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. The frightening truth is our little pollen buddies are losing their numbers by the millions. Bees are essential to the ecosystem, mainly due to the pollination that they provide to many crops ( “ First” ). Bees pollinate during most of their life which is why they are so vital for most crops to produce seeds. They have hairs on their legs which, gather the pollen on the crops and allow for viable seeds. While some plants can pollinate through other natural ways, a study in the United States concluded that “39% of crops were highly dependent on bees for pollination” ( “First” ). Considering the amount of food that we as …show more content…
On the contrary, President Obama “unveiled a plan aimed at stopping the rapid decline in bee and butterfly populations” (“On May 19”). His plans are to reduce the death rate of bees which in turn will help out the agricultural production. He also plans to clear land in order to give the bees a bigger environment in which to repopulation and will ensure that no bees are harmed in the process (“On May 19”). The president sees the devastation that the decline could cause and is trying to combat the issue. The European Union has banned three pesticides in order to combat the decline but “have fallen short of providing adequate safeguards for the re-propagation of bee colonies”(“Bee research”). Governments are taking notice of the problem ahead yet still we are until to achieve the full support of all
What do you think when you think of bees? I think of honey, pollination, and soon, new life. According to Walt D. Osborne, “Bees are vital for the pollination of more than 90 fruit and vegetable crops worldwide, including almonds, peaches, soybeans, apples, pears, cherries, raspberries, blackberries, cranberries, watermelons, cantaloupes, cucumbers, and strawberries,” (Osborne 9-11) but each year a large percent of hives have vanished due to many different factors such as stress. Most people would declare that the average honey bee is insufficiently important to the world because bees are pests to home owners everywhere, but bees are extremely important to earths’ survival than any other pollinator in the world; they help pollinate most of the world’s agriculture; yet in the recent years bee populations have plummeted rapidly. I am writing this paper to create awareness that the agricultural society ought to stop or lessen the spraying of pesticides/ insecticides on crops, unnatural diets and overcrowding in the hives.
Ultimately, we are at a crossroads when it comes to the crisis of CCD and the health of the honeybee. It has been clearly stated just how catastrophic the loss of the honeybee will be to our food system, which in turn will have dire consequences for our economy and environment. If the main culprit is truly pesticides, then CCD can be stopped because the problem is manmade. Yet, if it turns out that CCD is something that we cannot stop because we fail to pinpoint exactly what is going on, then the future looks to be a rough one. In essence, the health of the honeybee holds the key to our economical and financial prosperity.
Initially, I didn’t care much about bees until after I received this assignment. Although I may be allergic to bees, they do help my everyday life. I don’t want food prices to go up because we can’t save some bees. We spend trillions on protection, when we have no war. How about take a few million to save the bees, and possibly save man.
In Europe and even in China honeybee populations are decreasing. This has an impact on everyone in the market. It effects how they food gets to the dinner table and how much it cost to put it there. Fresh produces will eventually end up being fresh produce from across the ocean or fresh produce made in a lab. It wasn’t until October 2006 when Hackenburg came public about his bees vanishing that anybody noticed that the bees were dispersing, but still scientist can’t prove the exact cause to CCD. In America nothing has really been done yet to help the honeybees. Other countries, like Europe did at least tried to maintain the current population of honeybees by amending a law that prohibited certain types of pesticides that many be harmful to honeybees. The most important thing that could be done to protect the honeybees is stop using pesticides that are harmful to important creatures like honeybees. Just like Europe did, put a ban on harmful chemicals to honeybees, until the honeybees numbers start to increase. Another logical way to help the honeybee population is to give a tax credit to people who decide to become bee keepers since bees are very important to the US economic
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.
