The Buzz On Bees

Bees are fascinating, there are over 16,000- 20,000 species of bees distributed over seven families. They have been in existence since the early Cretaceous i.e. 145-66 million years ago, in other words the age of the dinosaur. It is believed the angiosperms and bees co-radiated, and angiosperms might have facilitated each other’s diversification. The economic and ecological impact of bees are tremendous, it is a $14 billion dollar industry with bees pollinating fruits like apples, squash, coffee, and tomatoes. The non-bee pollinator food only contributes to ~$3 million.

Bees are related to sand wasps that are carnivores but bees on the other hand are herbivores feeding on pollen and nectar. What makes bees so unique is that they do not destroy the plant per se, it helps in pollination and turns nectar into honey and in turn helps fertilize the flower resulting in fruit production. Surprise, the flower has more benefits than the bee! Some flowers are bee specific and have specialized petals and scent to attract particular bees.

• The land origin of bees was the western Gondwana (modern South America and Africa).
• Bees are eusocial, the female helps raise the young, which is remarkable for invertebrates.
• There are two groups of eusocial bees in the family Apidae  1) stingless bees of the tropic and 2) the true honey bees.
• Bees in the sub-family Meliponine swarm to find a new nest and a new queen joins them. The old queen departs with some of the workers in the Apis sub-family leaving the nest to the new queen.
• The Apis have certain dance moves for the direction of nectar, pollen, and other resources.
• The Meliponines direct their behaviour in social facilitation, odour trails and facilitating foragers to the food source.This is consistent with the observation that there are no ancient, endemic lineages of bees uniquely associated with India. 
• There are 375 native bee species in Alberta, of which 30 are bumble bees. There are 5 non-native bees species.

• Alberta Native Bee Council Link
• Almeida, E.A.B., Bossert, S., Danforth, B.N., Kuhlmann, M., Branstetter, M. R. Pie. (2023) Current Biology 33, 3409–3422 Link 
• Luso, L (2016) Positive and Negative Impacts of Non-Native Bees around the World.(2016) Insects (7) 4, 69 Link 
• Winston, M.L., Michener, C.D. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Vol. 74(3) 1135-1137. Link
• Woodard, S.H., Federman, S. James., R.R., Danforth, B.N., Griswold, T.L., Inouye, D., McFrederick, Q.S., Morandin, L., Paul, D.L., Sellers, E., Strange, J.P., Vaughan, M., Williams, N.M., Branstetter, M.G., Burns., C.T., Cane, J., Cariveau, A.B., Cariveau, D.P., Childers, A., Childers., C., Wehling, W. (2020) Biological Conservation Volume 252 108821  Link

Photo Credit for all photos: The Native Bee Council of Alberta