[Pollinator] Scientific American Article on Honey Bees

Mon May 18 17:21:49 PDT 2009

May 18, 2009 | _0 comments_ 
(http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=growth-in-honeybee-population#comments)  
Growth Industry: Honeybee Numbers Expand Worldwide as U.S. Decline  
Continues
Despite serious losses to colonies in the U.S. and Europe, honeybees are on 
 the rise in other parts of the world--although hardly keeping pace with 
growing  demand
By _Katherine Harmon_ 
(http://www.scientificamerican.com/author.cfm?id=1822)     

 (http://oascentral.sciam.com/RealMedia/ads/click_lx.ads/
sciam.com/everyday-science/418052205/x81/default/empty.gif/7a386830436b6e525163454142726155?x) 

BLOSSOMING POPULATION: The  domestic honeybee is enjoying a global 
population boom even as colony collapse  disorder threatens them in the U.S. and 
Europe. 
FLICKR/CYGNUS921

(http://www.scientificamerican.com/page.cfm?section=mailarticle&item_id=555D2484-F1F0-805E-EB3D701B6B980770)  
(http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=growth-in-honeybee-population&print=true)  
(http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=growth-in-honeybee-population#commentbox)  

More to Explore
    *    Overview
_In-Depth  Report: The Buzz On Bees_ 
(http://www.scientificamerican.com/report.cfm?id=buzz-on-bees)  

Even as U.S. honeybee populations have been _hit hard by colony collapse 
disorder_ 
(http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=saving-the-honeybee)  in recent years,  domesticated beehives have been thriving elsewhere.

In an analysis of  nearly 50 years of data on bees from the United Nations 
_Food and Agriculture  Organization_ (http://www.fao.org/) , researchers 
found that domesticated honeybee  populations have increased about 45 percent, 
thanks in large part to expansion  of the bees into areas such as South 
America, eastern Asia and Africa. _The results_ 
(http://www.cell.com/current-biology/abstract/S0960-9822(09)00982-8)  appear in the latest issue Current  
Biology.

The overall increase, however, is not what surprised _Marcelo  Aizen_ 
(http://ecotono.crub.uncoma.edu.ar/aizen.htm) , a professor at the National 
University of Comahue in Buenos  Aires, Argentina, and lead author of the study. 
Instead, he was taken aback by  the sixfold increase in the growth rate of 
crops that depend on domesticated  bees for pollination.

_Booming demand for honey_ 
(http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=urban-beekeeping-pollinators)  and a rise in foods that  depend on bees 
for pollination are fueling the increase in bee  colonies.

Many food staples, such as wheat, corn and rice, don't need  bees. But 
plenty of fruits and vegetables that are now mainstays—from apples to  zucchini—
need help from pollinators like bees.

Demand for royal jelly,  bee pollen and _propolis_ 
(http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=glue-honeybees-use-on-hiv)  (bee glue) has also 
contributed to the rise in  beekeeping in some places, notes _Eric Mussen_ 
(http://entomology.ucdavis.edu/faculty/facpage.cfm?id=mussen) , an apiculturist 
at the University of  California, Davis, who wasn't involved in the study. 
But it is honey that  accounts for most of the growth for bees across the 
globe.

The common  domestic honeybee (Apis mellifera) was brought to the New World 
from  Europe in the 17th century. Since then it has been responsible for 
keeping many  crops (which were also imported) bountiful.

As the mysterious collapse  disorder continues to claim hives by the 
hundreds—threatening, in particular,  the almond industry—more attention is being 
paid other pollinators, including  other types of bees such as solitary 
bees and feral honeybees.

Aizen  explains that although "honeybees are the most frequent pollinator, 
they're not  necessarily the most efficient." He points to the proficiency 
of _local pollinators_ 
(http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=other-bee-species-subbing-for-honeybees) , such as bumblebees, to take care of  
crops such as squash and cucumber.

Paradoxically, as more land around the  globe is put to agricultural use 
for pollination-dependent crops, indigenous bee  species get crowded out. And 
_as the native pollinators go, so, too, might some local  floras_ 
(http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=bee-and-flower-diversity)  that need 
specialized pollination, the study authors  note.

Both Aizen and Mussen see this as an important time to reevaluate  global 
food needs and goals. If healthful, pollination-dependent fruits and  
vegetables are to remain an important constituent of human diets worldwide,  Mussen 
notes, more land—and even more pollinators—will be  necessarily.

And although the overall growth in the world honeybee  population might 
sound an encouraging note, Aizen remains cautious. "I think  that there is a 
problem," he says about areas where their populations are  shrinking. "I'm not 
saying that there isn't a problem…. But I think that we  should change the 
perspective of the problem so it's not a question of supply  but a question 
of changing demand."

Laurie Davies Adams
Executive  Director
Pollinator Partnership 
423 Washington Street, 5th  floor
San Francisco, CA  94111
415-362-1137
LDA at pollinator.org

_www.pollinator.org_ (http://www.pollinator.org/) 

_www.nappc.org_ (http://www.nappc.org/) 

National Pollinator Week is June 22-28, 2009. 
Beecome  involved at _www.pollinator.org_ (http://www.pollinator.org/) 
**************Recession-proof vacation ideas.  Find free things to do in 
the U.S. 
(http://travel.aol.com/travel-ideas/domestic/national-tourism-week?ncid=emlcntustrav00000002)
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.sonic.net/pipermail/pollinator/attachments/20090518/ca893d28/attachment.html>