Future of Bees

"If the bee disappeared off the surface of the globe, then man would only have four years of life left."
Albert Einstein

Bee Colony
The Honey Bee Colony: An Organized Society Every bee has its place in the hive. A honey bee colony, a female dominated society, is a sophisticated system where each member, from the head of the family to the youngest worker, contributes to the survival of the group

What can one person do to help the honeybees? Are you wondering what you could do, as one person, to help the bees? That was our initial question as well. Turns out even if having a hive in your back yard, or on the rooftop of your city dwelling is not possible, there are still loads of things you can do!

Plant things in your garden: that honeybees need and love-no matter how small your

garden may be-even if its a pot of flowers. They do not prefer the color red.
Dandelions! When honeybees are first emerging from their hives in the spring they have typically depleted their winter stores of honey and pollen needed for daily nutrition to sustain their life. The synergy of nature is amazing in that just when honeybees are emerging from their hives, so too emerge incredibly nutritious Dandelions! For honeybees, this valuable pollen and nectar source provides one of the first important sources of pollen and nectar, prior to when the other spring nectar sources become available. So, if you can leave the dandelions while they are in bloom, just think how many honeybees will benefit. In striving for a weed and pest-free landscape try natural alternatives. Pesticides not only harm pests but the good insects as well. When honeybees ( with their bare little feet) land on harmful substances, they can bring this back to their hive and endanger the rest of their colony. Set aside undisturbed areas in your yard to encourage and provide nesting places for feral (wild) honeybees. All bees need our support for their survival. Plant a patch of clover-honeybees love it. If you dont want it in your lawn, put some in a big planter! Honeybees need a water source. Place small dishes of water in your garden with rocks for them to land on so they wont drown.

Why are honey know it today?

bees essential to human life as you

Many plants only get pollinated by honeybees. The bees collect pollen on their legs from a male flower and fly to a female flower where some of the pollen is rubbed off on the pistils of the female flower. The female plant is then able to produce whatever fruit it produces. The list of plants that are pollinated in this way is long. As much as 90% of all plants are pollinated by insects. Honeybees pollinate many plants important to man including clover, which is essential to the beef cattle industry and fruit bearing plants like apple and orange trees which provide many essential vitamins.

IF THE BEES DISAPPEAR

Beekeepers in 24 states across America are encountering a strange phenomenon: beeswhich seemed to be healthy days earlierare abandoning their hives. Millions of these insects have been reported lost, with no trace of where the colonies may have gone, and no apparent cause for their disappearance. In a few other cases, whole colonies have been found dead in their hives. Scientists and beekeepers alike are unsure as to the source of this problem, which is tentatively being called Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD). Suspected causes include pesticides, mites, viruses, cold weather, fungus, the use of antibiotics and low-quality food for the bees. There are signs that the immune systems of infected bees are collapsing, again for no known reason, causing some to call it bee HIV/AIDS. With weakened immune systems, the bees are unable to fight off diseases. In fact, found in the stomachs of infected bees are traces of nearly every disease that has affected bees over the last 100 years.

Beekeeper
A beekeeper is a person who keeps honey bees. Honey bees produce commodities such as honey, beeswax, pollen, and royal jelly. Beekeepers also use honeybees to provide pollination services to fruit and vegetable growers; raise queens and bees to sell to other farmers, and to satisfy scientific curiosity. Many people keep bees as a hobby. Others do it for income, either as a sideline to other work, or as a commercial operatordepending mostly on the number of colonies they maintain.

Once the bees have left the earth, man will have four years left on the planet. The above statement is a paraphrase of a quote Albert Einstein made as he approached his death in 1955. The importance of bees' role in pollination within the food chain has been understood for quite some time. But the eeriness of this statement, made over 50 years ago, is that over the past two years many bee populations around the world have declined dramatically. Bees pollinate vast amounts of crops, flowers and plants necessary for the food chain to flourish. Einstein may have been referring to the possibility that man may not be able to grow adequate crops to feed the world without pollination. There would also be other disruptions in the food chain as feed for farm animals would be greatly impacted, and plants in general would suffer. In many areas of the U.S. bee populations have declined by 50 percent or more . No specific cause for this drop has been identified, though infections, viruses, pollution and pesticides have all been implicated.

Aya Tarek Diana Mohamed Yasmine Haitham Habiba essam