Biodiversity Research: Honey Bees, Threats, and Conservation

This report delves into the critical role of honey bees within the context of biodiversity and ecosystem services. It begins with an introduction to honey bees, their habitat, and their significance as keystone species, highlighting their contribution to pollination and the broader ecosystem. The report then explores the values associated with honey bees, including their role in ecosystem services such as flood protection and disease control, specifically focusing on the benefits of honey. It further outlines the threats to honey bees, such as habitat loss, diseases, pests, pesticide use, and climate change. The report concludes by discussing conservation efforts, including scientific beekeeping practices and governmental initiatives, aimed at protecting honey bee populations and ensuring their continued contribution to biodiversity. The report emphasizes the interconnectedness of honey bees, the environment, and human well-being, underscoring the importance of conservation for a sustainable future.

Running head: BIODIVERSITY
ABOUT HONEY BEES
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................2
Values.........................................................................................................................................3
Threats........................................................................................................................................5
Conservation..............................................................................................................................7
References..................................................................................................................................9

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Introduction
The honey bee is a eusocial flying insect that falls within the genus Apis of the bee
clade which is native to Eurasia. These organisms have been known to construct their
colonial nests from wax. The colonies are very large in size which surplus the production and
storage of honey. This factor distinguishes their hives from other production and honey
storage hives. The western honey bee is the best-known honey bee which has been
domesticated by various human population for the production of honey (Eimanifar et al.,
2018). Honey bees play a major role in the ecosystem. These organisms are mainly found in
forest ecosystems where they support the growth of trees by pollination and other plants that
serves them by becoming their food and shelter. Various researchers have found the habitat
of the honey bee to be associated with a tropical climate and heavily forested areas (Wright,
Nicolson & Shafir, 2018). Honey bees have been found to thrive in domesticated and natural
environments. These organisms have been found to live in gardens, orchards, woodlands,
meadows and other areas where the flowering plants are abundant. Honey bees are identified
as the keystone species of their environment (Easton-Calabria, Demary & Oner, 2019). A
keystone species is associated with playing a disproportionate role in the ecosystem which is
relative to its size in the ecosystem. Honey bees do not only help their population to grow,
but also allows the plants to grow and produce flowers by playing the vector role in
pollination. Honey bees have been found to maintain a large number of interactions with their
surrounding species. These tiny organisms have been found to maintain a mutualistic
relationship with insect-pollinated flowers since both the species have been found to gain
from the interaction process (Duffy & Johnson, 2017). Honey bees have been found to gather
pollen and nectar while the flowers gain their reproductive success. This is because of the fact
that pollens are personally transported from one flower to another flower of the same species.
This process is known as cross-pollination and there are various pollinators that interact with

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bees while they are performing their role of pollination. Insect pollinators have been found to
include bees such as solitary species, bumblebees, pollen wasps, ants and flies (hoverflies and
butterflies). These are the organisms which have a competitive relationship with honey bees
since all those organisms stated before collecting nectar from flowers. Honey bees
communicate by dance language which includes a series of movements which is often
referred to as waggle dance. This dance is performed to teach all the other workers in the
location of food source which is at 150 m from the hive. There is a separate group of worker
bees known as scout bees who can fly from one colony to another in search of nectar and
pollen. Honey bees are prey for lizards, chameleons, and frogs. This is because of the fact
that these reptiles and amphibians are carnivorous and feeds on insects as their main food
source. Honey bees are small in size and hold nectar in their body which is a rich source of
nutrition. Honey bees are important to human life and the entire ecosystem for the
functioning (Highet et al., 2018). Bees allow the plants to reproduce via pollination and the
plants have been found to support the animal community also finally helping the human
community. Honey bees have been found to be associated with colony collapse disorder
which causes significant economic losses in the human community. In the United States, bee
shortages have been found to increase and an increase in cost to farmers has been found to
rent them for pollination services up to a value of 20%. According to the recent reports,
Bumblebees have been found to be endangered. The next section will discuss the values
including the ecosystem services and the role played by honey bees in maintaining the
ecosystem.
Values
Ecosystem services have been found to produce various life-sustaining benefits that
are received from nature. These benefits include clean water and air including fertile soil for
the production of crops, flood control, and pollination. Since honey bees are associated with

