We failed to appreciate those who help us - 1

 Bee

 

We hardly takes even the slightest second to appreciate how bee has helps us in our everyday lives. 

A study reported that wild bee provide crop pollination services worth more than $3,250 per hectare per year. Their value to the food system is “in the billions, globally,” its authors wrote in the journal Nature Communications. Over three years, researchers followed the activities of nearly 74,000 bees from more than 780 species, to come to the conclusion.

According to Prof. E.C. Martin, the value of bee pollination of fruits, vegetables and seeds in the United States of America totaled very close to $8 billion in the 1960s; the figure 20 years later is probably close to $20 billion. 

 

Now, think about how much more it will be 60 years since 1960s?

Pollination is the transfer of pollen grains, the male sex cells of a flower, from the anther where they are produce to the receptive surface, or stigma, of the female organ of a flower. Since the honeybee is the most important insect that transfers pollen between flowers and between plants, the word "pollination" is often used to describe the service of providing bees to pollinate crop plants.

Honey bees are most active at temperatures between 60 degrees F. (16 degrees C.) and 105 degrees F. (41 degrees C.). Winds above 15 miles per hour reduce their activity and stop it completely at about 25 miles per hour. When conditions for flight are not ideal, honeybees work close to their colonies.

The honeybee starts its foraging activity between 5:00 and 5:15 a.m. Flight usually depends on the weather and temperature. The honeybee will not leave the hive if the temperature is below 14°C or if the wind speed is above 30 kilometers per hour.

We must know that the following crops must be pollinated by bees to produce fruit or seed:

Alfalfa
Apple 
Apricot 
Blackberry 
Blueberry 
Cherry 
Clovers

Sweet clovers
True clovers
Alsike 
Ladino
White Dutch 

Cranberry

Cucumber 
Muskmelon
Nectarine 
Peach 
Pear 
Plum 
Pumpkin 
Raspberry 
Squash 
Sunflower 
Trefoil 
Watermelon

The following crops can set fruit or seed without insect visits but yields and quality is improved by honeybees:

Eggplant
Grape 
Lespedeza 
Lima bean

Okra 
Pepper 
Soybean 
Strawberry.

 

Now think about it.