Many gardeners do not know that honeybees are not native bees. They were brought over from Europe during colonization as a resource. Colonizers were not worried about invasive species as their focus was surviving in a new land. However, today we do know the price of introduced species on native communities and the honeybee is one of those species. Honeybees disrupt ecosystems with their large numbers foraging on specific flowers in certain areas. Their foraging behaviors can encourage invasive plants by favoring pollination of only certain flower types. Monoculture crops may rely on imported honeybees for pollination, leaving few resources for other plant or insect species the rest of the year. Honeybees will displace native bees by monopolizing floral resources with their numbers and pollinating efficiency. They are often brought into an area to intensely pollinate a crop and then taken away again, leaving a disrupted ecosystem behind. Domestic honeybees can also bring diseases to bee populations. Bee colonies are regularly shipped long distances and can quickly spread diseases across the globe.
Native bees can pollinate a much wider array of flower shapes. Some bees have very long tongues to reach down to the base of a long tubular flower like the trumpet creeper. Other bees are very big and strong to pry open the petals of a flower like monkeyflower. On milkweed a bee must be a strong flyer to be able to carry the heavy pollen between plants. All of these unique bees need our protection.
I am often irritated when I see a save the bees poster featuring a picture of a honeybee. The honeybees have problems right now, but it is nowhere near as dire of a collapse as the one that native bees are experiencing. Messaging like this can confuse the public into thinking honeybees are a native wild species instead of an agricultural concern. I will be sad if I have to give up honey but I’m not sure the earth will survive if we lose our bees. We need to focus our research, education, and messaging on the protection of native bees.
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