I agree with Randy that we have strayed far from the title but it's a great discussion all the same.
In response to a a couple of Alex's posts;
A test of pollen/nectar use efficiency by natives and honey bees would be useful but it requires some knowledge of what historically normal native population density was. I believe that would be a very localized number. We know that the flight range of most natives is quite limited and thus small areas of forage can have large influence on local populations. In the last 15 years I have established diverse forage on around 13 acres and witnessed dramatic increase in many native pollinator species. This in spite of an equally dramitic increase in honey bee population. To make an equal improvement for the honey bees in an apiary setting would require many hundreds of acres of good forage. Alas that forage is being systematically destroyed in the name of noxious weed control. So the laudable move to local pollinator gardens will likely have measurable benefit to natives but not realistically to honey bees. It is a question of numbers.
I wonder if bird predation can really have a measurable effect on honey bee population in an apiary setting other then perhaps to virgin queens. As Geoff speculates it may take some pressure off the natives but I doubt that birds are high on the list of threats of native bees, far behind habitat loss and pesticide use. I hope there is not a movement to control songbirds in the name pollinator protection. :-(
Paul Hosticka
Dayton WA
***********************************************
The BEE-L mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software. For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html