This quarter, my group and I had the opportunity to learn about on pollinations, with a focus on the collapse of bee colonies. Honey bees are responsible for pollinating and producing 1/3 of the fruits and vegetables, and they have been disappearing as a fast rate. To put this in even more perspective, more than 10 million beehives were lost between 2007 and 2013. To learn more about the bees, our group action project decided to show the documentary “Queen of the Sun: What are the Bees Telling us?” to learn more about the disappearance of the bees and their colonies. This documentary was thought provoking, and we learned that the bees are actually collapsing due to Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD). This occurs when the majority of worker bees disappear and leave behind a queen, some food, and a few nurse bees to take care of the remaining immature bees. This is happening due to a variety of reasons, but one of the main ones being pesticide poisoning through exposure to pesticides applied to crops or for in-hive control. CCD is also occurring due to the stress they are occurring due to management practices such as transportation to multiple locations across the country for providing pollination services.
After learning about this, I wanted to get involved so I can do my part on helping save the bees. After researching, I learned that there are a few ways we can stop bees from dying. First I can plant bee-friendly flowers in my garden at home, so they have a habitat to forage. Second, I am going to reduce the pesticides that are used in my yard so it does not affect the biosphere as much. Lastly, I am going to keep some water out for the bees to drink, because I was not aware that bees get thirsty and need to rehydrate.
Overall, this group action project really made me aware of what is going on with the honeybees, and I hope to see an increase in their population in the coming years.