Pollination is one of the most important roles played by insects in the natural world. One great contributor to this natural phenomenon is the everyday Honeybee. Honeybees survive off the honey made from plants nectar. They also help us humans survive by pollinating flowering plants, allowing them to produce 1/3 of the fruit and vegetable crops consumed. Honeybees are mysteriously declining in their numbers, there are many different theories or ideas as to why this is happening. Some experts say microwave radiation from our mobile devices and satellite towers. Others suspect the pesticides and herbicides. Most humans see the misunderstood bees as big stingers with wings, but do not take into consideration that the honey they put in their tea that morning came from the honeybee. Also, nonnative bee species such as the African honey bee threaten native species, humans and livestock when introduced. Bees are one of the biggest contributors to the survival of thousands of species of animals including humans, yet they are one of the smallest and fragile species in the animal king...
Since then, this large ongoing decline in the bee population has been continuously leading to different threats, having a great impact on social/society issues, raising concerns relating to possible risks of global food security, and on the economy, where agriculture takes up a large portion of the economy. Therefore, in order to overcome these various threats, there have been many previous and recent studies/experiments, and the three solutions that science has concluded to solve the problem of these issues are: 1. Ban the seven most dangerous pesticides. 2. Protect pollinator health by preserving wild habitat.
The collapse of the honey bee population is an issue that is rarely talked about, and few realize the effect it has on each of us personally. In America the honey bee is responsible for pollinating almost every food that is seen in the grocery store. The population of this interesting insect has been on a decline for over a decade. According to United States Department of Agriculture, “The total number of managed honey bee colonies has decreased from 5 million in the 1940s to only 2.5 million today”. The debate is not if the honey bees are truly disappearing, there is enough evidence to be found that there is a decline in total population. The true question is why are the hives collapsing? Scientist have devoted many hours trying to find the one true cause, no clear answer has presented itself. Amongst the beekeeping community three major reasons for the collapse of the honey bee are the most accepted, which are pest and diseases, the use of poisons such as herbicides and pesticides, and lastly the human impact such as bad beekeeping practices and urbanization.
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.
Some may see the bees as just a buzzing nuisance out to sting and chase them around the yard, what many don’t realize is that the whole world could turn into a barren, lifeless scene without the bees. No plants, no food, possibly not even humans would survive. The topic I will be exploring is wether or not bees are vital to our survival. Put away all thoughts of zombie apocalypses, or sudden major earthquakes: bees should be the main focus because they could do even more damage than a zombie apocalypse, and what’s worse is that the possibility of bee extinction is closer than you think. According to Elite Daily, it was reported in 2014 that the bee population is already less than half of what it was just 69 years ago (Haltiwanger, 2014). So,
High declines in adult bee numbers in some colonies have been reported and this decline is known as colony collapse disorder6. These declines are higher than normal and can go unnoticed by bee keepers because the bees do not generally die in the nest, so the decrease is not immediately obvious. The problem addressed in this paper will be the decline of bees and the effects this decline has on the environment. The solutions proposed for this problem are increasing research, managing farming and spreading awareness. It is important to conserve the bee populations before the problem of decreasing pollinator numbers becomes too great to fix.
Beekeepers in the U.S. and Europe have been noticing that their bees are disappearing. When the bees go to pollinate, as usual, they do not return and are never seen again. This is very bad because of how important the bees are to our environment, they pollinate our plants. Some may say that this lacks significant importance but, without bees to pollinate, plants can not produce fruits, nuts or vegetables. Many things have been said to have caused this decline in bee population, such as, C.C.D., G.M.O., Radiation, Global Climate changes, Pesticides, and Invasive species. This is what I have found on the topic.
The depopulation of bees could have a huge impact on the environment, which is reliant on the insects for pollination. If taken to the extreme, crops, fodder and therefore livestock could die off if there are no pollinating insects left. It would also have an impact on...
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.
Have you ever thought about our honey bees? Some people think they're a nuisance but these hardworking small insects make it possible for your favorite foods to reach your table. In the winter of 2006 a strange event happened with the honey bee hives across the country. Millions of bees vanished from their hives. The disappearing bees left billions of dollars of crops at risk and it threatened our food supply. So today I will be talking about The honey bee and answering the following questions: First,what is the honey bees purpose in life, secondly how we are harming them and thirdly how the honey bees help us in our daily lives and their importance.