12/2/2023 0 Comments Bee garden seeds![]() The population status of many wild native bee species is unknown due to lack of funding and research. The American bumble bee and the western bumble bee are also disappearing before our eyes but aren’t protected. Credit: Silvia Gederbergįor example, the rusty-patched bumble bee is now federally listed as an endangered species. An American bumble bee (Bombus pensylvanicus) feeds at a slender rosinweed (Silphium gracile) bloom in a Texas garden. Yet the attention the honey bee has gotten as an agriculturally important domesticated species often overshadows the decline of our wild, native bee species. While the honey bee industry has experienced some challenges that need to be addressed, honey bees are not at risk of extinction. The honey bee has received a lot of attention because of its agricultural importance, but here in North America honey bees are an introduced non-native species largely existing in managed hives. Yet many bee species are rapidly disappearing. Without bees, many plants in nature couldn’t reproduce, and many other wildlife species would lose critical food sources (again, including us). Bees are also tremendously important crop pollinators that we rely on for much of our own food. With over 20,000 bee species on the planet and around 4,000 that are native to North America, bees are some of the most important pollinators due to sheer numbers, species diversity and co-evolution with the plants they pollinate. Some 85 percent of flowering plants rely on animal pollination. Those animals then disperse the seeds away from the parent plant in their droppings, which serve as fertilizer. Those seeds are often packaged in fruits, berries and nuts that then become food for other animals, from birds to reptiles to mammals (including us). ![]() In doing so bees spread some of that pollen and fertilize or “pollinate” the flowers, which then form seeds that become the next generation of plants. They visit flowers to feed on nectar and gather pollen to feed their young. One of bees’ most important ecological roles is as pollinators. Yes, insects are wildlife–and they’re a group of wildlife that we all have an opportunity to help right in our own yards and gardens. ![]()
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