Scientists expand the pollinator crisis discussion to other than honeybees

[tjc1]

Well, here's an interesting development in the general public news conversation about bee issues...

https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2018/01/27/581007165/honeybees-help-farmers-but-they-dont-help-the-environment?utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=news

[little john]

A small touch of regional bias there ...

And then there's the honeybee: originally imported from Europe, raised and managed by beekeepers in order to make honey or to pollinate crops like almonds. It's an agricultural animal, in the same way that sheep and cattle are.

For those of us who live in Europe, it's part of our existing native fauna.  These days managed by beekeepers, sure, but the honey-bee has always (well, for hundreds of thousands of years) been in competition with other bees.
LJ

[Van, Arkansas, USA]

Appears to me, the fella likes mason bees better than honey bees.  Small voice in the wilderness, I doubt his message against honey bees goes very far.
Blessings

[eltalia]

Appears to me, the fella likes mason bees better than honey bees.  Small voice in the wilderness, I doubt his message against honey bees goes very far.
Blessings

As LJ has put, plenty of regional bias in the view expressed. Whether true for Canada or the USA I have no idea
but certainly the impact of EHB has proven detrimental to Aussie natives and native fauna. Enough has been
done to have legislation put in place around exclusion zones and plenty is being put out there in the public's
media landscape to raise awareness of EHB around natives. Hence we have breeders issuing passive genetic lines
and a huge push from the science lobbyists and sympathetic b'keeps to have Tets established in orchards and
gardens.
On that...?.. many urbanites want to have a beehive in close proximity, is one reason why FlowHive [tm] was so
successful in crowd funding. Our Tets are ideal for that setting but once again there are people out there who
in seeing Tets selling for up to $600AUD are climbing on board with colonies for sale. Tets are an entirely different
kettle of fish to EHB, yet once set the colony will survive unaided for decades.... but $400 plus..?... those b'keeps
in this are "having a lend".

Back on topic... what is not addressed in the article is the cropping issue. MAN introduced cropping over
Lands so as to feed people. Apis.m.* - particulary Linnaeus - are often aggressive towards natives on the flower
yet it is not within my past experience nor can I envisage anything changing where natives can be relied on
for wide acre pollination.
The 'danger' then of views expressed in the article - and in many a like work in this Country - is the public
takeup of nonsense in then puting in place "sanction Woolworths sweetcorn" campaigns in thinking they are
"saving the bees"... different bee, same reaction.
Can anyone ssay "GI Canola"?????.... heh 

Bill

[tjc1]

What's the story with 'Tets' bees? (I assume that Tets is an abbreviation of something?)

[little john]

Sounds like it could be Tetragonula: http://www.aussiebee.com.au/tetragonula-name-change.html

I was surprised to learn that Oz has 1,500 different types of native bee:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_native_bees

Now that's a lot of bees ....
LJ

[bwallace23350]

I wonder how much of an issue this would be if we did not basically decimate large swaths of the econosystem with mono cropping and artificial savannas's,aka managed lawns?

[Bush_84]

I wonder how much of an issue this would be if we did not basically decimate large swaths of the econosystem with mono cropping and artificial savannas's,aka managed lawns?

No kidding!  As if honey bees were the issue for native pollinators. Farmers (not that I have a problem with farmers) grow nothing but corn and soybeans as far as as the eyes can see. The ditches keep getting smaller and smaller in order to grow more crops. Everything is sprayed with roundup and what is left of the ditches is cut. They think honey bees are the problem? Lol.

[eltalia]

@Bush_84
"No kidding!  As if honey bees were the issue for native pollinators...."

Let's not get all carried away with generalisations, yeh... in Australia
it is the aggression of some EHB towards natives foraging, not ALL of
EHB. So, the work holds value where NH natives are under that same
pressure. The responsibilty then is indeed on NH b'keeps, just as it is
on this Continent.

Bill

[eltalia]

Sounds like it could be Tetragonula: http://www.aussiebee.com.au/tetragonula-name-change.html

I was surprised to learn that Oz has 1,500 different types of native bee:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_native_bees

Now that's a lot of bees

Indeed... and very few Aussies even know they are around.
I do highly recommend works by Tim Heard, a former CSIRO
research entomologist Tim is also a most proficient beekeeper
well worth putting an ear to.
His published work "Natives of Austrailia" is a "must have"
for b'keeps, regardless of type of Aussie bee managed.

I found one video link... no doubt there are more

Bill
--
http://flasv.com/video/id/lsZQeerdjdI