Where is love for non honey bees?

https://lemmy.world/post/5841743

Where is love for non honey bees? - Lemmy.world

Fuck wasps tho

But hornets are cute. And they eat wasps

Some species of wasps pollinate and eat smaller pests.

So don’t hate on the territorial demons too much!

Wasps are just as important in most ecosystems. They prey on pests, are pollinators, and act as decomposers. The only species of wasp you should hate in the US is the only one that is invasive: the Asian ‘murder’ hornet.
They also prey on me and my food which other bee types do not.

I’m in Germany and here we have the German wasp and the Common Wasp

I hate both of them

You shouldn’t fuck wasps, they sting your dick.
Maybe some people are in to that

We have a bee hotel and it’s so damn cute seeing these little solitary bees filling up the holes.

We probably have 20-30 nests.

Ooh I’ve been debating getting one!

What species are they?

If you have a drill, they’re stupid easy to make. Read about what size holes the bees in your area like. And leave a smooth edge on the entry! They won’t use it if they sense a risk to their wings.

Might as well roll your own, not like you can reuse them after they nest. Mites and such are an issue.

You can reuse them, but you have to carefully clean the nesting holes. I have professionally made bee houses that I use. The wooden blocks that hold the nesting holes can be removed, opened, and sanitized. This also allows you to harvest cocoons to keep safe from predators/weather for the next year.
Yay! Me too! I had so many different species visit my yard this year. Like 3 different species of big 'bumble bees'. And so many of the other kind. I like the iridescent green one!! :-D

OPs post reminded me to get a new one built!

Whereabouts do you live and what sizes of holes are you drilling?

I have a little butterfly home, but it got populated by yellow jackets and now I don’t know what to do.
Huh. I thought yellow jackets nest underground.
What about the non bee insects?
Fuck em
You do know that this world is basically populated primarily by insects right? They’re arguably the most important type of animal on earth
It’s a joke. Lighten up.
You're technically correct, but you missed the joke, which was kind of funny.

Not many realize this, but sticking with the non-bee pollination theme you have things like beetles, butterflies, moths, some species of flies, ants, wasps… the list goes on.

Non-inscect options include some speciea of bats and birds.

That’s not even getting into the tons of other useful things insects do.

Also insects are dying but so are other species
1/4th of all known animals are a beatle
Statistically speaking one of them must be a beatle 🧐

I always said that if I wasn't a human, I would be a rhinoceros beetle (kabutomushi).

Apparently I may have been right!

That is a very strange thing to say but I vibe with it

I once heard someone smarter than me say that if all insects were to vanish the earth’s ecosystems would full collapse in 10 years.

Considering what insects do for our planet, I believe it.

Moreso. Everyone started getting honey bees that it’s now having an impact on native bees.

Honey bees got hyped up as a problem because the large agricultural industries that relied on them was having a problem. It is an actual problem but not just honey bees. Everyone got so hyped that we’ve note got the old problem and a new problem too.

The Problem with Honey Bees

They’re important for agriculture, but they’re not so good for the environment

Scientific American
Last panel should say “spray for mosquitoes again”
Bumblebees are so fuzzy! They’re adorable.
Love me some fat bees

I rescued one recently by picking it up

They’re so docile it’s awesome

And my god did it ever perk up when I plonked it on a flower. It was so ridic cute

My parents have a hive of wood bees in the pergola my dad made. The pollinate out like tree and I love them

Can’t get on board with this. fuck non honey bees.

Wasp and hornet populations are bigger than ever. They are pests that don’t need our support. We are doing them a huge favor by raising the earth’s temperature. They love this. In my area wasps are easily more noticeable over the past few years as summers have gotten hotter and hotter. I’ve never had so many issues with carpenter bees either.

Wasps and hornets aren’t bees.

Bees in danger of extinction are mostly certain bumble bees.

Fair enough. A lot of people still refer to wasps / hornets as “bees” but this is not scientifically correct. Carpenter bees can go to hell. Nothing against the bumble, but if I’m going to get behind saving something that can sting me or kids and potentially induce lethal allergic reactions, it’s going to be the one that at least makes a decent cereal topping.
It’s not about you and your family’s comfort. These insects are essential to the environment as a whole. You want a livable planet for your children, you want to save even the stingy bois. That being said, fuck wasps.

