Alex WildMay 24, 2023

Since there is a lot of confusion about bees, and the saving thereof, a thread:

1. Honey Bees are a Eurasian/African species not native to the Americas but used here for agriculture. Their well-being is no more a conservation concern in the Americas than that of house cats or chickens.

2. Honey bees are having some problems, though, especially with high winter colony losses. Commercial beekeepers are slower to build colony numbers in the spring, which raises early-spring hive rental prices...

Show threadAlex WildMay 24, 2023

...which raises almond prices for consumers. This is the scale of the honey bee problems: one of agricultural economics.

3. Native bees are hugely diverse- with many thousands of species in the Americas- and their status varies from species to species. How are they doing? Some are great! Some are extinct! Some are disappearing! Most we simply have no idea, since there is very little money out there to hire the necessary people to watch 6,000 bee species across an entire continent.

Show threadEvan Prodromou
@alexwild Not your current topic, but I feel the need to interject that the Xerces Society has a citizen science project to track native bees. Very important work! https://www.bumblebeeatlas.org/
Bumble Bee Atlas

A website to help communicate the goals and findings of the Xerces Society Bumble Bee Atlas Projects.

May 24, 2023 at 6:57pmWeb