The Apis Mellifera, or honey bee, have survived on this planet for fifty million years. This species of bee is responsible for pollinating flowers, grass, trees and crops around the world. Much of the food we eat is dependent on honey bees for pollination. Our ecosystem depends on the survival of the honey bee. Colonies of honeybees have been disappearing at an alarming rate around the world due to parasites, viral and bacterial diseases, and the introduction of pesticides and herbicides. Over the past six years, on average, 30 percent of all the honey bee colonies in the U.S. died off over the winter of 2012(NPR/TED). If this trend continues to spiral downward, honey bees will disappear from the world. We must understand the importance of the Honey bee and change our environmental practices in order to sustain this vital insect. Just how important are honey bees to the ecosystem? Typically, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Honeybees pollinate eighty percent of our crops, or about a third of our diet. Honeybees cross-pollinate different plant species, by carrying pollen, which it uses to spread throughout an area of flowers. On a larger scale, one bee colony is able to pollinate 300 million flowers each day (Greenpeace). Grains, like rice and wheat, are primarily populated by wind, however, the healthiest foods, such as fruit, vegetables and nuts are pollinated by bees. In order for humankind to grow the honeybees must be able to live. By pollinating flowers, the honey bee produces honey, a vital product that we humans use every day as a form of food, medicine, and beauty products. Honey is highly nutritious; it has several vitamins and minerals including antioxidants that delay ageing (Kumar). In the U.S. a... ... middle of paper ... ...ampath. "Medicinal Uses and Health Benefits of Honey: An Overview." Journal of Chemical and Pharmaceutical Research 2.1 (2010): 385-95. Web. . Lawrence, Timothy, and Walter S. Sheppard. "Neonicotinoid Pesticides and Honey Bees." Cru.cahe.wsu.edu. Washington State University, Nov. 2013. Web. "Neonicotinoid Pesticides Are a Huge Risk – so Ban Is Welcome, Says EEA."European Environment Agency (EEA). European Environment Agency, n.d. Web. "Related Topics." ARS : Honey Bees and Colony Collapse Disorder. Department of Agriculture, 2 Dec. 2013. Web. Staff, NPR/TED. "Why Are Bees Disappearing?" NPR. NPR, 27 Sept. 2013. Web. The Bee Informed Team. "Winter Loss Survey 2012 – 2013: Preliminary Results."Bee Informed Partnership. National Institute of Food and Agriculture, USDA, 2 May 2013. Web.
It is not unusual for bees to die or colonies to be lost, but the nature and extent reported in the year 2006 was alarming. Statistics gathered in the United States alone show that 50-90% of the bees have been lost so far, due to this scientific phenomenon (Cox-Foster et al., 2007, p. 284). Honeybees play a very major role in the pollination of plants and therefore these huge losses have become a serious concern. There are many reasons that have been floated and acclaimed to be behind CCD and they include pesticides, parasites, electromagnetic radiation, malnutrition, climatic changes, and urban sprawl, among many others.... ...
Think for a moment of a world without bees; a world without our buzzing friend. They might look like they barely do much to help our ecosystem. However, bees are a vital part of our agriculture and this makes it vital that we keep them around. The bee population decline in recent years is troubling for both us and our little friends. As their friends, we must do all we can in order to ensure their survival which in turn will ensure our own.
To most, the honeybee can be an annoying insect that has a powerful sting. Yet, the honeybee is so much more than just another insect. The honeybee is arguably the most vital component in the development of our food crops. With roughly 90 percent of our food crops dependent on the pollination of our honeybees, our food system, agricultural development, and diet rest on the work and well being of these buzzing insects. Unfortunately, since 2006 there has been a major decline in the population of honeybees, and has gotten progressively worse because of colony collapse disorder. The first reported increase of CCD was documented in November 2006 in Florida. By February 2007, several states began reporting major losses associated with CCD, ranging from 30% to 90%. A little over a half decade later in 2012 the attention paid towards CCD has grown substantially with more research being done as CCD continues to get worse. The main culprit for CCD, as research has suggested, is the use of pesticides on our food crops. With major corporations such as Bayer making millions and millions of dollars in profit each year in the distribution of pesticides, it is no wonder that nothing is being done to stop this practice despite evidence linking the use of pesticides and the drastic deterioration of the health of honeybees. With the continuation of the use of deadly pesticides and the vital role bees play in the pollination and development of our food crops, both the environment and our economy will be effected directly and face the potential for catastrophic results.
The best action the public can take to improve honey bee survival is not to use pesticides indiscriminately. In particular, the public should avoid applying pesticides during mid-day hours, when honey bees are most likely to be out foraging for nectar and pollen on flowering plants. In addition, the public can plant pollinator-friendly plants—plants that are good sources of nectar and pollen such as red clover, foxglove, bee balm, joe-pye weed, and other native plants.
All around the world honeybees are vanishing at an alarming rate, according to the documentary Vanishing of the Honeybees. This film features two commercial bee keepers and their fight to preserve their bee numbers. David Hackenburg was the first commercial bee keeper to go public the bee population was decreasing. Approximately two billions bees have vanished and nobody knows the reason why. Honeybees are used all across America to help pollinate monoculture crops like broccoli, watermelon, cherries, and other produce. Without the honeybees the price for fresh and local produce would be too much money. According, to this film commercial bee keeper’s help fifteen billion dollars of food get pollinated by commercial
Honey Bee Population Decline Daisy Childs 11-20-14 Professor Garcia ENG 1027. INTRODUCTION: Apis mellifera, commonly known as the honey bee, are solely responsible for pollinating one-third of the world’s crops, and they are in danger of dying off, according to the article “Natures Dying Migrant Worker,” written by Josephine Marcotty for the Star Tribune. This honey bee population decline poses a huge threat to our environment, farmers, and economy. It is assumed by BBC News writer Zoe Gough in her article,"Wild Honey Bees: Does Their Disappearance Matter?" that all of the wild honey bees in England and Wales are gone.
