The common honey bee (Apis mellifera) is used as a mascot for the general bee population, it has been the bee on which humanity has relied on for millennia. Due to its usefulness in agriculture, humans have spread the common bee far beyond its native home, Eurasia, and into new ecosystems. This has led the company to introduce an invasive species that puts thousands of other pollinators at risk. The slow decline of native pollinators will cause the agricultural sector to rely on a bee to carry out the majority of pollination. This lack of biodiversity makes humanity susceptible to crop failure if the honey bee fails to meet the task. Recent reports of declining bee populations have led to conservation efforts that increase the honey bee population. While these efforts are in good faith, they are leading to declines in native bee populations and are exacerbating the problem. Current conservation efforts to save the common honeybee are causing the decline of native bees and increasing the risk of failure of commercial agricultural production. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay The honey bee is undeniably important to agricultural production, and civilizations have cultivated this bee for thousands of years. This bee can adapt and feed in most ecosystems, resulting in humans carrying the animal around the world. Thanks to its adaptability, the bee easily survives in humanity's ever-changing landscape. Native bees, on the other hand, struggle to survive thanks to the mass production farms that exist today. Today the animal is considered livestock by the United States Department of Agriculture and is estimated to participate in 70% of agricultural production worldwide. Honey bee population decline is a major agricultural problem but, as with most livestock, their population levels can be increased through beekeeping techniques. Native bee populations do not have the help of humans to increase their population. Instead, current conservation methods risk harming them rather than protecting them from population decline. An estimate of native bee species is difficult to make because most do not have hives, but current estimates for native species in the United States are 4,000 species. Because native bees coexist and evolve with their native flora, they are often better at pollinating these plants than non-native bees. The contribution of wild bees is not easily calculable, but it is estimated that they could be responsible for 80% of the world's pollution of flowering plants (USGS). Studies have shown that native bees can pollinate better on their own than honey bees (91% and 78% of farms respectively) and that most farms can be successfully pollinated by a group of native bees ( e.g. bumblebees) (Winfree et al. 1109). Honeybees and native bees play a vital role in food production, to ensure food security, the two must be kept in balance with each other. The effect of honey bees on native bees can be classified into two different types of competition: interference and exploitation. Interference competition is the result of physical aggression while exploitative competition is the result of one competitor (the bee) depleting available resources or negatively impacting the health of other competitors (Henry &Rodet 1). Competition by interference is the most common effect and manifests itself in multiple ways: disease transmission, decrease in local resources and increase in invasive plant species. While managed bees can cause these problems, the biggest culprits are wild bees. Wild bees are domesticated (or managed) bees that have escaped from the hive and built one in the local environment. Wild bees pose a greater threat than domestic bees because they are not regularly treated for diseases or parasites. These diseases are then transmitted to native bees on shared flowers, and because these diseases only thrive in highly concentrated bee populations, they are not common in solitary native bees. Due to their introduction into the native bee population, there is a risk of epidemics in populations with poor resistance to the disease. As plant biodiversity decreases and bee populations increase, competition between native bees and honeybees for resources becomes a bigger problem. Native bees have evolved to survive primarily on the native flora of their ecosystem, while honey bees are highly adaptable. As native flora resources decline, honeybees can survive on invasive weeds that also threaten native flora. Due to the combined effects of weeds and resource competition, native bees are left with few resources. It is important to note that other factors are increasing the decline of both managed honey bees and native bees, such as neonicotinoids, parasites, and disease. Despite their advantages in human agriculture, honey bees threaten the existence of native bees that have biological and ecological advantages over their non-native counterparts. Native bees evolved shortly after the first plants flowered, so they are often the best pollinator for their bees. partner factories (USGS). Honey bees arrived with English settlers and had only a few hundred years to adapt to the flora of the United States (USGS). Not only are native bees better at pollinating some flowering plants, but they are also more resistant to some of the problems that affect honeybees (Winfree et al 1106). Their solitary lifestyle makes them an unsuitable host for parasites and diseases that must infect masses of bees, and their lack of colonies means they don't suffer from colony collapse disorder. Although bee population sizes have fluctuated due to these issues, the current level of honey bee loss is easily managed through current beekeeping practices. However, if these problems worsen beyond the point of no return, humans could lose one of their most important resources in the food industry. If native bee biodiversity declines and honey bees become the most important pollinating insects, there is a risk of agricultural failure if anything were to happen to the honey bee population. On the other hand, diverse native bee communities (at least 46 species) can offset any decline in honey bee pollination success. This evidence suggests that human resilience to the loss of a pollinator depends on how diverse our population of pollinating animals is. The well-intentioned but misguided conservation efforts of humans have led to a tragedy of the commons. Fear of losing bees has led to the breeding of more honey bee colonies across the country, and honey bee populations are becoming abnormally dense. If conservation efforts.
tags