The Bees' Needs

[nosmokes]

original-Grist Magazine
The Bees' Needs

Scientists worry about declining numbers of honeybees and other pollinators

Researchers are warning of a significant population decline in species that together pollinate three-quarters of all flowering North American plants, including more than 90 commercial crops. A study released yesterday by the National Research Council indicates a "demonstrably downward" trend in populations of birds, bees, bats, and other pollinating species. The American honeybee population has declined 30 percent in the last two decades; last year, American farmers imported honeybees for the first time since 1922. European researchers have also documented a significant decline in pollinators. Contributing factors, says an NRC panel, include introduced parasites, pesticides, habitat loss, and possibly global warming. "Despite its apparent lack of marquee appeal, a decline in pollinator populations is one form of global change that actually has credible potential to alter the shape and structure of terrestrial ecosystems," says NRC panel chair May R. Berenbaum.
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complete article including links to other sourceshere

[kestrel91316]

1. Important point: there is no such thing as the "American honeybee".

The common honeybee is an imported species - it is actually the European honeybee. And it is actually a type of livestock, used for man's benefit. Like the domestic pig, it has escaped widely and become feral, but it is a NON-NATIVE species in North America. It has always needed man's help to thrive here and be agriculturally useful.

My question is: how are the NATIVE AMERICAN POLLINATORS doing? The Orchard Mason Bee, the different bumblebees, and other Hymenoptera that did our pollinating before the honeybee arrived with the Europeans.............

[bleedingheart]

2. Not sure about the stats on all pollinators however

I have a large garden and I have seen a lot of honey bees, bumblebees, yellow jackets..etc
In fact, there are folk that are disturbed by the number of pollinators in my yard...

The one mailman is afraid to walk up to my door because of the bees around the lavender.

If anything I think that with so many pesticides and the fact that people just screw around with habitats it affects the native pollinators.

[nosmokes]

3. i don't think the article meant American honeybee as a species but

as a region and to differentiatefrom the africanized honeybee. good catch though.