>...the value of pollination in the production of food crops (worldwide!) - 
>much of which is
>done by honeybees.

On the subject of pollination:

Although I love honeybees and have great respect for all that they perform, 
still when I observe
flowering plants, trees, bushes, and the crop in fields in Sweden or the 
Netherlands, it is only the
bumblebee that is there in abundance and still going strong ealrly in the 
morning and evening and
even with less favourable weather conditions, when the honeybees are nowhere 
to be seen.
The bumblebees also appear to be much more lively or nervous than our 
honeybees, so my
observations indicate that pollination from honeybees is many times greatly 
overestimated. This is
even so in my own garden with 4 honeybee hives at the southern end and 1 
hive at the nothern
side of our property.

Only in a situation where large numbers of beehives are placed on the edge 
of a field the honeybee
would (of course) win from the naturally present (bumble)bees.

The bumblebees certainly deserve our respect and care! In that regard we 
should not forget all the
other bees either, that we do not seem to know so much about.

Ron van Mierlo
Sweden 

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