“We lived for honey. We swallowed a spoonful in the morning to wake us up and one at night to put us to sleep. We took it with every meal to calm the mind, give us stamina, and prevent fatal disease. We swabbed ourselves in it to disinfect cuts or heal chapped lips” (Kidd
Killer bees, imported from Africa to Brazil in 1956, began to actively spread towards regular bee colonies and interbreeding with “assertive dominant genes” (Killer Bees 10). In addition to forcefully overriding different colonies, reports have been given about escaped killer bees attacking humans in the streets, leaving over an estimated 1,000 people in Latin America dead. Wintertime is a significant factor for all bees’ diminishing colonies, however, a condition named Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) is a prevalent concern which does not attribute itself to natural causes, Commercial bees, descended from European bees, that interbreed with killer bees, who are not so prone to CCD, may strengthen the colony from collapsing “above 14% per year” (Killer Bess 11). Selective breeding may be the only useful tactic to preserve domesticated bee colonies, since killer bees show a resistance to Varroa mites, and genetically engineering them can prove to maintain colony
The lives of humans and honeybees have been intertwined for millennia. For at least 8,000 years, humans have sought honey for applications in disciplines ranging from medicine to the culinary arts. But while humans love honey, honeybees provide a much more valuable service: pollination. As the world’s most prolific pollinator, honeybees are essential to the reproduction of many plant species, which in turn benefits other animals and plants. In fact, humans heavily rely on honeybees to pollinate our own food source, a service that is worth billions of dollars a year. Unfortunately, the honeybee population is in a severe and prolonged decline, often in the form of colony collapse disorder, in which entire colonies are seemingly abandoned by adult bees overnight. Honeybees are an indispensable component of modern agriculture, and a failure to discern and address the many causes of honeybee population decline – both manmade and natural – could have disastrous consequences for the environment and human society.
Proposal The first step in bee conservation would be to accurately determine the cause of death of bees in the United Kingdom. This would use about £30million to set up research labs across the country. Stricter guidelines for bee keepers would be developed so that dead bees can be analysed by researchers to better understand the cause of death. Bee keepers need to be vigilant about reporting colony deaths and sending found bee bodies to appropriate researchers to investigate the cause of death.... ...
“Many European countries, including France, Germany, Italy and Slovenia, have already banned neonicotinoids in response to the threat, and beekeepers in these countries report that hives are beginning to recover.” (PAN). Many humans are using IPM (integrated pest management) instead of pesticides. For example, plugging enteryways for pests, not over watering plants or trees and allowing natural enemies to do their jobs. Out of 1400 bees, more than half of them are declining and about a quarter are at risk of extinction.
Seeds, fruits, and berries eaten by birds and small mammals all come from plants that are pollinated by bees, making them guardians of the food chain. Not only do bees help pollinate our food but they produce it as well. Bees produce honey in which we consume as food but can also be used for medical and nutritional benefits. The World Health Organization (WHO) lists honey as demulcent, which is a substance that relives irritation in your mouth or throat by forming a protective film. Research shows that honey works well as a dextromethorphan, a common ingredient in over the counter cough medications, to soothe cough and related sleeping difficulties due to upper respiratory tract infection in
Albert Einstein once said, “The day bees vanish from earth… man will go not long after”. Not many people are aware, but honey bees are slowly disappearing all over the world. In 2016 the honey bees’ cousin, the Hawaiian yellow-faced bees were classified as endangered. It will not be long until the honey bee joins them at their current disappearing rate. Honey bees pollinate more than just flowers, they pollinate about a third of the world’s consumable crops. Without these tiny heroes the world would consist of a small amount of fruits and vegetables. There has not been common insight to the world about the disappearance, though many activists are fighting to save the bees. “There were nearly 3.5 million honeybee colonies in 1989…the number
Although everyone may not know it, bees play a vital role in the ecosystem and are essential to the lifestyles around the world. They are major pollinators as they help the spread of the majority of plants. They produce massive amounts of revenue as they are extremely hard workers. Bees are underappreciated and industrial agriculture is a major factor as to why they are dying out. People do not think about the consequences and effects of their actions, and focus solely on the best path to profit. These farming methods are not only damaging the landscapes and health of insects, but may also have negative effects on the humans who consume this food. There are many other causes for the loss of bees such as pesticides and
Over the past decade bee populations have been dropping drastically. A 40% loss of honeybees happened in the U.S. and U.K. lose 45% of its commercial honeybee since 2010. This is a phenomenon known as Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) in which worker bees from a beehive abruptly disappear in a short time. These data are definitely not meaningless since bees are a crucial part of the reproductive cycle of many foods. The impact bees have on the agriculture and the environment is far more crucial than we may think. Crops rely on bees to assist their reproduction and bring them life. Bees are renowned in facilitating pollination for most plant life, including over 100 different vegetable and fruit crops. Without bees, there would be a huge decrease in pollination, which later result in reduce in plant growth and food supplies. On the other hand, without the pollination progressed with the assistance from bees, the types of flowers According to Dr. Albert Einstein, “If the bee disappears from the surface of the earth, man would have no more than four years to live. No more bees, no more pollination…no more men”. That’s why bees’ extinction affects people more than we ever think, and could even forebode the doom day of human race.