Get Ready to Buzz: Discover How Honey Bees Save the Planet

With every slice of pizza and every delicious cup of coffee, you indulge in, you benefit from the tireless efforts of a honey bee. These humble, tiny creatures are often taken for granted, but they are one of the most important creatures in biodiversity and are essential for human survival. These busy bees work extremely hard behind the scenes and play an important role in our food chain, and without them, we won’t have access to vegetables, fruits, nuts, coffee, and other essential items.

This article will dive into their vital contributions to our lives and how we can help them keep buzzing.

Honey Bees are Diligent Pollinators

Pollination is the process of transferring pollen grains from the male part of the flower to the female part, creating offspring. There are thousands of pollinating species, many of which are insects. Among them, different species of bees, including honeybees, are the most dominant pollinators.

Honeybees can pollinate diverse kinds of plants, including commercial crops and food crops. They gather pollen grains by using the hairs on their bodies. Each of these little hard workers visits 50-100 flowers during one collection trip, which means they visit hundreds or even thousands of flowers in just one day, making them highly efficient pollinators.

Honey bees are responsible for pollinating numerous crops in India, including:

• Citrus fruits like lemons and oranges.
• Apples, Mangoes, Guava, pomegranate, melons.
• Mustard, which is essential for mustard oil.
• Herbs like coriander and basil.
• Pulses like chickpeas, lentils, and beans.
• Cotton. 
• Flowers like hibiscus and eucalyptus.

Food Providers

The most obvious factor is that bees provide us with honey. Honey has been harvested by humans for thousands of years. While being a nutritional food source and a natural sweetener, Honey also has antioxidant and antimicrobial properties, making it a highly effective natural remedy.

Beeswax is another important product that is used as a natural ingredient in many cosmetic and pharmaceutical products. It is also used to make beeswax candles that are environment friendly.

The Tiny Construction Workers of Wildlife Habitats

Honey bees don’t only benefit humans, but help millions of insects and animals to build homes. They play a crucial role as pollinators, facilitating the growth of flowers, plants, and trees in the forests which provides shelter to all animals, big and small. They aid in the fertilization of plants, ensuring that wildlife has access to food. If bees ceased to exist, the animals dependent upon them would disappear as well.

Honey Bees as Environmental Indicators

Besides producing honey and carrying around pollen, honey bees can also sense changes in the ecosystem and even climate. Scientists can use the behavior of these highly intelligent creatures to anticipate potential threats in their habitat and ecosystem. It’s fascinating how these buzzing insects have remarkable capability for multitasking.

To Bee or Not To Bee – The Decline of Honey Bee Populations

Unfortunately, honeybees have been in dire circumstances for many years. Although increased awareness over the last decade or so has improved their population, they continue to face problems. While climate change and pollution are contributing factors, human activities also cause them harm, whether directly or indirectly. Therefore, taking steps to care for them is important for the future of humans

What is Causing the Decline in Honeybee Population?

Chemical use

 Pesticides and insecticides are designed to kill and repel unwanted pests when they bite into the crops but are also lethal to honey bees, who are simply going about their work of pollination. The increased use of these chemicals in agricultural practices has been causing bee poisoning, thereby declining their population alarmingly.

When chemicals are used in higher concentrations, they can directly poison bees. Even if they do not kill them, they can cause severe problems in the bees’ ability to function properly, such as weakened immune systems, behavioral changes, and navigation problems. This can lead to confusion and the inability to find their way back home.

Furthermore, the bees may carry those toxic chemicals back to the colony, not only harming other bees but also humans, as it leads to contamination of honey.

Colony Collapse Disorder

Colony Collapse Disorder is a mysterious phenomenon that honeybees have been experiencing all over the world. In CCD, the majority of worker bees disappear from their colonies, leaving behind their food, their queen and nurse bees. This is an alarming issue as the loss of bee colonies in the wild can disturb the habitats. Although the cause of CCD is not determined yet, it can be pointed towards various factors like the use of pesticides, mites, and beekeeping practices.

What Can You Do to Care for Honey Bees?

Fortunately, you don’t have to be a beekeeper to help save the bees (unless you want to). By taking little steps at an individual level, the quality of life of honeybees can be improved.

Build a honey Bee – Friendly Habitat

The easiest way to care for honey bees is by planting bee-friendly plants and flowers where they can go bumbling around freely, sipping nectar, and spreading their pollen. Grab your gardening tools, and seeds and start planting.

How to set up a bee-friendly environment

• Include a range of plants and flowers native to your area so they can have a bee buffet. Bees love plants that are abundant in nectar and pollen such as neem and tulsi, commonly planted in India. If you want to please them further, check out the Top 10 Bee-Friendly Flowers for Your Garden.

• Keep the plants chemical-free.

• Create a bee pond, as they get thirsty after hours of hard work too. Place rocks and twigs around the water, giving them a place to land.

• While you may be tempted to keep the bees out, they are the essential components that will keep your plants and garden lush and healthy.

Buy Local and Organic Produce

Commercial farming practices use chemicals that are harmful to pollinators like honey bees. Choose produce that is farmed using sustainable agricultural practices and support the farmers by shopping at your local farmers market.

Without bees, our plates would be bare and our natural surroundings would lack their vibrant beauty.

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