Native bees are undoubtedly a hidden treasure. There are over 20,000 known bee species all over the world, some live in large colonies, others in small colonies and some do not live in colonies. Bees come in different shapes and sizes, and there are 4,000 native bees in the United States alone, from the tiny Perdita minima to large carpenter bees (Buchmann & Moisset, 2010). Before the arrival of European settlers, there were no honey bees in America. They brought with them their hives and they have been pollinating the continent’s flowers ever since. Bees are therefore an integral part of pollination of flowers as they are efficient foragers. For example, the southeastern blueberry bee in its short lifetime is capable of visiting 50,000 blueberry flowers, pollinating them to produce over 6,000 ripe blueberries (Buchmann & Moisset, 2010). This paper will give reasons why bees make great pollinators.
It is a known fact that bees descended from wasps. Wasps are carnivorous in nature as they prey upon other insects and spiders to obtain rich protein. When flowering plants evolved, they switched to gathering pollen and perhaps that is the reason bees remained vegetarians. Bees collect pollen with the exception of stingless bees that eat carrion (James, 2008). Most bees are dependent on the product of angiosperm flowers such as nectar, oils, and pollen and it is not surprising that the coevolution of bees and flowers occasioned special adaptations for both plants and insects (James, 2008). Bees make great pollinators. They are the ultimate pollinators, superior to other flower-visiting insects. This is because their efficiency in pollination is second to none due to their adaptive characteristics. They have copious amounts of pollen-trapping hair on their bodies, specialized foraging and flower handling behaviors (James, 2008). Ecologically, they can be grouped based on the length of their mouthpart segments called proboscides which are specially developed to gather nectar (James, 2008). Other flower-visiting insects lack this crucial feature and cannot reach some flowers' juicy nectar making them not to visit such flowers and fail to aid in cross-pollination. Additionally, bees have different sizes based on their genders and female bees are generally larger than their male counterparts. This makes them able to carry more pollen with their hairy bodies from flower to flower unlike other insects which both sexes are minute and carry very little or no pollen on their bodies.
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To set fruit, a flower’s pollen produced in the anthers must be able to reach the stigma for the ovule to get fertilized and develop into a new seed in the ovary of the flower. There are numerous seeds which develop inside each berry and it is mandatory that all of them get fertilized for the fruit to develop and reach maturity. At times, it is impossible for a flower to carry out this process itself (self-pollination). The stamen (male reproductive parts of the flower) may be structured in a way that makes it impossible to reach the female pistils. The filaments may be shorter than the stigma and thus impossible for the anthers to fertilize the ovule to form seeds. At times, a flowers’ pollen may be too heavy and sticky, for example, the blueberry pollen. It can barely move on its own and is not easily blown by the wind like pollen from other plants such as corn. The shape of the blueberry flower also prevents pollen from falling into the stigma and this is where bees come in. These plants benefit when bees come into contact with their reproductive structures. Bee activity increases the movement of pollen from anthers to the stigma and hence facilitate cross-pollination. Cross-pollination is vital for genetic transfer and plants are thus able to adapt to the changing environment over time.
Furthermore, bees are considered vital pollinators due to the economic value of bee pollination in agriculture. Bees pollinate more than just crop plants as they pollinate over 16% of the flowering plant species in the world (Mayer & Mayer, 2000). Bee pollination is crucial as it sustains both native and introduced plants which in turn control soil erosion, help beautify the environment as well as increase the value of properties. Bees also pollinate plants which are a source of food for wildlife and are thus integral members of the natural ecosystem. Efforts to determine just how much bees are important to human and animal societies face a daunting task. The advantages of bee pollinators are both economic and ecological. Without them, food supply would be in short supply and human societies would not thrive.
Bees are effective in organizing themselves based on the environmental circumstances. Within the colony, there are patrollers that provide security to the hive, brood careers that feed and take care of the larvae, foragers who collect food and undertakers who remove corpses from the hive (Devillers, 2014). Bees can change roles to suit them depending on environmental changes and are very efficient in transition. Such adaptability and division of labor make them effective in their niche and do everything perfectly. The forager bees will specialize only in collecting nectar and food, thus visit up to hundreds of flowers a day. The more flowers it visits the higher the chance of successful pollination thereby making bees great pollinators. A foraging bee will not be bothered about feeding the larvae, or security issues in the hive but focus only on pollination making them second to none when it comes to pollinating flowers.
The value of bees is further highlighted by current scientific stories in the news. Scientists believe that transgenic pollen harms monarch larvae. A study was done in a field where corn grew and it was discovered that corn plants may pose a risk to other plants as its light pollen becomes lodged on other plants. Corn pollen can be dispersed up to at least 60 meters by the wind and some of it is toxic making affected plants to grow slowly and suffer higher mortality rates (Losey, 1999). Monarchial larvae survival was lower when dusted with corn pollen as compared to those not dusted with corn pollen. This illustrates that without bees, such risky exposure to unwanted pollen would be the order of the day. Bees control which pollen goes to which plant and so on. They eliminate the threat of pollen reaching maturity and fall on other plants, which do not require such pollen, as they carry pollen to specific plants only.
Conclusion
With over 250,000 species of flowering plants in the world, things would not be the same were it not for bees. Bees are great pollinators and come second to none in this role. Their bodies are well adapted to carrying pollen unlike other insects with poor adaptive characteristics. Bees are further hardworking dedicated creatures with specialized roles which enable them to perform their duties effectively. They are thus vital in cross-pollination, especially where the plant has self-incompatibility issues and cannot carry out fertilization on its own. Nature should, therefore, be grateful that bees exist.
References
Buchmann, S., & Moisset, B. (2010). Bee Basics, An Introduction to Our Native Bees, October 2010 . New York: Government Printing Office.
Devillers, J. (2014). In silico bees . Boca Raton: CRC Press.
James, R. (2008). Bee pollination in agricultural ecosystems . New York, N.Y: Oxford University Press.
Mayer, D., & Mayer, D. (2000). Crop Pollination by Bees . New York: CABI.
