As a part of the Pollinators week 2020 (june22-28) celebrations, people around the world have participated in the Million Pollinators Garden challenge where the registered participants were asked to report and share about, what kind of pollinators visits their garden, how they benefit the plant growth, etc.
Bees play a major role in maintaining the health of the wide ecosystem.
Although there are nearly 20,000 bee species around the world, the need to protect the endangered lists stands crucial. As we all know, bees buzz around insect-pollinated flowering plants.Grains are mainly pollinated by wind. On other hand, fruits, vegetables and nuts are pollinated by bees. A single bee colony is capable of pollinating 300 million flowers each day. Altogether, they contribute 80 percent of worldwide pollination.
Save Our Small Pollen Movers!
Various studies claim the life of bees is in grave danger due to factors such as Air pollution, Habitat loss, pesticides, and so on. Among these interrelated causes, humans are largely responsible for predominant causes – Habitat Loss and pesticides.
As compared to the winter season, female bees only live about 6 weeks in summer. The favorable conditions of spring and summer help the colonies to continuously produce new worker bees. The reproduction rate falls in winter. Factually, a colony or beehive declines by 5-10 percent over winter and replace the lost bees in spring. The bees are helpless with the winter die-off rates and habitat loss.
About 150 different chemical residues in bee pollen were found by biologists. According to European Food Safety Authority and Greenpeace Scientific Report, a certain number of high-risk pesticides were identified along with shortlisted chemical companies, selling strong pesticides that result in Sub – lethal systemic effects and loss of orientation which eventually leads to the death of bees. In addition, there is a yearly shrink in wild bee habitat due to the conversion of forests into monoculture farms and industrial Agribusiness into grasslands, water contaminated with pesticides.
The need to fix our dysfunctional agricultural system and common-sense actions can save the lives of bees. This includes: Preserving wild habitat, Restoring ecological agriculture, Strict usage of natural pesticides.
The Colony collapse disorder does not have much effect on Native bees, although some of them are experiencing population reductions. In order to encourage Native bees, we can plant a diversity of pollen and nectar sources native to our area that blooms at various times during the year. Also, the suitable nesting habitat for native bees by rototilling a bare spot in the lawn of the garden benefits the soil-nesting bees.
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