A recent article on honeybees from our local paper.  Not all press is bad.

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Subject: The buzz on how bees sustain our diets


The buzz on how bees sustain our diets

By Douglas Hullander

The human race depends on the regal honeybee to pollinate many of the fruits
and vegetables that make up the diet of every person on the planet.
The bee also plays a big role in meat production. For example, alfalfa makes
up 50 percent of the diet of beef cattle, and alfalfa is 100 percent
pollinated by bees.

Insects are the most prolific pollinators. According to some estimates,
these six-legged critters - with bees leading the way - are directly
responsible for producing about four of every five bites of food we put in
our mouths.

The other 20 percent of our diet, including mostly grains and nuts, is
mostly wind-pollinated.

Pollination - also known as fertilization - is the process by which the
"male" gametes, pollen grains, combine with the "female" gametes, the ovule,
to produce an embryo, a seed that has the potential for developing into a
new and complete plant. The seeds are usually contained within, or in some
cases on, the fruit itself. The fruit is really the ripened ovary, and its
chief purpose is in the dispersal of the seeds.

Many flowering plants have both male and female reproductive organs and are,
therefore, capable of self-fertilization. Such in-breeding is usually not
desirable because it eliminates the chance that new genes might be
introduced into futures generations, and that means variability in offspring
is sacrificed.

Cross-pollination, the exchange of genetic material between different
plants, is much preferred, and that's where insects come in.

In their search for nectar, insects first make contact inadvertently with
the anther of a flower. The anther is the source of pollen grains, and
brushing up against this organ transfers pollen grains to the insect's body.
The insect flies off to a second plant, where the pollen grains are rubbed
off onto the plant's stigma, the female organ. The second plant has just
been fertilized.

Bees in particular are well suited for this task because their bodies are
the right size for entering the flowers, and they are driven to seek out
nectar in a wide variety of plants. Their vision is thought to be sensitive
to ultraviolet light, a feature that causes certain plants to "stand out" in
the crowd. Bees zero in on the plants, extract their nectar and spread their
pollen.

Bees have other special "equipment" that helps in the collection process:
fuzzy hind legs with branching hairs and in some cases pollen combs and
"baskets" on hind legs, all of which make transporting pollen to and from
plants more efficient.

Many species of bees are solitary, but others prefer to live and work in
colonies of 100,000 or more.

(Those wishing to learn more about bees and beekeeping can attend the
Tennessee Honey Festival from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 1, at the
American Museum of Science and Energy in Oak Ridge.)


Knoxville writer Douglas Hullander writes "Science in Your World" weekly for
the News-Sentinel. He can be reached by e-mail at [log in to unmask],
or you may write to him in care of the News-Sentinel, P.O. Box 59038,
Knoxville, TN 37950-9038

August 27, 2001

Copyright 2001, KnoxNews. All Rights Reserved.