Honey Bee Colony Port Charlotte Fl.

The Bee’s Needs

Pollinators, what are they? Simply put a Pollinator is “anything that carries pollen from the male part of the flower (Stamen), to the female (Pistil).” www.nps.org So who provides this service? Pollinators come in many shapes, sizes and species. We all know that bees and butterflies are pollinators, but how about flies, moths and bats? Anything that spreads pollen from one plant to another can be considered a pollinator. That’s right. That means mammals like bears and humans.

The pollinator that is in the most danger is the bee. There are many reasons for this both natural and man-made. There are parasites like the varron mite which bite the bee and feed on its blood and injects a pathogen and there are viruses that can kill honey bees in all stages of life. Both of these are factors in Colony Collapse Disorder, (CCD). CCD happens when a Colony loses most of its worker bees and leaves a queen honey bee and a few workers to try and revive the hive. Other natural factors that figure into the bee’s downfall are nutrition and genetics.

Man also plays a role in the health of bees. Pollution and insecticides are two ways man has impacted the bee.

Are Pollinators really that necessary? Pollinators are more important than you may think. Did you know that pollinators help keep our ecosystems healthy? Bees and others pollinate over ¾ of all flower bearing plants, helping to keep our air clean. This also helps stabilize our soil, oxygen supply and helps support wildlife.

Collecting Pollen

Pollinators sustain our food supply. Let’s take a look at fruit trees; they all have flowers to produce the fruit, some trees have both male and female flowers, some only have male or female flowers on their branches. These trees would be barren without the bees flying from flower to flower to collect pollen. Without bees we wouldn’t have berries, seeds or nuts. And we can’t forget the most important of all chocolate and coffee. So next time you sit down to relax with your first or fifth cup, pause a minute and thank a pollinator.  Bees and other insects pollinate over 1,200 food crops and over 180,000 other plants. This means that they help out our bottom line. That’s right, bees and other pollinators play a major role in the economy. In 2010 over 16 billion dollars in crops were grown with the help of bees and that’s just in the United States. www.cornell.edu  Worldwide, the number explodes to approximately 188 billion U.S. dollars. www.sciencedaily.com

 One thing that seems to be on everyone’s mind is, what effects do pollution and pesticides have on bee colonies? While we as a society are working to keep our environment clean and limit our use of pesticides, there are certain things we need to live our lives. Coal produces 65 percent of electricity in the United States, even with the possible environmental hazards of coal mining, Americans wouldn’t imagine living without heat or air conditioning in our homes. The fact that pesticides help prevent many diseases spread by insects like the cockroach, flea and mosquito, makes them necessary. Diseases such as; Salmonella, Staph infections and E. Coli are all spread by cockroaches. Fleas and ticks can spread Lyme disease and tapeworms. While mosquitoes have been known killers throughout history, with the spread of malaria and now the zika various which can affect unborn babies.

What effect does air pollution have on our pollinators?  The U.S. Department of Agriculture www.usda.gov states that “honey bee populations have declined between 25 and 45 percent a year since 2010 including a 44 percent decline in 2016.”

In an article from Penn State University, www.psu.edu Liam Jackson informs us that “air pollution interacts with and breaks down plant-emitted scent molecules,” and since bees rely on this scent to find food, this breakdown makes the bees less effective in providing the hive with nourishment to sustain the colony. 

Bee in Englewood Fl.

Do pesticides adversely affect the pollinators? One of the worst incidents of bee exposure happened in June 2013. A landscaper in Oregon treated over 50 trees for aphids in a parking lot. In doing so this landscaper exposed wild honey bees to a product called Safari, killing over 50,000 individual bees and 300 colonies. So, what went wrong? Human error.

Anyone who applies insecticides by law, must read and follow the federal pesticide label and should know what the Safety Data Sheet (SDS) says about the product he is using. The label for Safari states in the second paragraph, under Environmental Hazards,

“This compound is toxic to honey bees. The persistence of residues and potential residual toxicity of dinotefuran in nectar and pollen the possibility of chronic risk to honey bee larvae and the eventual instability of the hive.” The label goes on to say, “This product is toxic to bees exposed to treatment for more than 38 hours after treatment. Do not apply this product to blooming, pollen-shedding or nectar producing parts of plants during this time period, unless the application is made in response to a public health emergency declared by the appropriate state and federal authorities.”

The SDS on Safari has a seven-word statement about bees in section 12, Ecological Information; “Dinotefuran Technical is highly toxic to bees.”

Why this landscaper treated these trees at this time is unclear, however if he had read the label and the SDS he would have known not to use that product at that time and this catastrophic mistake would have never been made.

I do have one question, why are Safari and so many other professional pesticides available on Amazon.com? The pest control industry is heavily regulated by the EPA, but home owners are able to use the same products without any fear of repercussions from the local, state or federal authorities. Most home owners don’t read or understand the label, yet lay much of the blame for over use of chemicals on the very products that they are using.

Wild Honey Bee colony in January 

What is the pest control industry doing to protect the bee’s needs? The industry has implemented a pollinator protection plan, which includes enhanced awareness of when bees and other pollinators are present, label changes and common sense training on how to stop pollinator exposure. They also have a website www.PollinatorHealth.org This is a great site for information on pollinators and how you can help save them. You can also learn the difference between good (bees) and bad (wasp) stinging insects.

What happens if we don’t save the pollinators? According to www.foxnews.com there are a number of fruits and vegetables we will lose without the bees pollinating prowess;

1.    Apples: “Without bees the cross pollination to produce…” the size of crop needed to supply the United States with apples could not happen.”

Close up hundreds of Honey Bees

2.    Almonds: “Are completely dependent on bees for pollination.” 80 percent of the worlds almonds come out of California.

3.    Blueberries: Most of the country’s blueberries come from Maine for a $593 million boost for that state’s economy and 90 percent of that crop is pollinated by honey bees.

4.    Grapefruit and Oranges: are almost 100 percent dependent on honey bees for crop pollination.

5.    Pumpkins: That’s right what would Halloween be without pumpkins? Without bees there would be no Jack-o-lanterns.

And that’s just the beginning.

While there are numerous threats to pollinators such as parasites and viruses that cause the bulk of Colony Collapse Disorder worldwide. There are also other natural causes that affect bees, that we can’t control like genetics and nutrition.  The protection of the pollinators is the responsibility of all of us.

First the government should consider enacting better laws regarding the sale of certain pesticides to untrained or unlicensed individuals. Home owners need to understand that the products they are using in their gardens are as toxic to bees as what the professionals use, possibly even more so because they have no formal training in mixing or applying these insecticides. The local Extension office is a good place to be properly trained in the use of Integraded Pest Management (IPM). The Master Gardener classes are very challenging and informative for the home gardener or anyone else.

Second, we can buy organic produce from the local farm market. Fewer pesticides on our food crops means less exposure to bees and humans alike. Plant more flowering plants in your garden or flower beds around your home. If you enjoy honey, buy it from a local bee keeper who uses proper methods to take care of his bees and their hive.

And lastly, tell people. Spread the word about how important pollinators are. If you see a bee colony do not disturb it, unless it is a health risk and then call a licensed bee keeper to safely remove the hive.

The health of the pollinators is a long-term issue that we all must take seriously. If we lose the pollinators then we lose our clean water, air and land as well as hundreds of thousands of plants and trees. Remember, no bees, no food, no humanity.

So, let’s all pull together and let the birds and bees do what birds and bees do best. By meeting the bee’s needs we ultimately meet our own.

Photo Credit D. Carroll

Inside the Colony, look at all that honey