A Honey Bee at work on my French Lavender.
Latest Update 8th October 2016.
Honey Bees.
- Bees
are flying insects closely related to wasps and ants. They are major
pollinators and produce honey and beeswax from pollen and nectar
collected from the flowering plants they visit.
- Without
pollination, many flowering plants would not be able to produce fruit
and set seeds, and as a consequence many would become extinct.
- There
are nearly 20,000 known species of bees and they are found on every
continent except Antarctica. They can be found wherever flowering
plants grow.
- They are adapted to feeding on nectar for energy and pollen for protein and other nutrients.
- They produce and store honey to feed on when nectar is not available. (e.g in cold weather).
- Their
larvae are sealed in wax cells with a supply of nectar and pollen mixed
together to form a sticky mass. This feeds them as they mature into
adults.
Pollinators.
- Bees
play an important role pollinating flowering plants, they focus on
gathering either nectar or pollen depending on demand, especially in
social species.
- Bees gathering nectar may accomplish pollination, but bees that are
deliberately gathering pollen are more efficient pollinators.
- It
is estimated that one third of the human food supply depends on insect
pollination, most of which is accomplished by bees, especially the
semi-domesticated European Honey Bee.
-
Many bees are
opportunistic foragers who gather pollen and nectar from a wide variety
of plants. Others gather it from just a few different types, whilst
some concentrate on a single plant species.
- Pollen and nectar are usually combined and stored in a cell in the nest with an egg deposited on the
mixture. The cell is typically sealed after the egg is laid, and the adult
and larva never interact directly.
- Visiting
flowers can be a dangerous occupation for bees as their predators hide
in them to capture the unwary. Other bees are lost to birds in flight,
and many are killed by insecticides used on flowering plants. The
insecticides kill the bees by direct poisoning and by contaminating
their food supply.
- A queen honey bee may lay 2000 eggs per day during their busiest time in spring, and she must lay
1000 to 1500 eggs per day during the foraging season to replace
daily casualties.
Honey
- Honey
is produced by bees as a food source. To produce a single jar
of honey, foraging honey bees have to travel the equivalent of three
times around the world.
- Honey
bees transform saccharides into honey by a process of regurgitation.
They do this as a group a number of times until it is partially
digested.
- The
resulting aqueous solution is still high in water content, and most of
it must be evaporated to produce the golden viscous fluid we are all
familiar with.
- Because
honey's natural sugars have been dehydrated, fermentation is prevented,
and added enzymes modify and transform the honey's pH and chemical
composition.
- In cold weather or when fresh food sources are
scarce, bees use stored honey as their source of energy.
In my Garden
- The organic gardener does not use synthetic fertilisers, insecticides or herbicides.
- There
are plenty of natural alternatives which do not kill pollinators like
bees or beneficial predatory animals, insects and microbes.
- Flowering
plants and herbs are grown near and amongst fruiting plants and
vegetables to attract, feed and provide habitat for pollinators and
predatory insects.
- As a result, when the plants are harvested for food, they are not contaminated by poisonous chemical residues.
- We don't have a hive or native bee nest in our garden, but we do have an abundance of European Honey Bee visitors, and an occasional Australian Blue Banded Bee.
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