Don’t Worry, Honey, The Other Bees Have Your Back. (2015, August 24). Retrieved November 23, 2015, from http://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2015/08/12/431689745/dont-worry-honey-the-other-bees-have-your-back
The plight of honey bees has been a focus of scientific inquiry and news reports over the last decade. The reason for the population’s decline is that these bees are transported all over the United States to pollinate different fruits and vegetables. The tremendous amount of diseases, stress, parasites, and pesticides has had a negative impact on the health of the bees. Much bee science has a pessimistic outlook; however, this article describes an instance of species diversification as a solution to bee population decline.
Bees have a critical function in the foundation of agricultural reproduction which supplies the growing human population. Disintegrating health of bee populations has been a topic of great concern amongst many agriculturalists and state economists. By exploring an alternative species that could be used for pollination, farmers are given hope. This is exemplified by researcher Shelby Fleischer’s perspective, “I think the key to remember is resilience,” he says, “So don’t just aim for any one species. Historically, there’s been a lot of emphasis on making honeybees our pollinator, and resilience suggests that we should try and support a community of bees”.
This is very well written and accurately describes the effect honey bee population decline can have. The U.S and other countries’ agriculture and food production rely heavily on honeybees to pollinate crops. This decline could have detrimental effects on food production.
Do you think that if the bee population declines even more we’ll be unable to grow some fruits and vegetables that need pollination from the bees?