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Why bumblebees need our help. The UK’s bumblebees are in crisis. Bumblebees are a cherished part of our natural world. Their loud buzz is a distinctive feature of our gardens, parks and the wider countryside throughout the summer. They not only bring a smile to our faces but also play a crucial role in pollinating crops and wildflowers, which ...
- Habitat Loss
- Climate Change
- Parasites and Diseases
- Invasive Species
- Honey Bees
As development increases, bee habitat decreases, with woods, trees, grassland and even gardens being destroyed or paved over. The rise in intensive farming methods has also left bees struggling. A staggering 97% of wildflower meadows have been lost since the 1930s, reducing an important food resource for bees. With pesticides and herbicides sprayed...
Climate changeand the extreme weather it can cause disrupts bee nesting behaviour and alters normal seasonal timings, so flowers may bloom earlier or later than expected. Planting more trees is helping to mitigate some of the effects of climate change, but it's still a serious issue that could prove deadly for many of our bees.
Research has found that five viruses known to cause disease in honey bees have been passed to our wild bumblebee population. It isn't yet clear whether these are also circulating in solitary bee populations.
Some non-native species can cause havoc for our native species. The Asian hornet,Vespa velutina nigrithorax,for example, has had a catastrophic impact amongst wild bee populations in France, preying on both solitary and bumblebees. Our bees could be in serious trouble if it establishes itself in the UK too.
Unfortunately, the upswell in the popularity of beekeeping hasn't been great news for the UK's bees. The shipping of managed honey bees between countries saw the varroa mite – a parasite that feeds on honey bees – arrive on our shores in the 1990s. The mites jumped to our wild honey bees and, combined with a rise in other diseases, wiped them out a...
- Unlike most native bees, but like honey bees, bumble bees are social insects that live in colonies. The vast majority of our native bees are solitary and don’t form hives or have queens.
- Except for new queens, which hibernate during winter, bumble bee colonies die in late fall. Queens overwinter in small holes just beneath or on the ground’s surface, emerging in spring to create new colonies they begin by laying eggs.
- Bumble bees are important pollinators of our food plants. Bumble bees pollinate plants out in nature, helping to keep our ecosystems healthy, but they are also commercially valuable as pollinators of many crops.
- Bumble bees’ wings beat 130 or more times per second. That ability, combined with their large size, enables the bees to perform a unique service, “buzz pollination” (vibrating flowers until they release pollen), that helps plants produce more fruit.
May 24, 2022 · The researchers suggest that the restoration of wetland will have important benefits for bumblebees and other species, with the UK having lost 90% of this habitat in the past century. While the findings are significant, the scientists acknowledge that the routes taken by the community scientists are often closer to urban areas than by chance, as individuals walk near their homes.
Bees are part of the biodiversity on which we all depend for our survival. They provide high-quality food—honey, royal jelly and pollen — and other products such as beeswax, propolis and honey bee venom. As the landmark 2019 report from the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) notes ...
Bumblebees are among the most important pollinators. They excel at spreading pollen and fertilizing many types of wild plants, as well as important agricultural crops like tomatoes, blueberries ...
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Aug 22, 2021 · Bees are also responsible for nuts, coffee, and even spices — but we can get to that shortly. Here are the top 5 reasons why bees are important, they: Help produce 1/3 of our food supply. Help provide ½ of the world’s fibers, oils, and other raw materials. Help create many medicines. Provide food for wildlife. Help prevent soil erosion.
