<In some areas yes,  that's true,  but prairie grass left alone takes over
everything. Like pines in Ontario,  or Manzinita and scrub brush in south
Texas.   Very little to keep bees going in some areas.  They manage by
storing huge amounts in a very small window.>

I would still argue that even with mostly prairie grass there is still a
lot more diversity than in a monoculture, even if you count fence rows,
which seem to be going away in many places in any case.  They might not be
much better for bees, but that doesn't mean they aren't still more diverse.
 What you call just "prairie grass" is actually a diverse mix.  See
http://www.nps.gov/tapr/upload/Common-Tallgrass-Prairie-Grasses-2012.pdf

I'm betting a little more looking will show similar diversity in the other
places you mention as well.  As a general rule stable ecosystems will tend
toward greater diversity in order to exploit more niches, which is also
what makes them more productive in terms of biomass production.

I'm not saying we shouldn't be doing agriculture, or even monoculture
agriculture; just that the comparison between pretty much any natural
ecosystem and pretty much any agricultural land grown for row crops,
monoculture or not is probably a stretch.  Cattle grazing is the only
agricultural exception I can think of at the moment since the grassland
ecosystem has pretty much always had grazers.

In any case the natural ecosystem will also support more nonplant species
as well like various types of bees.

Jeremy
west Michigan

             ***********************************************
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