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pollination, ecosystem services are also available for their ecosystem also. One of the most
significant ecosystem services associated with the honey been ecosystem is flood protection.
This service is indirectly related to plant growth. This is because of the fact that honey bees
support plant growth by helping in pollination. Pollination supports plant growth which
further grows to trees. More the number of trees in a land, lesser is the chance of flood in the
associated areas. Honey bees collect pollen from the flower and transfer them to another
plant. In this way, pollens transfer by cross-pollination makes the connection between male
and female reproductive parts and finally leads to the production of new plants (Blitzer et al.,
2016). Another significant service associated with the ecosystem and honey bee roles is
disease control. Raw honey is very effective in killing fungus and bacteria. This is naturally
found to contain antiseptic and hydrogen peroxide. Thus, it can be stated that honey bees play
a major role by supplying honey to the human population which can be used to cure bacterial
and fungal disorders. The effectiveness of antibacterial and antifungal drugs have been found
to depend on the quantity and quality of the honey being used for the treatment (Hussain,
2018). Honey bees have been stated to play five major roles in the environment. The first role
is biodiversity which states that bees play an important part in every aspect of the
environment. Growth of flowers, trees, and other plants have been found to be supported by
the actions of honey bees. Honey bees have been found to contribute directly to the
interconnected and complex ecosystems by allowing the diverse species to co-exist. Honey
bees are also an important source of food supply to the human population. The second role
that honey bees play is their function in supporting wildlife habitats. Honey bees have been
found to elaborate hives that build houses for millions of animals and insects. Roles
associated with pollinators are vital in the growth of species in a tropical habitat. Honey bees
have also been found to act as a good food source during the winter months. Human beings
have been harvesting honey for many years and use honey as a sweet snack. The last and the

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most significant role in their support in the pollination process which has already been
discussed in the previous sections. Plants require pollens to germinate after fertilization.
Fertilization is the process of pollen transfer from the male flower to female flower
reproductive parts (anther and stigma respectively). Since bees move from one flower to
another in search of nectar they have been stated to leave behind pollen grains on the sticky
surface which allows the plants to produce food and grow. In other words, it can be stated
that bees are the busy workers of the environment which supports all forms of life living in
their environment. These roles have been found to be linked to economic viability,
environmental protection, and social equity. The role of honey bees has been found to be
associated with the three pillars of sustainability as stated in the previous line. This is because
of the fact that economic sustainability has been found to be supported by honey cultivation
associated with hives of honey bees. Environmental protection has been found to be
maintained by the multidimensional roles of both the honey bees and human beings in
preserving honey bees to prevent them from being endangered. Social equity has been found
to be maintained since honey bees have been found to be maintained by honey bees. This is
because of the fact that honey bees are being used by many populations for the production of
honey and are being exchanged between various populations for money. In this way, honey
bees play a multidimensional role in the environment.
Threats
Threats to an organism either eliminates from its habitat or makes it endangered.
Honey bees have been found to face some serious threats which have questioned their
survival in the environment. Loss of habitat and fragmentation has been found to include
various qualities inside the habitat which are the source of food and shelter for them. Habitat
loss has been found to be linked to the destruction of the bee population because they fail to
get an environment that supports their survival. The absence of white flowers has been found

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to play a major role in reducing the population of bees in a particular area. Bees do not get
enough food for their survival and are forced to fragment their population by migrating into
some other region with an abundant supply of food required for their survival. Many types of
disease and pests have been found to be threatening the survival of honey bees. Bees have
been found to become weak and unable to reproduce when they are sick. Parasites and
diseases have been found to make the bees weak and in some cases, the death of bees has also
been observed. For example, it can be stated that parasitic tracheal mites have become a big
issue for the survival of bees. These mites have been found to be so small that they invade the
bee respiratory system. As the mites grow bigger, these organisms cut off the air supply of
bees making it impossible for them to breathe. Another species of mite known as Varroa
destructor has been found to live outside the hone bee's body and feed on hemolymph of bees
(Negri et al., 2016). These mites have been found to cause colony collapse disorder that
makes the bees sick and disoriented since they are unable to find their way back home
(Monchanin et al., 2019). Invasive plant species have been found to be a primary threat to
bees. Some plants have been found to take over the land and other resources which are used
by native wildflowers and are associated with the survival of wildflowers. Wildflowers are
the main source of food and nutrition of honey bees. The disappearance of the same also
threatens the honey bee population to migrate to other regions or die. The use of pesticides by
the farmers have been found to be especially associated with killing the pests (Ridding et al.,
2018). However, it has been observed that honey bees are also affected by this use of pest
which affects their nervous systems and muscle system which can also cause the death of
honey bees. Change in climate has been found to impact bees (Sanchez-Bayo & Goka, 2016).
This climatic change has been found to bring extreme weather events that affect the timing of
flowers in their process of starting to bloom. Lesser the flowers, the lesser is the chance of

