Bees !
Bees !
Bees !
Bees and pollination in the tropics
Abejas y polinización en los trópicos
More than honey
Más que miel
Bees !
Bees are insects with membranous wings that eat mainly nectar and pollen for both adults and larvae. Their eating habits made them close companions to plants. In their quest for food, bees collect nectar and transport pollen from flower to flower. The transformation of nectar renders precious honey and pollination helps plants to reproduce, which is essential for the perpetuation of forests and other ecosystems, and for the production of about one-third of the food humans consume worldwide.
It's been estimated there are about 20.000 bee species on earth, and each represents a different universe. Bees can be as large as the thumb of an adult human, or as small as the head of a pearled pin. They have varied shapes and colors, and carry pollen in hairy areas on their body or in modified structures on their legs. Bees can be social when several bees from different generations of the same family live together and distribute tasks, yet most bee species are not truly social and are rather solitary. They make exposed nests, or use cavities in the soil or wood to establish their homes.
Bees in the world
According to the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) the country in which more bees have been described is the US (3588 species) followed by Brazil, Mexico, Australia, Turkey, and China (with >1000 bee species each). Records for tropical countries are insufficient. For example, the AMNH reports only nine bee species for Borneo, a well-known biodiversity hotspot. There must be a high number of bee species unknown to western science around there, without mentioning the cryptic diversity behind what we already know.
Despite this richness, bee diversity is dramatically declining because of the convergence of diverse factors. With habitat loss and fragmentation, bees are losing their homes. Besides, the transition towards simplified land uses is taking away their food sources, climate change and the impacts of invasive-expansive species is influencing the availability of food sources for the bees, and pesticides poison the remaining resources. Without appropriate diets, bees are getting weak and unable to fight increasing threats of parasites and diseases.
If we consider bees contribute to a large shade of human diets –and presumably 100% of many non-human diets, we should try to help!
Marcela Cely Santos. Made by Wix.com.