If you were asked to list the reasons why bees are important to our ecosystem, would you be able to do it? 

Bees, especially honey bees, are vital parts of our ecosystem, but not many people know why. Yes they pollinate and make honey, but they do so much more than that. 

An ecosystem is a geographic area where animals, plants, and other organisms work together to form a bubble of life. We need ecosystems to keep our crops and environment healthy, but they have been declining in recent years.

Bees are efficient pollinators of our food crops and wild flowers. Pollination is a process where pollinators such as bees help plants to produce fruit by transporting pollen from one flower to another, enabling fertilisation. This is crucial because all of our fruits, vegetables, and crops that feed animals need to be fertilised for us to survive. 

“bees contribute more to the British economy than the royal family”

Broccoli, asparagus, and cucumber especially rely on the pollination of bees, as do strawberries, apples, apricots, and tomatoes.  

Though bees are not the only pollinators – it also occurs through wind, birds, and other insects – bees are among the most important because they can pollinate on a much larger scale. In fact, an estimation predicted that if farmers had to manually pollinate their crops, it would cost them around £1.8 billion every year.

A 2015 report by the Telegraph revealed that bees contribute more to the British economy than the royal family, contributing a huge £651 million to the UK economy each year. 

Just as importantly, pollination helps to feed other animals in the food chain and maintains the genetic diversity of flowering plants. The vast majority of plant species- almost 90% of them rely on pollinators to reproduce and therefore survive. We need plants to survive for a number of reasons because they: 

  • Produce ½ of the world’s oils, fibres (for clothing) and raw materials 
  • Create medicines
  • Produce oxygen which we need to breathe 
  • Absorb carbon dioxide which helps to counteract climate change 
  • Produce ⅓ of the world’s food supply 

The chain of importance that begins with the bees is beginning to form – they have a crucial impact that most people do not realise. 

To step away from this ‘chain’ for a second, honey bees also produce honey – a valuable product which not only tastes nice, but is also energy dense and used for many different things such as in medicine and on wounds. 

There are more honey bees than any other type of bee and pollinating insect, making it the world’s most important pollinator of food and crops. 

Bees have an importance that cannot be debated, but they are declining in our environment. Around 13 of the UK’s bee species are now extinct and 35 others are under the threat of extinction. A study published in the journal One Earth revealed that the number of bee species has declined globally, especially between 2006 and 2015 with around 25% fewer species spotted. 

So what is changing in our environment that is having an adverse effect on the bee population? 

Firstly, the  increase in urban developments has meant that areas bees live in no longer exist. Plots of land that were once rife with grass, flowers, and crops have been torn up for housing estates and other commercial buildings, meaning the bees are losing huge parts of their natural habitats.

In the wild, bees nest in trees which are being chopped down in larger quantities than ever before, another important home that they are losing. Also, flowering plants are in serious decline which means that bees are losing an important food resource. 

The toxicity of pesticides causes bees a great deal of harm when they land on plants that have been sprayed to pollinate them. Not only has pesticide use on land become more common over the last few years, but the toxicity of pesticides has too, as has the number of crops that pesticides are being used on. 

A recent study has shown that the toxic impact of pesticides on bees has doubled in the last decade. This is because modern pesticides have been adapted to have a lower toxicity to people, mammals and birds, but are even more harmful to invertebrates such as bees. Despite being used in lower quantities, this higher toxicity is cancelling out any positive impact on insects such as bees. 

Climate change is also disrupting bee nesting behaviour and alters the normal seasonal timings: one of the key impacts of climate change is the shifting of seasons – they become less predictable which means that pollinators may lose synchronicity with the flowering plants. 

What can we do to help the bees?

  1. Provide shelter for them. Bees need shelter all year round, so making shelters for them, letting grass grow long, or planting a variety of different beneficial plants are all good ways to help protect them. 
  2. Plant flowers all year round. Bees, especially honeybees, often rely on garden flowers to ensure a diverse diet and to provide nectar and pollen. Planting flowers and trees are great ways to encourage bees to your garden.
  3. Eat sustainable honey. Buying and consuming honey from local beekeepers means you know where your honey is coming from, and it cuts down on the carbon emissions used to ship the honey to the supermarket. Organic honey also ensures that bees are pollinating in pesticide-free areas. 
  4. Don’t use pesticides in gardens. Use organic or natural substances instead. Chemicals cause damage to bees systems which are incredibly sensitive! 

Bees are crucial to the functioning of our environment and ourselves and need to be protected. Follow some of these simple steps, or help spread awareness of the importance of bees, to help protect our environment. 

Amelia Cutting

Featured image courtesy of Capri23auto on Pixabay. This image has in no way been altered. Image license is available here.

I'm Amelia- a graduate from the University of Leeds and current NCTJ Level 5 Diploma student!

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