The Honey Bee
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Transcript of The Honey Bee
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 theoriesVarroa 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 -