Did the text not come through? 

Quote from "Scientific American":

> I used to believe that honey bees were a gateway species, and that concern over their health and prosperity would spill over onto native bees, benefitting them, too. While this may have happened in some cases, evidence is mounting that misguided enthusiasm for honey bees has likely been to the native bees’ detriment. Beekeeping doesn’t make me feel good, anymore. In fact, quite the opposite. — Alison McAfee, author of the monthly Science Insider column for the American Bee Journal since 2017


I found this statement utterly disheartening. This has been the stance of organizations like Xerces, which often refer to honey bees as a non-native invasive species. Excuse me, but these people are a non-native invasive species.

I think the idea that honey bees are generally harmful to native bees is not supported by the evidence. One can find examples of this but in general, the honey bee functions as a part of the pollinator web and certainly does not compete with all other species of pollinator. In particular, pollinators which are specialists, and/or significantly smaller or large than honey bees. 

In my own yard, for example, I see lots of native bees on the ornamental plants. These plants are seldom even noticed by honey bees, which tend to fan out and look for large patches of forage. Native bees want to stick close to home. 

Granted, I kept honey bees for decades before I became aware of all those other bees,  but these days I am always pointing out the many other species of pollinators, their value. I even promote the live and let live attitude towards wasps, where they are not actually endangering people.

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