Whatever Happened to the Bee Apocalypse

Discussion in 'Science' started by Space_Time, Jun 26, 2022.

  1. Space_Time

    Space_Time Well-Known Member

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    Just fascinating. You've probably heard about the honeybee colony collapse issue. The reality turns out to be much more complicated:
     
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  2. Josh77

    Josh77 Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    It is very fascinating. I've been following this for quite a while.

    Personally, I think biodiversity is key to everything. Massive monoculture, like we see in the agricultural industry, is not very healthy for life in general.
    Where I live here, we have started "no-mow May" to help out all of the diverse pollinators in the early growing season. I'm not sure exactly how much it has helped, or how many people take part, but it seems to me that I am seeing a lot more various pollinators on my property at least.
     
  3. Chrizton

    Chrizton Well-Known Member

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    First, honey bees are not native species to the US. This is a problem for agriculture to manage more effectively.

    Second, I have observed that bees, honey or otherwise, seem to be sensitive to weather patterns. It seems like a good year for bumble bees, wasps, etc are bad years for honey bees and vice versa, at least where I live. This has been a really good year for honey bees and I have seen very few bumble bees when it is usually the opposite. It also seems to be a banner year for clover in my area. I think perhaps the insane hot dry year we had last year may have thinned turf grasses enough for the clover to make a run for the finish line this year when it is pretty consistently moist. According to my rain gauge, we had over an inch yesterday and another 8/10's today.
     

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