Why Bees Are Important For The Ecosystem?
Imagine a world without blooming flowers, trees, low amounts of food, and animal species. A world without the scent of fresh and colorful plants, and animals. That can happen to an ecosystem without the presence of bees. While most people do not like bees because they have been stung or just don’t like bugs. However, they are one of the most important animals for an ecosystem. They keep our ecosystems running smoothly. Bees are important to an ecosystem, humanity, and the world we live in today because they pollinate plants which make our ecosystems grow by way of providing a food source and increasing the biodiversity in an ecosystem.
To begin, how a bee pollinates is incredible. A single bee may visit as many as 100,000 flowers in one day to collect pollen. When a bee lands on a flower they start the pollination process. Their feet fall into the crease of a flower where the pollen sacs are held. The pollen sticks to the bee as it flies away. When the bee lands on another flower, while in search for nectar, the pollen falls off and out of the sac, causing pollination to begin. This process is what allows for the plants to reproduce.
For example, According to the article “Save the Bees” it states that, “Honey bees — wild and domestic — perform about 80 percent of all pollination worldwide. A single bee colony can pollinate 300 million flowers each day. Seventy out of the top 100 human food crops — which supply about 90 percent of the world’s nutrition — are pollinated by bees” (Par. 1).
This quote shows that by bees pollinating trees, flowers, bushes and more, they provide for the food production to other animals in an ecosystem and to us humans. Let us take into account a forest ecosystem. Bees pollinate the plants so that they can grow, make food, and reproduce. The growth of plants and food on them allows for other animals to consume the plant or the food on the plants such as berries or anything.
The bees make our plants bloom and grow. They provide foods by keeping the plants alive for them be able to be a food source and provide us and an ecosystem with honey. If bees were not around humans would have to pollinate plants themselves which is hard work and very expensive. Bees play an essential role in keeping an ecosystem running and they are very important to the lives of many species.
Lastly, bees pollinating plants of an ecosystem leads to more biodiversity. When bees pollinate plants the plants are able to grow and provide food and habitats for other smaller animals to survive. This allows for more species of animals to live and survive because of bees, increasing the biodiversity in an ecosystem. Bees are also an important part of the food chain. They are preyed upon by many predators and many predators need them as a food source. If bees disappeared many species of plants and animals would die off because bees are providing for them through the pollination of plants and many other ways such as the production of food.The Nature and ecosystems would be less diverse and will have lost its beauty without the presence of bees. The world just wouldn’t be the same.
To conclude, no matter how you see it bees are very important to ecosystems and many aspects of life. A world without bees wouldn’t be much of a world at all. I don’t care if you like bees or hate them. Just understand that they provide for you and the earth. They are a major piece in this world and without them the world would lose its beauty.
Author: Arben Dardovski
Loyola University of Chicago
Sources
- Sources: https://www.greenpeace.org/usa/sustainable-agriculture/save-the-bees
- http://www.pthomeandgarden.com/5-ways-bees-are-important-to-the-environment
