Save the Bees

In recent years, “Save the Bees” has become a popular saying that has gone viral, bringing awareness to the declining bee populations. Although many people seem to be aware of this issue, there are misconceptions about how different types of bees are being affected and how crucial these pollinators are to our environment, economy, and the world. Due to Colony Collapse Disorder, pesticides, and other issues, both native and honey bees have been declining. Scientists have taken steps to research more about is exactly happening to bees and to find measures that can be taken to reverse the deterioration of these essential pollinators. By examining background information on bees and the difference between native and non-native species as well as why bees are dying, one can understand not only the importance of bees but also what can be done to reverse this decline.

Background Information

Prior to evaluating the deterioration of bee populations, one must first examine the different types of bees and how they came to be so prominent in the United States. There are over 20,000 different species of bees, with 3,500 present in the United States (Gardener, n.d.). Honey bees were introduced to North America for commercialized pollination where they joined the already present native bees. Though differing in behavior and functions, as well as originating from completely different continents, native and non-native bees are crucial to our world through their pollination of agricultural crops and wild plants, providing food and so much more.

Honey Bees

Dawning from Europe, the Middle East, Asia, and Africa, western honey bees are non-native to the United States, but they have been imported, domesticated, and farmed in North America and in many other countries for the commercial production of honey. Honey bees are typically Asian honey bees or Apis cerana, not to be confused with the African honey bee that is more aggressive in nature and is typically only found in the Southwest due to their intolerance of low temperatures (Texas Invasive Species Intitute, n.d.). Though they are an essential contributor to agricultural production, less than 2% of bees in the United States are honey bees, the other 98% are native. (Gardener, n.d.) While honey bees are not the most prominent bee species found in the United States, their function remains just as important.

Honey bees are social insects, living communally in a hive and working together to sustain not only the colony, but also their population size through reproduction. They have haplo-diploid sex determination, where unfertilized eggs are male and fertilized eggs are female (Mortensen, Schmehl, & Ellis, 2013). Worker bees are females that cannot reproduce and predominately focus on the collection of pollen and nectar. Male honey bees, on the other hand, also known as drones, mainly reproduce until they die immediately after. Along with pollination, worker bees take care of eggs, larvae, and pupae, as well as build honeycombs and provide food and security for the hive. The queen honey bee is larger than a regular worker bee and is the only one who reproduces, laying up to 1500 eggs a day (Mortensen et al. 2013). Since honey bees’ survival is extremely dependent on working together as a hive, communication is key. Whether it is for defense and they need to sting an intruder or they are trying to detect their queen, they rely on pheromones, chemical signals that are released through glands so they can communicate. While they are widely known for their honey production, honey bees are essential providers of dietary staples including many different fruits, vegetables and nuts (Boland, 2010). Honey bees clearly have a particular way of life. Their social behavior and sex determining task separate this species of bees from others. This is an important distinction to make when examining the effects of declining bee populations.

Native Bees

Native bees have been in America for millions of years and there are many different types of them. Natives existed before humans and the importation of honey bees from abroad. (Gardener, n.d.). Though they do not produce honey, native bees are essential pollinators for wildflowers, plants and trees, helping to beautify our world and contributing to an abundance of ecosystems, as well as many different crops. Many native bees are active when honey bees are not able to be in early spring or during cold weather and natives are actually more effective in the pollination of tomatoes, cranberries, and other crops (Ellis, 2007). Most species of native bees are solitary and live alone unlike the honey bee that operates within a colony (Moisset & Buchmann, n.d.). Native bees occasionally nest in groups, but exist separately having their own personal nest, collecting their own pollen, and laying eggs alone. While most native bees are solitary but some species such as bumble, sweat, and carpenter are social bees and colonize (Gardener, n.d.). Understanding these differences between these two types of bee species will help broaden one’s understanding of how declines in these populations could produce devastating effects.

The Contribution of Bees

Bees are known for their contributions to the honey industry, but they do so much more. Within the U.S. alone, honey bee pollination is worth around $20 billion a year and accounts for a third of the food that humans consume (Fischer, 2014). This includes essential crops, such as strawberries, apples, cucumbers, grapes, asparagus, and nuts. Half of all honey bees, or 1.3 million, in the United States are used only for almond crops production, illustrating that almonds could not exist without the help of these pollinators (Moisset, n.d.). Honey bees also contribute to beef, dairy, and natural fiber industries due to their pollination of clover and alfalfa, used for feed, as well as cotton and hemp (Boland, 2017) (Owen, 2016). Native bees are essential to the pollination of plants and wildflowers, even pollinating crops such as tomatoes and peppers better than honeybees (Gardener, n.d.). Bees contribute a lot to our ecosystems and economy. With declines in their populations, overwhelming effects could occur however, bringing awareness to this issue is extremely important and is something that must be done in order to prevent further harmful effects from occurring.

Bee Decline

Many different factors have contributed to the loss of bee numbers throughout time. Research is still being done to figure out what exactly is causing this and how it can be prevented. Human impact is an overarching theme when it comes to bee decline. The use of harmful pesticides and agricultural practices has