The Honey Bee has been a life giver for humanity as it has been the pollinator of over 15 billion dollars worth of crops in the U.S. alone. The honey bee is a fascinating creature on the individual level and colonial level. Each bee generates a static charge attracting pollin and releases it as it goes from plant to plant. Interestingly, a bee will pollinate same species plants as opposed to jumping from plant to plant randomly further increasing the plants fecundity and fitness. On the colonial level there is an organizational hierarchy that rivals that of any human government. From the queen to worker bees to scout bees there is a distinct set of duties for each one. In terms of policy, there seems to a very efficient way of life in a bee colony. For example, bees reproduce a hive in a process called swarming. Due to environmental conditions or simple overcrowding a colony will prepare for a swarm by reducing the queens weight making her ready for flight as well as develop a new queen to facilitate the old colony. Upon swarming the colony will leave the hive and move out and up in a tight ball surrounding the queen making a loud rumble of buzzing. They will then send out scout bees to find a suitable place to colonize a new hive. A new hive is then formed from about half of the bees from the original colony in an extremely ordered fashion.
Humans depend on bees in a direct and profound way. 1 in 3 bites taken is from a food that was pollinated by bees, from a food that is dependent upon bees. To lose the bee is a price humanity simply can’t afford. Unfortunately, there has been a number of problems for the bee population in the last few decades that have grown exponentially over the last few years. This video by Dennis vanEngelsdorp was done at the 2008 TED conference and talks a little about the problems facing bees and the steps that can be taken on the individual level to alleviate them.