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bee survival. Thus, it can be stated that these are the overall threats to the honey bee
population.
Conservation
The western honey bee (Apis mellifera) has been found to act as the most significant
pollinator at a global level and is used for pollination services in crop fields. Natural areas
and protected areas have been found to be critical for the conservation of the wild honey bee
population which is in the native range (Decourtye et al., 2019). Adoption of scientific
beekeeping practices has been found to be an effective remedy to solve the endangering of
honey bees. According to the conservation of the US government, it can be said that the
NRCS conservation practices have been designed to help the honey bees and other pollinators
to help in the reduction of soil erosion, control of invasive plant species, increase soil health
and finally preserve the honey bee population (Requier et al., 2019). Various researchers have
found the habitat of the honey bee to be associated with a tropical climate and heavily
forested areas (Wright, Nicolson & Shafir, 2018). Honey bees have been found to thrive in
domesticated and natural environments. These organisms have been found to live in gardens,
orchards, woodlands, meadows and other areas where the flowering plants are abundant.
Various global and local bee conservation policies have been undertaken by the international
government. One of the most significant policies is "The International Pollinator Initiative of
the CBD" which is associated with pollinators. This policy has led to an international
pollinator workshop that emphasized bees and acted for the conservation of bees. However,
two new strategies for the conservation of honey bees will be discussed in the following
paragraphs. One of the most innovative strategies is to increase the number of flowering
plants in the garden and use organic pesticides for the removal of pests from the garden. This
is because of the fact that honey bees will be protected from the harmful effect of pesticides
(chemicals). This strategy will not cause any harm to the honey bees and will, in turn,

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increase their chances of survival and growth in the habitat because of the growth of a large
number of flowering plants. Another significant strategy is to et up a watering hole that will
supply water to the bees whenever they feel thirsty. People have to keep in mind that bees are
the busy workers of the whole animal community. Busy bees literally work until they die,
thus to support their survival one should establish watering holes for the survival of bees.
These are the overall strategies that can be used for the conservation of honey bees.

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References
Blitzer, E. J., Gibbs, J., Park, M. G., & Danforth, B. N. (2016). Pollination services for apple
are dependent on diverse wild bee communities. Agriculture, Ecosystems &
Environment, 221, 1-7.
Decourtye, A., Alaux, C., Le Conte, Y., & Henry, M. (2019). Toward the protection of bees
and pollination: the rise of global change science.
Duffy, K. J., & Johnson, S. D. (2017). Specialized mutualisms may constrain the
geographical distribution of flowering plants. Proceedings of the Royal Society B:
Biological Sciences, 284(1866), 20171841.
Easton-Calabria, A., Demary, K. C., & Oner, N. J. (2019). Beyond Pollination: Honey Bees
(Apis mellifera) as Zootherapy Keystone Species. Frontiers in Ecology and
Evolution, 6, 161.
Eimanifar, A., Brooks, S. A., Bustamante, T., & Ellis, J. D. (2018). Population genomics and
morphometric assignment of western honey bees (Apis mellifera L.) in the Republic
of South Africa. BMC genomics, 19(1), 615.
Highet, F., Toteva, G., Downie, M., Peterson, M., Gray, A.J. and Reid, A., 2018. " The Bees'
needs": using molecular analysis of bee collected pollen to understand which plants
play an important role in honey bee forage.
Hussain, M. B. (2018). Role of honey in topical and systemic bacterial infections. The
Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine, 24(1), 15-24.
Monchanin, C., Henry, M., Decourtye, A., Dalmon, A., Fortini, D., Bœuf, E., ... & Fourrier,
J. (2019). Hazard of a neonicotinoid insecticide on the homing flight of the honeybee
depends on climatic conditions and Varroa infestation. Chemosphere, 224, 360-368.

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Negri, P., Maggi, M., Ramirez, L., Szawarski, N., De Feudis, L., Lamattina, L., & Eguaras,
M. (2016). Cellular immunity in Apis mellifera: studying hemocytes brings light
about bees skills to confront threats. Apidologie, 47(3), 379-388.
Requier, F., Garnery, L., Kohl, P. L., Njovu, H. K., Pirk, C. W., Crewe, R. M., & Steffan-
Dewenter, I. (2019). The conservation of native honey bees is crucial. Trends in
ecology & evolution.
Ridding, L., Woodcock, B., Freeman, S., Pereira, G., Sleep, D., Redhead, J., ... & Heard, M.
(2018). How dо pesticides get into honey?. Environmental Science Journal for
Teens, 2018(March).
Sanchez-Bayo, F., & Goka, K. (2016). Impacts of pesticides on honey bees. Beekeeping and
Bee Conservation-Advances in Research, 4, 77-97.
Wright, G. A., Nicolson, S. W., & Shafir, S. (2018). Nutritional physiology and ecology of
honey bees. Annual review of entomology, 63.