TO BEE, OR NOT TO BEE

The Natives are restless and, like their human counterparts, their land is being taken from them. I’m not speaking of the Algonquin, Sioux or Navajo. I am speaking about tribes with names like Megachilidae, Colletidae, Osmia, and Bombus. These are tribes of the Native bees of North America. They have lived here for centuries prior to the invasion of the European interlopers, the Honey bee. There are somewhere between 3500 and 4000 species of Native bees in North America. That means that all pollination done in North and South America prior to the 1600’s was accomplished by these little known creatures.

They are cataloged and typed by several different names. Sometimes they are collectively called “pollen bees” because they carry far more pollen than honey bees. They are also known as “solitary bees” because they do not form large colonies. Each female develops her own nest without honey stores or workers. They are largely invisible to the average person, but of huge significance to the world. There are so many different types of these Native bees that it is hard to talk about them all at once. But there are a few simple facts that are relative to most.

Perhaps most importantly, Native bees are highly efficient pollinators. They often do the lion's share of pollinating crops, although this is not always recognized or appreciated. They have a number of advantages over honeybees as pollinators.
• Many are active early in the spring, before honey bee colonies reach large
size.
• Native bees are active earlier in the day and later in the afternoon than
honeybees, thus providing more pollination time.
• Native bees tend to stay in a crop rather than fly between crops, providing
more efficient pollination.
• Native bees seldom forage more than a couple of hundred yards from their
nest, whereas Honey bees may travel many miles.
• Because they fly faster than honeybees, they can pollinate more plants.
• Unlike honeybees, the males also pollinate the crop.
• Native bees are usually gentle, and do not sting since they have no honey
stores to defend. When they do sting, it is mild.
• Many native bees do not get disoriented in greenhouses.

Because of these differences, many Native bees are far more efficient pollinators than honey bees. Some experts suggest they accomplish more than 100 times what the Honey bee does. For example 250 Mason bees can pollinate one acre of apples. The same job would generally require a honeybee hive of about 20,000 bees.
Native bees have been shown to increase crop yields when they are present. Over 50 species of native bees specialize in plants such as watermelon or sunflower and over 80 species have been shown to be involved in berry crop pollination in Maine and Massachusetts. Native bees tripled the production of cherry tomatoes in one study in California. Many of these crops simply would not exist without native bees.
Often, growers don't realize how much pollination is performed by native bees. Signs of inadequate pollination are often misinterpreted as weather problems or disease. In one study it was found that of the 1700 bees trapped, only 34 were honeybees. This means that Native bees were performing almost all of the pollination in that area. Experts suggest that the economic value of pollination by Native bees greatly outweighs the traditional value of honey and wax produced by honeybees.
The drastic decline in feral and domestic honey bees has made it even more important to conserve and study wild bee populations.

The number of Native bees has also declined, but the reasons for these declines appear to be different from honey bees and are not well understood. Though some Native bees can be managed and used in commercial agriculture, most of them are regional. We do not know enough yet about their biology to know why they are declining, or how to manage them effectively.

So the fading drum beat of declining natives is once again affecting the North American continent. Likewise there may be serious consequences to the conqueror. However, if we can understand and preserve these native tribes, we may, at the same time, better feed the world. Towards this end biologists at Mesa State College will be collecting, identifying and attempting to culture local species of native bees in the future.