Category: Pollinators

Back in October 2006 the Royal Society published an online version of a comprehensive study that was the first attempt to put a global value on pollinators. It attracted some attention back then, at The Worsted Witch, who got it from Science Daily. We missed it at the time ((Probably because the whole site was pretty new)), but as the paper version has just been published, that’s enough reason to revisit it ((Thanks to Michael Kubisch for sending the information below and the link)).

Very briefly, the article shows that 87 of the leading 115 crops depend to varying degrees on animal pollination. These 87 crops represent 35% of the world’s food production. While a few food plants are pollinated by birds or bats, the most important pollinators are, of course, honeybees, domesticated and wild. This is particularly troublesome in light of the various threats to the domesticated bee. The authors conclude that agricultural intensification jeopardizes wild bee populations and plead for more research into landscape management practices that would enhance wild bee viability.

Interestingly, I couldn’t find an actual cash value for pollination services in the article, but maybe I didn’t look hard enough.

“I’m not convinced that it’s so much worse than what we saw in 2004 and 2005,” said Eric Mussen, a bee specialist with the University of California, Davis.

While bees are undoubtedly in trouble this year, Mussen said, there’s little evidence so far that it’s anything other than the continuation of their long struggle with disease, environmental stress and the hardship of being hauled cross-country in midwinter to pollinate crops in California.

“This time the media just became much more involved in it,” he said.

That’s from an article by Jim Downing in the Sacramento Bee. (I kid you not; it is actually a very good paper, although you may need to register and log in to see the full story, which is why I am quoting from it at some length.) Mussen is just one of the experts who says that the fuss this year about vanishing bees reflects more media interest rather than fewer bees.

“About all we’ve got is anecdotes,” said, Troy Fore, executive director of the American Beekeeping Federation.

There is, in fact, no central agency responsible for monitoring the status of honeybees in the US. News comes by word of mouth, and while some beekeepers are playing down the crisis, hoping that farmers don’t question the pollinating ability of the hives they’ve rented, others are blowing up the problem in a bid for government support.

Years ago, Mussen said, many Central Valley counties employed a bee inspector to check the health of rented hives. That person helped resolve disputes between beekeepers and farmers and served as an informal census-taker.

Today, those inspectors are scarce. One of the few remaining is Clifton Piper, who has checked hives for the Merced County Department of Agriculture since 1973. He isn’t sure about the big picture, either.

“It’s difficult to see just how short the shortage is,” he said. Beekeepers often bolster weak hives with imported packages of bees from Australia, he said. And in cold and rainy weather, it’s hard to tell whether sluggish bees in a hive are sick or simply chilly.

I suppose time, and the price of almonds, will tell.