There has been a lot of talk about bees recently, and the die off of bees. Ecosystems are a complex series of interconnected life forms that depend upon each other. Ecosystems exist in a state of balance and it is extremely important for us to note that when one component is affected, the whole system is thrown off.
Bees are very much an integral part of a healthy ecosystem. Here are some things to think about the next time you find yourself getting annoyed by a bee.
Pollination
Pollination efforts are responsible for a wide diversity of wild flowers and many crops depend on them. In fact, without bees’ pollination of flowering crops and flowers, there would be far less food in general and diversity in particular. In fact, if bees did not pollinate in the wild, some vegetation would become extinct, leaving space for invasive, problematic species to take over.
Animals that eat the extinct vegetation would then die off, followed by the carnivorous animals that eat the herbivores. As noted above, it’s a chain reaction.
Crops consumed by humans are also dependent on bees. For example, apples, pears, cucumbers, cherries and other flowering/fruiting crops depend on bees to fertilize the flowers so that fruit will develop. When a bee gets nectar from a flower, it gets coated in pollen.
The bee then carries this pollen to another flower, fertilizing it and causing the flower to develop into a fruit. Without pollination, many flowering crops would not yield fruit, or would yield very little.
Bee Products
Human health is greatly enhanced by the inclusion of bee products. Here are some important items that bees provide that can benefit humans.
Honey:
Honey is not just another sweetener. Raw, unfiltered honey that has had minimal processing from hive to jar has many healthful benefits. It contains all sorts of vitamins, including phosphorous, iron, vitamins A, B-complex, C, D, E and K. According to herbalist Stephen Buhner, honey has at least 75 different compounds.
A spoonful of raw honey makes an excellent cough syrup, and it can serve as a base for home-made medicinal syrups.
Raw honey is a remarkable dressing for severe burns, and the antibiotic properties of honey have excelled conventional antibiotics in the treatment of ulcers and surgical infections. Honey has even been touted as an excellent treatment for allergies.
Beeswax:
This natural, beautiful product has been used to make candles, lip balm, cosmetics, crayons, moisturizers, and other items.
Propolis:
This is a substance that bees create from tree resins. It is reported to have strong antibiotic properties and to help fight fatigue. It is full of vitamins and also amino acids (proteins). I use Propolis Throat Spray for sore throats in my house. I have yet to find anything to be as effective in healing a hard-to-get-rid-of sore throat.
Royal jelly:
Worker bees produce this white, milky substance to feed the queen. It has vitamins, minerals, and fatty acids and is considered a health food for humans.
Bee Pollen:
Bee Pollen is another product that I use in our household. My youngest loves taking a teaspoon of this each morning! The taste is at once sweet and potent; you can truly feel how much of a nutritional punch it packs. Are you ready for this? It provides you with 25 – 40% complete vegetarian protein, fatty acids, all of the B(ee) vitamins, vitamin C, D, E and K, nucleic acids, carotenoids, and more.
Venom:
Yes, even venom has a use. It is used in the development of antivenin to treat stings, and has even been used to relieve arthritis pain.
The bee is an important component of the ecosystem, and we humans, as part of the ecosystem, benefit greatly from bees’ efforts. We make it a point to take our kids out to the flower gardens in our front and back yards so that they can watch the bees in action. Of course there are always plenty of questions, so that is where it has come in for me that I need to educate myself all over again in order to put the best information forward for my children.
Of course, the “best” information is going to vary greatly from parent to parent. Though I’m sure most of us can agree, we must do everything that we can to keep bees thriving if we wish to have a balanced and healthy ecosystem.
It is sad most people don’t realize how important they are. My aunt and uncle have several hives and he rescues many hives from populated areas.
I actually didn’t realize how many bee products were out there! I wish more people knew how important bees are!
Once my husband and I bought some land, we started talking about getting bees. We still really want to do it, but we may wait until the kids get a little bigger. Either way, planting with the health of bees in mind is vital to our entire environment, so we’re doing everything we can!
I hope they can find out what’s harming the bees and help them repopulate.