Content
- Bees and pollination
- Importance of pollination
- Threats to your survival
- Insecticides
- Mutant drones
- Campaigns in favor of bees
What would happen if the bees disappeared? It is a very important question that can be answered in two different ways, starting from different premises.
The first answer is based on an unrealistic assumption: that there would never have been bees on Earth. The answer is easy: our world would be absolutely different in its flora, fauna and even we would probably be different.
The second answer to the question is based on the assumption that the current bees would become extinct. The most likely answer would be this: without bees the world would end.
If you are interested in knowing the vital importance that bees have for all life on the planet to work correctly, continue reading this article by PeritoAnimal.
Bees and pollination
The pollination that bees carry out is absolutely essential for the regeneration of trees and plants on the planet. Without such pollination, the plant world would wither because it could not reproduce at its current speed.
It is true that there are other pollinating insects, butterflies for example, but none of them have the colossal pollinating capacity of bees and drones. The difference in the superlative degree of bees in their pollinating function in relation to other insects, is that the latter suck the flowers to feed individually. However, for bees this function is a primordial work for the sustenance of the hive.
Importance of pollination
Plant pollination is essential so that the planet's ecological balance is not broken. Without the so-called function performed by bees, the plant world would be drastically reduced. Obviously, all fauna dependent on plant life would see their proliferation halted.
The decrease in fauna depends on plant regeneration: new pastures, fruits, leaves, berries, rhizomes, seeds, etc., would cause a colossal chain reaction that would also affect human life.
If cows couldn't just graze, if farmers had their crops damaged by 80-90%, if wildlife suddenly ran out of food, maybe it still wouldn't be the end of the world, but it would be very close.
Threats to your survival
At giant asian wasps, mandarin wasp, are insects that feed on bees. Unfortunately these large insects have traveled beyond their natural borders, where native bees have developed effective defense mechanisms against these ferocious wasps. European and American bees are defenseless against the attack of these new enemies. 30 wasps can wipe out 30,000 bees in a few hours.
There are other enemies of bees: a large wax moth larva, Galleriamellonella, which is the cause of the greatest damage to the hives, the little hive beetle, Aethina tumid, is an active beetle during the summer. However, these are ancestral enemies of bees, which have natural defenses to repel them, and also help in defending beekeepers.
Insecticides
The insecticides spread on agricultural plantations are the biggest hidden enemy of bees today, and what most seriously compromises their future.
It is true that so-called insecticides are designed to kill pests and not kill bees immediately, but a side effect is that bees living in treated fields live 10% less.
The life cycle of a worker bee ranges between 65-85 days of life. Depending on the time of year and the sub-species of bee it is. The most productive and knowledgeable bees of their surroundings are the oldest, and the youngest ones learn from them. The fact that bees cannot complete their natural life cycle, silently poisoned by "harmless" insecticides, it greatly weakens the affected bee colonies.
Something scandalous has been discovered in this regard. A recent study of this problem has shown that bees that live in cities are healthier than those that live in the countryside. Cities have parks and gardens, trees, ornamental shrubs and a great diversity of plant life. Bees pollinate these urban places, but these insecticides are not spread over the cities.
Mutant drones
Another pernicious effect derived from the insecticide problem is due to what some multinationals have developed in their laboratories mutant drones that resist poison better that shortens the life of the bees. These animals are being sold to farmers whose fields are already suffering from problems due to lack of pollination. They are strong animals that are displacing the poisoned colonies, but they are no solution for several reasons.
The first problem is related to the proboscis with which they suck nectar from flowers, which is excessively short. It does not enter many species of flowers. The result is a patent imbalance of flora. Some plants are regenerated, but others die because they cannot reproduce.
The second problem, and perhaps the most important one, is the criminal shame with which the so-called multinationals solve a very serious problem created by themselves. It is as if a company that contaminates the waters sold us a drug to mitigate the harmful effects of contamination on our body, so that this way it can continue to contaminate the river and sell more medicines to alleviate our health problems. Is this diabolic cycle tolerable?
Campaigns in favor of bees
Fortunately there are people who are aware of the big problem that will come to our children and grandchildren. These humans are promoting signature collection campaigns to force politicians to face this very serious problem, legislating in defense of bees, and therefore, in our defense.
They are not asking for money, they are asking for our responsible support to avoid a catastrophe in the plant world of the future, which will dangerously lead us to an obscure time of famine and famine. Could this kind of future be of interest to any large food company?
