Honey Bees Pollinators

Before we started researching this project we didn’t know how important bees are to our environment. In general, we can help solve this problem in our environment by limiting the use of pesticides. Creating regulations and laws limiting and controlling the use of neonicotinoid and coumaphos pesticides would greatly help the bees population. We can also reward farmers for practices that help wild bee populations thrive, such as leaving habitat for bees in their surrounding fields, alternating crops so bees have food all year long, and not using harmful

The colony collapse disorder has been threatening the United States for many years. Reports show excessive numbers of honeybees dying off. According to the Bee Informed Partnership and USDA’s annual survey, during the winter of 2013-2014, the mortality of managed honeybee colonies was 23.2. The previous winter’s report showed a loss of 30.5 percent of the colonies and thus, the winter 2013-2014 results might show some improvement. However, beekeepers persist that the still declining honeybee colonies are becoming too low for colony collapse disorder to be considered a solved issue. Approximately two-thirds of the beekeepers reported losses greater than the acceptable 18.9 percent mortality rate, thus deeming the losses greater than what is economically sustainable. The issue

The bees never seem to catch a break which is putting the bees under “stress” which is a factor. Furthermore, when they are pollinating all these different plants some are not nutritious as others, for example cucumbers aren’t as healthy as some of the other plants but there is still a demand for them, so the bees still have to work and eventually become unhealthy if they aren’t getting the right nutrients. Another factor is pesticides, which has many different points of view but overall it has come to decided it is not the pesticides themselves that are killing masses of bees but it is lowering their immune system and making it easier for them to get sick, for example with the common parasite Nosema. Nosema is a parasite in the digestive track of the honey bee that attacks the entire hive and can eventually wipe out the whole hive. The effects of the pesticides are ultimately never letting the hives reach their maximum potential, which in the end could render the hives weak and lethargic. There are so many pesticides out there it is hard to tell exactly what component in the pesticide is hurting the bees. It is recently found that the inert ingredients used often to boost the effectiveness of the pesticide are actually more harmful than the actual toxic ingredients

Bee populations are declining at an alarming rate all around the world, and daily life without bees would be detrimental. Without the bees around to help pollinate our food, 30 percent of which is grown using bees, there is an incredibly high chance that we would starve. “Mankind will not survive the honeybees’ disappearance for more than five years.” (Albert Einstein) By using harmful pesticides in our agriculture, and the excessive use of high fructose corn syrup, we are killing the bees at an alarming rate. One of every three bites of food rely on pollination for a profitable harvest. We must acknowledge everything that the bees provide for humans, then ban pesticides that hard bees, move away from industrial agriculture and put our focus

Neonicotinoid pesticides are a group of chemicals widely used on farm crops, plants, and trees (1). The concern behind these pesticides is the harmful impact on pollinating insects such as honey bees and bumble bees (1). Neonicotinoids are sprayed onto the plant where they are absorbed by the plant and are transported to all parts of the plant including the pollen (see figure 1) (1). Bees then ingest the pesticide via the pollen; specifically, this is the point where the central nervous system of the bees becomes compromised. A large number of deaths in bees is being used as an argument against the use of neonicotinoids (1).

The bees are dying because of humans. Global warming, habitat destruction, pesticides, and air pollution are just some of the ways that humans are actively destroying the global bee population. The insecticide neonicotinoids are the most widely used, and also one of the most hurtful. Neonicotinoids can affect the bees’ ability to navigate back to their hive, and also can lead to a decline in queen bees. The insecticides weaken the bees’ immune system which allows them to be much more susceptible to getting sick, and dying. However, honey colony collapse Disorder is not exclusively caused by neonicotinoids, viral pathogens and parasite mites are also fatal to the bee population. “Wild bee habitat shrinks every year as industrial agribusiness

In centuries, the honey bee has a very important role in our agriculture. According to Watanabe, Honey bee approximately benefits $10 billion of crops, including almonds, apples, and alfalfa every year in the United State (Pollination Worries rise As Honey Bees Decline, 1170). In addition, The National Agriculture Statistics Service (NASS) had estimated 2660 million honey producing colonies in 2015 (2017). Based on honey bees’ behavior, they can expand nearly all habitable corners of the globe which made them highly adaptable species (Dennis, 80). With adaptable capability and high productivity, our beekeepers can able to maintain their life

When most people hear even the slightest mention of the Honeybee, a tinge of panic immediately races through their heart. The Honeybee lives in infamy as one of the peskiest creatures on the planet. With memories of painful stings looming in the back of the mind, it can be a challenge to find sympathy for the planet’s tiniest, yet mightiest insect. The Honeybee population is dying at an alarming rate, an issue that is certainly not new, but has often been ignored or simply forgotten. Honeybees spend their lives furiously working to pollinate hundreds of plants, supplying the planet with a plethora of earth-grown delicacies, all the while supporting a diverse ecosystem.

