The Birds and the Bees… Well, Mostly the Bees

For years we’ve been hearing about the predicament of the bees, and about the possible consequences to the environment and our own well being as a result. Since the 1990s, bee populations around the world have been in decline, with no single clear-cut cause. Many have pointed to the use of pesticides, as well as to climate change, parasites, and several other possible explanations. In particular, the rise of industrial agriculture and the widespread incidence of monocultures, with the attendant need to use more pesticides, have been implicated.

Last week, for the first time, bees were added to the US endangered-species list. The Fish and Wildlife Service determined that seven species of bees, all from the genus Hylaeus and all native to Hawaii, should be listed as endangered.

About 75% of flowering plants, and about a third of the plants we rely on as food sources, depend on pollinators such as bees to reproduce. Much of the research and public concern on declining bee populations has focused on honeybees because they’re the ones most responsible for pollinating crops. But other species—including those Hawaiian seven—are also critical for non-agricultural plants.

The plight of the bees has more to do with erosion control practices than you might think. Most obviously, perhaps, bees pollinate some of the species we tend to use for groundcover and soil stabilization. There is also the question of native vs. nonnative plant species. Bees usually prefer plants that are native to their own environment, although they can certainly also make use of pollen and nectar from non-native plants. Researchers have found that plants not native to a particular environment, however, tend to attract non-native bees as well, and this might exacerbate the spread of invasive or nuisance weeds in an environment, possibly to the detriment of indigenous plants.

Many native plants in Hawaii depend on the newly listed bees for pollination, and a number of those plants are now themselves threatened. Entomologists in Hawaii have been trying for 10 years to get the bees added to the list; one claims that they help “maintain the structure of the whole forest” in the state.