{"id":1000,"date":"2019-10-29T02:10:59","date_gmt":"2019-10-29T02:10:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/gardenecologylab\/?p=1000"},"modified":"2025-11-14T14:55:40","modified_gmt":"2025-11-14T22:55:40","slug":"unpopular-opinion-saving-honey-bees-does-very-little-to-save-the-bees","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/gardenecologylab\/2019\/10\/29\/unpopular-opinion-saving-honey-bees-does-very-little-to-save-the-bees\/","title":{"rendered":"Unpopular Opinion: Saving Honey Bees Does Very Little to Save the Bees"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Although I have been studying garden bees for the past three\nyears, I was never focused on honey bees. From a biodiversity point of view,\nthey are not very interesting to me. They are non-native and abundant. In fact,\nhoney bees were the most abundant bee species that we collected in\nPortland-area gardens (332 individuals collected), even though we took great\ncare not to collect more than one individual per visit, when hand-collecting. <\/p>\n\n\n

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Some of the 300+ individual honey bees that we collected from Portland area gardens, even though we took great care to not hand collect more than a single individual honey bee per garden, per site visit.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Honey bees, which hail from Europe, are only one of 20,000 bee species, worldwide. In North America, there are 4,000 species of bee. In Oregon, we have between 400-500 species of bee. From Portland area gardens, we have documented 86 species of bee <\/a>(with our 2019 bees still awaiting identification). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unlike some native bees, honey bees are not at risk of extinction. Compare this to bumblebees. We found 17 species of bumblebee in Portland gardens, two of which (12%) are at risk of endangerment or extinction, due to declining populations: Bombus fervidus <\/a>and Bombus caliginosus<\/a><\/em>. Across North America, more than 25% of bumblebee species are thought to be at risk of extinction. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Frontal view of Bombus fervidus, a threatened bumblebee species that can be found in Portland area gardens.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Dorsal view of Bombus fervidus, a threatened bumblebee species that can be found in Portland area gardens.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

By focusing \u2018save the bee\u2019 campaigns on honey bees, we may\nbe neglecting the bee species that really need our help. In fact, researchers\nhave started to call out organizations and advertising campaigns that promote\nfeel good stories about honey bee conservation as a form of \u2018bee washing\u2019. You\ncan visit www.bee-washing.com<\/a> to learn\nmore about companies that promote their product or organization as being\nbee-friendly, in a less than genuine way. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Researchers have documented at least seven different ways that honey bees may harm native bee species (summarized in Cane and Tepedino, 2016<\/a>):<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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  1. Honey bees monopolize and deplete nectar and pollen from local plant communities, which can reduce native bee reproduction.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. By depleting local plant resources, native bee females have to devote more time and energy to fly and find new resources, which also reduces native bee reproduction.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  3. Unlike honey bees, most bees are solitary, which means that they do not live in colonies and they do not have a queen. Solitary females who have access to fewer floral resources produce fewer daughters and more sons. Since female bees are needed to maintain a population, this skewed sex ratio can slow population growth and recovery in native bees.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  4. When females collect less nectar and pollen, they have less food to feed their young. These bees grow up to be smaller, and are more likely to die over winter, compared to well-fed bees. <\/li>\n\n\n\n
  5. The longer a solitary bee mom is away from her nest, the higher risk that parasites and predators will attack her unguarded young.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  6. Honey bees can physically block native, solitary bees from preferred pollen hosts.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  7. Honey bees have many diseases. Some honey bee viruses have been found in native bee communities. Researchers think flowers that are visited by both native bees and honey bees are analogous to an elementary school water fountain: a place where repeat visitors can pick up a pathogen.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    Please note that I am not<\/strong> suggesting that you extinguish honey bees from your garden. What I am asking, instead, is that you take the time to learn about and to notice some of the other 80+ species of bee that you might find in your garden. My group is creating a \u2018Bees of Portland Gardens\u2019 guide that we hope can help you in this journey. In the meantime, there are some great guides that are currently available. One is Wilson and Carrill\u2019s \u2018The Bees in Your Backyard: a guide to North America\u2019s bees\u2019. This book is available at Powell\u2019s City of Books<\/a>, as well as on Amazon<\/a>. The second is August Jackson\u2019s <\/a>\u2018The Bees of the Willamette Valley: a comprehensive guide to genera\u2019. This free guide can be found online<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The first step to\nsaving something you love is to be able to recognize it and to call it by name.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    References<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n