If there isn’t enough pollen to fertilize plants, then they will not grow, and if they don’t grow we can’t harvest the fruits and vegetables that they provide, causing us to lose a portion of our food supply. The European Commission(EC) said it intended to impose a two-year ban on neonicotinoids. The EC action will restrict the use of three major neonicotinoids on seeds, plants, and grains, beginning December 1st. A recent study found that unstable amounts of neonicotinoids in bee hives can interfere with the bee’s ability to find its way back to its hive and also can affect the reproduction rate in the queen bee. Neonicotinoid combined with other pesticides can suppress the bee’s immune system, making it easier for them to catch diseases. Eric Mussen, and apiculturist, noted that the case against pesticides is not a clear-cut. Honeybees are apparently doing fine in Australia and Canada, yet neonicotinoids are widely used there.

The environmental change associated with the decline of the honeybee in America has gained much attention in the past decade as scientists and farmers have come to terms with the seriousness of the issue on hand. The importance of the bee has been emphasised and acknowledged as the human race is now forced to deal with a life threatening issue.

“Pesticides become a problem when farmers spray crops to control insects that might eat their plants. When honey bees arrive to pollinate, they’re exposed to harmful chemicals” (Save the Bees 17). Tragically, pesticides do not discriminate, and harmless insects often fall victim to these toxic chemicals. When scrounging for pollen amongst crops caked in pesticides, bees often become coated in the chemicals and eventually end up carrying them back to their colonies. Unsure of exactly how many of these chemicals wind up in the hive; scientists conducted extensive research on the topic. “Jeffery Pettis in 2010, drew comb and wax samples from beehives in 23 U.S. states, finding an average of six different pesticides in each and as many as 39” (Volk 34). This evidence clearly indicates that, because it is being stored in the hive for extended periods of time, it is having a longer, more potent effect on bee populations. However, the severity of the effects of pesticides found in the hives is debated. In some instances, where pesticides were discovered in the wax or pollen of a hive, researchers discovered “almost all were found at levels below what is lethal to honey bees” (Kaplan 7). That being said, other experts have proven that, although nonlethal, small amounts of pesticides still have a detrimental impact on the health of bees. In one study done by the University of Maryland, it was discovered that “Sublethal doses of the pesticide imidacloprid - one of the neonicotinoid group of pesticides - were found to make honey bees more susceptible to the gut parasite Nosema” (Kaplan

Bees are widely seen as an annoyance, a pest or just another insignificant bug, but in actuality, bees play a crucial role in our environment. Honeybees are responsible for pollinating eighty percent of vegetables fruits and seed crops in the U.S. Bees are important towards both our ecosystem and economy, “They are critical pollinators: they pollinate 70 of the around 100 crop species that feed ninety percent of the world. Honey bees are responsible for thirty billion a year in crops.” (Bees extinct)

Pollinators are very important to our survival. If it was not for the pollinators many foods and foods that depend on plants to be pollinated. It is crazy is was discovered so many years ago that this process was happening. With these findings it also brought forth the idea of management back from 1600’s. To be able to hunt and collect bee honey. The ability to collect honey by managing bee hives. With bee’s worth increasing the demand and management to be able to keep bee’s around. This is why it is so important to practice environmental strategies. Throughout history it shows the importance of bee’s. What we have needed them for and why. Like in California “1890s for pollination and growers learned to identify the proper species for pollination

There are several different species of insect pollinators, but the bees in general make up sixty-two percent of them. Honeybees make up thirty-nine percent of that number, and the other twenty-three is composed of several different species of bees. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, one-third of the homo-sapiens diet is insect pollinated and honeybees are accountable for eighty percent of the pollination of that one-third. The population of the honeybees in the United States has been noticeably declining from the late 1990 's, so the threat to the majority of the world food supply is slowly increasing as our pollinators population decreases.

Honey bees, feared by the misinformed and admired by the intelligent, are dying. The interest in bees from many environmentalists is not for a sudden cause, as this issue is not new to the world. Honey bees as a population have been in decline for years but have yet to reach the endangered species list anywhere in the United States except for Hawaii. Many people kill bees that buzz around joyfully, simply because they are afraid of being stung by them; however, a vast majority of bees do not sting and the others do not care. This unfortunate commonality is not even one of the top causes of the worldwide epidemic of honey bees. Although bees are jokingly idolized on the internet in pictures and videos as a result of a popular children’s movie, their population decline is in fact quite serious. Honey bees and other pollinators like birds and insects ensure the pollination of flowering plants and crops all around the globe. Not only do honey bees pollinate plants that produce the foods that humans eat, but they also pollinate trees that produce clean oxygen for Earth. Without honey bees, the world as we know it could soon end, due to carbon dioxide pollution and lack of farmable foods. The population of honeybees and other important pollinator-bee species is dwindling due to a dilemma known to scientists as colony collapse disorder (CCD) because of the use of bee-killing pesticides, known as neonicotinoids, the decrease of flower meadows in the world, and the general increase