Actually they really don’t love the rising temperature at all, because that combined with human activity directly is killing a lot of their food sources, which is why many are endangered. Wasps are important pollinators as well as bees, so if they go it will make life even more difficult for a lot of different flowers. Also, how often are you actually stung by wasps or hornets? Do they actively hunt you down and attack you? I’ve spent many calm evenings sitting and watching wasps fly around various flowers and bushes right next to me and never been bothered by them.

Thinking we just need to save honey bees is kind of like thinking we need to save cows from extinction, they’re domesticated.

theguardian.com/…/climate-change-good-news-wasps-…

Wasps are known to be aggressive. There are subtypes that are less or more, but I get stung about once every three or four years and yeah, it seems like they hunt. Perhaps it’s some accidental perceived threat that I cause, but I’m not exactly “asking for it”. They are notably more prevelant recently.

Why climate change is good news for wasps

Weatherwatch Their numbers vary enormously from year to year, but warmer weather will provide wasps with more favourable conditions

The Guardian
Bro I’ve been stung exactly twice (both at the same time, stepped on a yellow jacket nest) my whole life, am I just lucky?

I’ve only been stung stepping on a nest of ground bees.

Most wasps and daubers around me are pretty chill. But we got a nest of bald faced hornets a few years ago, and damn they were aggressive.

I left the nest alone, and none of us got stung, but def got chased inside a couple of times. They attacked the window for 20 minutes afterward, lol.

2/10 would still leave them alone again.

Carpenter bees are easy. If they’re eating your house, just get a trap. Aside from a rare wasp, they’re the only things that get in those.

Looks like this:

www.bonanza.com/listings/…/1482301003?goog_pla=1&…

Wasp and hornet populations are bigger than ever

They’re not non honey bees!

Non honey bees are things like the blue banded bee, or the burrowing bee!

Amegilla cingulata - Wikipedia

I’m all for Hymenoptera, but no love for sawflies?
Sawfly - Wikipedia

I keep (as much as solitary bees can be "kept") native mason and leafcutter bees every year. I love when they first emerge from their cocoons. They're so tiny and adorable. They're also completely non-aggressive and never mind when I mess with their bee houses (mostly to remove spider webs). My plants love the bees as well.

Honey Bees and Bumble Bees are great. They’re fun to watch, and are very docile/relaxed. I will always stop to watch one, or avoid while mowing.

If you’re asking me about carpenter bees or any wasp, hornet, or yellow jacket, they can all die in a fire. Those call for scorched earth.

Some wasps look scary but all they want to do is hang around the flowers.

I recently watched a video of a bee keeper showing how his bees were kept save because he fed the wasps fermented pare. So it kept them happy and docile and really showed how some wasps species can co exist and play a part in Mother Nature which we often forget.

But mosquitoes… fuck them, they can all die.

Also, cute ass little bee photo. 🐝

Hornets are my bros, they’re super chill here. Swoop in, hunt something down, eat it sitting on a random branch, and then they’re gone again.
What commercial purpose do non-honey bees serve??? Why should we save them???

Viewing things from a solely commercial perspective is myopic and like most capitalistic business oractices, thinks waaay too short term. You can’t make your money off your crops decades from now that f youre only thinking about this quarters profits.

But even if you were to take this myopic and short sighted approach, Honey Bees are just average pollinators amongst a diverse range of insects and some small birds.

Additionally planting a wide variety of drought resistant flora is better for both wild as well domesticated pollinators and a more environmentally friendly practice than just keeping honey bees.

How effective are honey bees as pollinators?

Honeybees are celebrated as effective plant pollinators, but just how effective are they? Newly published UC Davis research in the American Journal of Botany yields some surprising results.

Phys.org

I offer two points for consideration:

  • Bees help plants maintain genetic diversity among certain plants that other pollinators may not target. Genetic diversity helps maintain a thriving variety of plant, tolerant to different environments. Especially important is our environments are changing.

  • Animals that are bred until they cannot survive outside of certain environments, (co-dependence) are destined to become extinct in the absence of said environment. (In case there’s any confusion, insects fall under the umbrella of “animals” taxonomically. Also, in this sentence, the codependent animals may be humans.)

  • Diverse populations of bees provide benefits and necessities outside of commercial purposes, and are going the way of the American Bison. (Please note the differences from the way of the dinosaur.)

    Panel 1: 😏 Panel 2: /s right? Panel 3: 😏 Panel 4: …right?
    Obviously, didn’t think I’d need the /s here of all places. 😓
    Bumble bees run a popular online dating platform

    Edit: yeesh, didn’t think that needed an /s

    The best suggestion someone gave me about social media is “always assume you’re talking to a 12 year old kid with autism”