this post was submitted on 17 Sep 2024
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Honest question: how do the typical bees (the big ones used for honey production) negatively affect native bee populations? Competition for polen?
You basically got it. European honey bees consume the already dwindling nectar and pollen resources for North American native pollinators. Furthermore, European honey bees are also worse at actually pollinating North American flowers because they did not co-evolve with the species we have here.
They're problematic even in their native range because people keep too many of them and they compete with other important pollinators, often other bee species. Honey bees don't pollinate all species they take pollen and nectar from and those species are then not visited by their specialised pollinators, leading to decrease in numbers of both plants and pollinators.
Arent those conflicting statements? How can they be taking up all the pollen AND be worse pollinators?
They are not conflicting but I can see how you might think that. Pollen is plant sperm. In order for pollination to occur many plants have special needs. The pollen has to be "picked up" and transferred to the female stigma. One example of how honeybees take nectar but don't pollinate flowers are flowers that require "buzz pollinating".
Hope that clears things up. Happy to answer anymore questions (I am just someone who is passionate about nature I'm not a professional or anything).
Just because you waste 80% of the food you get doesn't mean you can't still be twice as fast as everyone else at getting new food!
Do the flowers get pollinated? That seems like the important part.
They often don't. Honey bees are surprisingly good at collecting pollen of many plant species without transfering it to other flowers and pollinating them.