Native Bees: Case Studies from Around the World
This blog is part of a series, led by the Youth4Nature USA Team, to celebrate World Bee Day (May 20, 2020).
“The relative lack of knowledge about these bees and their economic importance by people (de facto custodians of nature) is significant as their conservation and management practices implemented at the farm level will depend to a large extent upon the value that people attach to them.” - Bee Keys and Factsheet
How we can help our global bees:
Bees are special pollinators. Three out of four crops across the globe depend, in part, on pollinators. Their work is significant in our agricultural products and ecological services. Unfortunately, bees of all species are highly susceptible to changes in land use and air quality - and in recent news some have even been highly endangered by pesticide use. On World Bee Day 2020, we are highlighting this colorful arthropod because they are not just an abstract factor of our environment - they are right in your communities. Whether we are talking about wild bees or hived bees, we can each play a specific role to support and invite more pollinator activity.
Bombus
In the United States of America the most common native bee is the Bumble Bee which has 49 variations. These bees are found in the wild and their nests are burrowed in the ground, which does make them highly susceptible to land projects and large agricultural fields. A specific issue surrounding bumble bees is related to the industrialization of agriculture, where their ecological service of sonicating is used for greenhouse pollination. This has introduced some species to be commercially shipped to areas where they are not native - resulting in the transmission of diseases to wild bumble bees.
Some ways to help out native pollinators like bumble bees include containing and removing invasive plant species. One great new initiative recommends that households and communities not mow home lawns through the month of May. This will result in greater diversity in plantlife for pollinators to feed off of. Even better, is throughout the summer only mowing once a month, or leaving long patches of grass.
Melipona Beecheii
The Sacred Mayan Bee is very particular to the Yucatan Peninsula. It has a significant connection to Mayan culture and practices - yet due to unfortunate circumstances the art of Mayan bee craft is dying off. This is largely connected to the circumstances in Mexico of the large soy monoculture fields, with expanded use of agrochemicals to expand its production. Europe, Mayan descendants’ largest exporter, cannot accept their honey due to these traces of GMO and unauthorized components. This is sending many of this native bee species to fly away, which further detracts from the Mayan’s symbiotic relationship with these bees.
We can help! We recommend supporting this honey business by buying directly from Mayan merchants (which can be found online). This method shows appreciation towards Mayan culture, and empowers communities to sustain their conscious lifestyle instead of falling to harmful substance-based businesses.
Apis Mellifera
In Kenya, the honey bees are a very popular native species. What we know of this species is that hives are exponentially experiencing colony collapse disorder, CCD, from large parasite attacks by Varroa Mites. These species are also highly susceptible to the use of pesticides and other air pollution - which can be heavily contained in one area and adversely affect the species’ natural populations. Most pressing, in East Africa many species including the honey bees are threatened by habitat degradation which has led to loss of habitats - to reverse these pressures we recommend focus on land restoration by bringing back natural forests and restoring degraded ecosystems. We can take it a step further by supporting community-based beekeeping programs - where we can be trained on bee handling and bee keeping skills. Larger issues like CCD can be tackled by learning more about bees, their population dynamics, and their health!
Supporting the commercialized honey bee industry is not the best measure to take to protect bumble bees, since attention for bees has shifted to solely focus on honey bees, thereby creating invasive competition and unequal distribution of resources and protection. It’s essential to care about all bees, but know the differences between them!
About the Author:
Hannah Johns is a recent graduate from George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia. Here she began to pursue her work of helping vulnerable communities most affected by the climate crisis. She is from a military background and has had the chance to live all over the world.