Entry 6: 6/7/08

I shall now continue on my last post.

The seeds of many vegetables depend on the honey bee. The value of crops that rely on the bee has been estimated to be as high as ten billion dollars annually in the United States. The queen (head bumble bee) hibernates during the winter season and begins a new colony in the spring. Bee scientists have developed a way for the queens to skip their hibernation and produce colonies all year. Colonies of bumble bees are used extensively in greenhouse pollination of crops such as strawberries and tomatoes.

Bees do have many predators even though it may not seem so. Animals such as bears and Argentine ants may destroy a hive in search of honey. By eating the wax in a honeycomb of a weak colony, the wax moth may also destroy the hive. Animals prey upon individual honey bees which sometimes may weaken colonies, reducing the number of bees in the hive. Honey bees often fall prey to parasites and diseases. Two widespread contagious bacterial diseases called American and European foulbrood attack the bee larvae, hence reducing the number of larvae that will grow to become worker bees. Nosema, a protozoan parasite and virus, can cause dysentery and paralysis in adult bees. Mites, also called honey bee mites, have destroyed thousands of hives in Asia, Europe, and North and South America. Thousands of bees are killed each year by insecticides meant to kill other insects. Weed sprays destroy an important source of food for the bees by killing weeds and their flowers.

If the bees began to disappear, we would have to rely more on other insects and mammals to spread the pollen of flowers in order for pollination. The pollination process of the flowers would begin to slow down and eventually some species of wild flowers would begin to become extinct. The flowers would not be the only ones affected. Many animals would also suffer from a loss of food, as the fruits produced from the flowers would decrease or disappear. Herbivores that feed on these fruits could die out. Then, carnivores such as pumas or bears could also be affected as these herbivores begin to decrease in numbers.

I shall continue on my next post...

Sources:
http://www.amnh.org/nationalcenter/youngnaturalistawards/1998/bees.html

Glossary:
Dysentery: An inflammatory disorder of the lower intestinal tract, usually caused by a bacterial, parasitic, or protozoan infection and resulting in pain, fever, and severe diarrhea, often accompanied by the passage of blood and mucus.

Protozoan: Any of a diverse group of eukaryotes, of the kingdom Protista, that are primarily unicellular, existing singly or aggregating into colonies, are usually nonphotosynthetic, and are often classified further into phyla according to their capacity for and means of motility, as by pseudopods, flagella, or cilia.