How do honeybees harm the environment?
“THE HONEYBEES ARE DYING!!! IF THEY DIE, SO WILL WE!!!!” This is a phrase my sister has been tormenting me with for the past few weeks. After much blood, sweat, and tears, I have been able to disprove my sister's claims. Here is why Honeybees shouldn’t be protected at all costs. First and foremost, honeybees are nowhere near extinction. In fact, the population of honeybees has been on a steady rise since the all-time low of 2006, the year colony collapse disorder was discovered, and the number of colonies has remained stable over the past decade.
While honeybees are doing well, there is a group of equally important bees that receive far less recognition whose survival is being threatened by the human-supported honeybees, wild bees. Wild bee populations globally are on the decline due to intense land use increasing worldwide, reducing habitats and decimating populations. This in turn adversely impacts biodiversity as there are fewer wild bees pollinating local flora. Furthermore, Honeybees are part of the problem as they outcompete the remaining wild pollinators, which in turn reduces biodiversity, both because the wild bees are either dead or gone, and because the special local plants which depended on local pollinators are either pollinated inefficiently or can’t be pollinated at all by honeybees.
Scientists at Yale University have noted that the mass increase in beekeeping and in honeybee population has led to a quarter of wild pollinator species not being seen in the last 30 years. Moreover, the lack of wild bees has resulted in some plants lacking pollination as many plants require specific frequency of buzzing that can only be achieved by certain species of wild bees as shown by research from the University of Minnesota.
So, if Honeybees are not the bees in need of help, what should we do? First, keeping wild habitats intact is essential as wild bees, especially solitary bees, depend on nature for food and shelter. Another beneficial step would be to reduce our dependency on honeybees for pollinating crops and increase the number of trees, bushes, and other non-agricultural plants on farmlands to mitigate soil erosion and habitat destruction by farming. If you live in a city, a way to aid pollinators is by creating and maintaining rooftop flower gardens, there are many ways to help all bees and increase the health and resilience of our environment.
Hopefully, all of this will convince my sister to change her mind.
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