Although Walking the Berkshires beat me to it, I'm still going to put in my two cents about the latest problems plaguing beekeepers these days. After all, I am a hymenopterist (lover and researcher of the order containing ants, wasps, and bees), and I hobnobbed with scientists at the U.S.D.A. Bee Lab in Tucson when I lived there.

One scientist at the lab (no longer there) was Steve Buchmann, who advocated tirelessly for the study of the use of native bees as pollinators. Clearly one reason why this idea hasn't taken off is that native bees probably can't ever be big business, because they are (as far as I know) all solitary rather than social. This means you can't keep several thousand in a box and lug them around.

But even hardworking honeybees are not just a bunch of equipment. They are living organisms that have basic biological needs. The idea that we are just pushing the colonies we have left too far is an intriguing one. The reason bees are overextended is that there are too many disease pressures on them now, especially the notorious varroa mite. Certainly being trucked around the country to work isn't something bees' evolutionary history prepared them for.

Here's one site that claims we aren't as dependent on honey bees as we think. Note that it is from a vegan site advocating that vegans avoid honey, but it makes some valid points about problems with having a large dependence on a single alien species.

Perhaps an answer to the problem would be the use of "Africanized" (a.k.a. "killer") bees. Beekeepers from South America to Mexico have had no choice but to use these, because they always take over as they spread. Africanized bees were introduced to the Americas in the 1950's when researchers in Brazil hybridized African and European honeybees, hoping to create a super pollinator. Not only did they actually create a super agressive hybrid that is hard to handle, but of course the bees escaped and have been making their way north ever since. They have created problems for many native American bees along the way, able to outcompete them for resources in some areas. They are moving northward in California, so perhaps there will be enough wild colonies there soon to do the job.

Bottom line: when domesticated honeybees are around in droves, they may push competitors out. I'm betting the void will be filled, if not by wild Africanized bees, than by all the natives out there that just want a chance at their slice of the pollen pie.

Labels: bees, invasive species, USDA