[Pollinator] for discussion: should honeybees be allowed into conservation/protected areas?

[Peter Loring Borst]

On Mar 21, 12, at 1:59 PM, Zac Browning wrote:

> One of the greatest threats to all pollinators is habitat loss. Honeybees are facing continual displacement from key habitat, which is one of the primary reasons for their decline. Conservation planning and land management policies should not exclude or fail to promote all pollinators.

This really is the heart of the matter. To single out "non-native" honey bees as a key player in the decline of other pollinators misses the mark by a wide margin. Clearly, alternative pollinators are suffering serious decline in regions where honey bees are also native, such as throughout Europe. In fact, bumble bees and others are declining even as honey bees are declining as well, disputing the notion that honey bees cause declines in alternative pollinators. 

Quantitative syntheses of
these local-scale studies suggest a widespread pattern of
loss of pollinator richness and abundance as a result of
agricultural intensification and habitat loss. As most
natural landscapes around the world have been anthropogenically
modified, it is likely that pollinator abundance
and richness has declined in many parts of the world.

There is also evidence that pollinator losses are biased
towards species with particular traits: for example, bumblebees
with narrow pollen specialisation, and dietary
and habitat specialists among pollinators in general

In summary,
the bulk of evidence from quantitative synthesis supports the
hypothesis that habitat loss reduces bee diversity and abundance.

FROM: 
Global pollinator declines: trends,impacts and drivers
Trends in Ecology and Evolution Vol.25 No.6
copyright 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

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Peter L Borst
Cohen Lab
VRT Room T3001
Cornell University
Ithaca, NY 14853

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Peter Loring Borst
128 Lieb Road
Spencer, NY  14883
607 280 4253
peterloringborst.com

I take the trouble to protest against these assumptions, because they are not merely harmless fancies, but theories that are apt to paralyse action and encourage scientific indolence. -- James Crichton-Browne