The Honey Bee

Grade 12 Environmental Management

Bees going into their hive

Honey Bees Make Honey

Honey has natural preservatives and bacteria cannot grow on it

20 000 – 50 000 bees in a hive during the summer

It takes 556 worker bees visiting 2 million flowers to make 1 lb. of honey

Its delicious!

Source: Ontario Beekeepers Association

Seventy of the top 100 human food crops are

pollinated by bees Supply 90 percent of the world nutrition or

pollinate $350 billion worth in global food A single bee colony can pollinate 300 million

flowers per day

Bees are extremely important to our existence!

Source: EcoNews

Bee Importance as Pollinators

Queen Drones Workers

Types of Honey Bees

Only she can lay eggs, approx. 1500 eggs per

day She uses pheromones to communicate and

organize her hive She eats royal jelly – a milky substance

produced by the workers

Source: Ontario Beekeepers Association

The Queen

Male bees – they do not have a stinger and have larger

eyes than workers Can fly 14 kms away from hive They develop from eggs that have not been fertilized Their job is to impregnate a queen from different hives Meet other drones in “drone congregations” to

communicate – Die after breeding, a live for approx. 90 days. Get kicked out of the hive in the fall – free loaders

Source: Ontario Beekeepers Association

Drones

All females Duties include cleaning, feeding the baby

bees, feeding and taking care of the queen, packing pollen and nectar into cells, capping cells, building and repairing honeycombs, fanning to cool the hive and guarding the hive

Their flying radius is 7 km and must gather food within that area

Source: Ontario Beekeepers Association

Worker Bees

250 billion honeybees have died as a result of

planetary mismanagement by humans Typically 5 -10% of bees within a colony will die

off each winter Globally, since 2006 there has been 30 -40%

die offs of bees Some beekeepers have lost 90% of their

populations And no one really has the answer why!!

Bee Colony Collapse

Time Magazine Headline: Aug 19th – 2013 The Worlds Largest New Magazine – 25 million readers

Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne has created a

task force to identify the problem and identify possible solutions

Though the cancelledgas plants gave you aHeadache?

Dangerous Issue

2 main theories

Varroa Mites Neonicotinoids

Suck the blood of drones and developing bees Emerging bees have missing legs Takes 1000 mites to kill 50 000 honey bees North American beekeepers do not think mites

are killing their bees

Varroa mites

An insecticide coating for grain seeds to be

planted The most widely used insecticide in the world

making up 80% of all seed treatments – a $1.2 billion industry

Attack the central nervous system of insects Watch CBC Video Some colonies have 70% of bees testing positive for neonictonoids residues

Neonictonoids

Has put a two – year moratorium (a complete ban)

on all neonictonoids within the European Union As a result Bayer CropScience of Germany and

Syngenta of Switzerland, have brought legal action against the EU’s decision= sueing

Claim neonictonoids when used properly, pose no risk – the science is flawed

“The Commission should now take the opportunity to address the real reasons for bee health decline: disease, viruses and loss of habitat and nutrition.“ Luke Gibbs, Syngenta

Results: The E.U

Colony collapse of honey bees is a global issue

that needs to remedied quickly The large multi-national seed corporations are

involved (Monsanto, Syngenta, Bayer, Land O Lakes) - $50 Billion in annual sales

The EU moratorium in Aug, 2013 on neonictonoids has resulted in two lawsuits against the European Union

What are your thoughts?

Conclusion -