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Date: | Tue, 5 Jul 2022 07:53:34 -0700 |
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When native bee folk ask me about competition, I point out that the honey
bee, without any value judgement, has been a well-established
non-indigenous species for hundreds of years. Any indigenous species that
was outcompeted by the honey bee ("complete competitors cannot coexist") is
likely only a distant memory.
What I suggest is for concerned researchers to first perform end-of-day
surveys of plant species in flower at any time, to see whether there is
pollen or nectar left in the blossoms at the end of the day (it could also
be done in the morning to check for nocturnal pollinators). If so, that
would indicate that the carrying capacity of that floral resource for
pollinators had not been exceeded. In my own observations (I often pull
off the side of the road in any state that I visit), I often see far more
flowers than I do pollinators, with pollen and nectar obviously going
unharvested.
I just returned from Indiana, visiting a number of well-stocked apiary
sites in farmland. The number of pollinators on the blossoms, relative to
honey bees, was impressive. There appeared to be plenty of food to share.
Randy Oliver
Grass Valley, CA
530 277 4450
ScientificBeekeeping.com
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