Celebrating world honeybee day

23/05/2022

“If the bee disappears from the surface of the earth, man would have no more than four years to live,"Albert Einstein is quoted as saying. Bees are the primary pollinators in many flowering plant ecosystems and play an important role in pollinating flowering plants. Insect, bird, and bat pollination is estimated to account for one-third of human food supply, with bees, both wild and domesticated, performing the majority of the work.
Bees are winged insects related to wasps and ants that are known for their pollination and honey production. Bees are a monophyletic lineage within the Apoidea superfamily. There are over 16,000 species of bees classified into seven biological families. Some species, such as honey bees, bumblebees, and stingless bees, live in colonies, whereas the majority (>90 percent) of species, such as mason bees, carpenter bees, leafcutter bees, and sweat bees, live solitary. Except for Antarctica, bees can be found in every habitat on the planet that contains insect-pollinated flowering plants. Bees consume nectar and pollen, the former primarily for energy and the latter for protein and other nutrients. The majority of pollen is consumed by their larvae. Bee pollination is important for both ecological and commercial reasons, and the decline in wild bees has increased the value of pollination by commercially managed honey bee hives. Bees collect pollen to feed their young and have the necessary adaptations to do so. Certain wasp species, such as pollen wasps, have similar behaviours, and a few bee species scavenge from carcasses to feed their offspring.
It is a day to recognize the importance of honey bees in our daily lives while also learning about the various steps we can take to protect this vital species. We also honour beekeepers on World Honey Bee Day. To raise awareness of the importance of pollinators, the threats they face and their contribution to sustainable development, the UN designated 20 May as World Bee Day World Bee Day is observed globally on 20th May every year. On this date, 20 May, the pioneer of beekeeping Anton Janša was born in 1734 in Slovenia. The purpose of the bee day is to acknowledge the role of bees and other pollinators for the ecosystem. World Bee Day theme for the year 2022 is "Bee engaged: Build Back Better for Bees". The World Bee Day aims to: Attract public attention to the threats and significance of bees in the global food supply. Develop awareness regarding the protection of bees and other pollinators and their habitats. World Honey Bee Day, previously known as Honey Bee Awareness Day, is an idea put together by beekeepers in the USA, who petitioned the USDA in 2009 for an official day to honor honey bees and beekeeping. A few years down the line, people across the globe are holding a date of observation every year.
Albert Einstein stated that if the bee disappeared from the earth's surface, humanity would have only four years of life left because food crops would be unable to pollinate themselves. The truth is that, as is so often the case, Einstein never said anything like that. While the alleged four-year time frame cannot be attributed to any other scientific source, the fake quote does serve as a reminder of the importance of bees in the context of a concerning reality: the decline of bee populations resulted in the coining of a new term, Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD), in 2007, whose causes and solutions are still being investigated.
Almost nine out of ten plants rely on animals for pollination. The most common floral visitor in nature is the western (or European) honey bee (Apis mellifera), the most common species of honey bee and spread worldwide through beekeeping. It is commonly stated that bees pollinate one-third of our crops, including fruit trees, berries, vegetables, and even alfalfa, but not others, including maize, tubers and root vegetables (e.g., potatoes and carrots), or leafy vegetables. In nature, approximately 5% of plant species are critically dependent on these creatures, while bees ignore nearly half of all plants.
In the history of beekeeping, crises in beekeeping operations have been sporadic, but in the late twentieth century, a steady decline began to be detected in several countries. A flurry of reports from North America in 2007 led to the definition of CCD, for which multiple possible causes were proposed: neonicotinoid or neonic insecticides, pests such as the parasitic mite Varroa destructor, the fungus Nosema ceranae, bacterial or viral infections, environmental stress, malnutrition, low genetic diversity, habitat destruction, or the effects of climate changes.
The truth is that even if honeybees became extinct, humans would most likely not become extinct (at least not solely for that reason). Our diets, however, would suffer greatly. The variety of foods available would be reduced, and the price of certain products would rise. For years, the California Almond Board, for example, has been campaigning to save bees. According to the group, almonds "would simply not exist" without bees and their ilk. We'd still have coffee without bees, but it'd be expensive and difficult to find. For three or four days, the coffee flower is open for pollination. If no insect passes by during that brief window, the plant will not be pollinated. There are numerous other examples: apples, avocados, onions, and a variety of berries all rely heavily on bee pollination. Honeybee extinction, or even a significant drop in their population, would make those foods scarce. Humanity would survive, but our dinners would become far less exciting.
(Division of Entomology, SKUAST Jammu)

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