two months and cost two-hundred dollars to rent per colony, whereas honeybees can last up to several months with colony rentals running only one-hundred to one-hundred and forty dollars. As a depressing result, the use of bumblebee pollination is usually confined to high-value crops like tomatoes. Clearly, the use of bumblebees is a step in the right direction, but not a final

The method used to acquire the data is appropriate because the phenomenon is being observed in a wide range of areas and not only one area. Furthermore, a large sample was used 200-500 bees were used therefore suggesting that the data is reliable. By doing this sort of sampling they wanted to observe whether there were common factors, which are present in CCD, present in bee colonies separated by large distances