We Love Bees
While it is well known that bees produce honey, many other food sources also rely on bees. Conservative figures show that bees pollinate at least ONE mouthful in every THREE that we eat! Bees around the world, including in Australia, are in serious trouble. Overuse of pesticides and herbicides make bees more vulnerable to disease and pests. Modern agricultural practices and urbanisation are greatly reducing bee habitat and food sources. Scientists are seeing a large decline in bee populations worldwide. This poses a threat not only for our food production but our environment as a whole, as flowering plants rely on pollinators to survive. The good news is we can all do things to help ensure the survival of bees!
Waggle dance is a term used in beekeeping and ethology for a particular figure-eight dance of the honey bee. By performing this dance, successful foragers can share information about the direction and distance to patches of flowers yielding nectar and pollen, to water sources, or to new nest-site locations with other members of the colony.
Honeybees have thrived for 50 million years, each colony 40 to 50,000 individuals coordinated in amazing harmony. So why, seven years ago, did colonies start dying en masse? This is not simply a problem because bees pollinate a third of the world’s crops. Could this incredible species be holding up a mirror for us?
Comments
Post a Comment