Discovering Native Bees Why native pollinators matter and how children can learn about native bees in a classroom setting
By Alison Pearce Stevens
purification, oxygen production, waste treatment and detoxi- fication, flood prevention, and pollination are provided at no cost, yet their true value is immeasurable. In our economy- driven world, these systems are often taken for granted, and as a consequence many are in peril. Understanding their role is a critical first step towards ensuring that they endure. Pollination, the process of moving pollen grains from
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one flower to another to stimulate fruit and seed production, is among the easiest of these services to understand. Pollina- tion is important for successful reproduction of all flowering plant species, both wild and cultivated. It allows intact eco- systems to continue functioning efficiently, and it provides food and other products for human consumption. Despite its importance, pollinators have been declining in number over the past two decades. Although some plants, including most major cereal crops
(corn, rice, wheat, barley, and oats) rely on wind dispersal for pollination, 70 to 90 percent of flowering plants rely on animal pollinators. These plants include fruits and vegetables consumed by humans and other animals. Without pollinators to facilitate pollen transfer, these plants will cease to produce fruit altogether. The best way to ensure that such ecosystem services
remain intact and functional is to understand their value in economic terms. If we understand the costs associated with losing the services, we will be more likely to take steps to avoid paying those costs. Determining the economic value
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ATURAL SYSTEMS PROVIDE humans with a variety of services essential to our survival. Eco- system services such as climate regulation, water
of ecosystem services presents a challenge, but the best esti- mates use traditional economic models to establish a ball- park value. Researchers have estimated the global value of all ecosystem services at US$33 trillion per year. The value of pollination alone is estimated between US$20 and 40 bil- lion for the United States, and up to US$200 billion globally. An economic perspective provides a useful framework for
adults. An alternative approach—one that better illustrates the issue for children—is to examine the nutritional impact of a world that lacks animal pollinators. Approximately one-third of the food we eat comes from animal-pollinated plant crops. Pollinators affect not only the fruit and vegetable content of our diets (see the table below), but also availability of meat and dairy products (e.g., cattle are often fed alfalfa and clover, which are pollinated by bees).
The Role of Honey Bees
The best known animal pollinator is the honey bee (Apis mellifera). Honey bees are not native to North America; they were imported from Europe as early as the 1600s, to provide wax and honey. Their role in pollination went unrecognized for over 200 years, until native North American pollinators declined in the early 1900s and honey bees were used to replace them. Honey bees are ideal from a management standpoint
because they live in large, easy-to-manage colonies with thousands of foragers. In theory, such legions of pollinators would provide very efficient pollination of crops, particu- larly when a honey bee forager can spend 5-10 hours forag- ing in a day. In reality, although the honey bee can pollinate a wide variety of species, it is a sub-optimal pollinator for a number of plants. This is in contrast to native pollinators
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