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Meanwhile in Berlin, concerns that excessive urban beekeeping might be putting too much competetive pressure on wild bee species made minor national news. (prob

by usrusr 7y ago

Meanwhile in Berlin, concerns that excessive urban beekeeping might be putting too much competetive pressure on wild bee species made minor national news. (probably not so much because the situation is actually dramatic but more because the story is both surprising and confirming of "clueless Berlin hipster sustainability" stereotypes) Did not find a good source in English, just a German article: https://www.tagesspiegel.de/berlin/kritik-an-bienenkaesten-auf-hochhaeusern-experte-wirft-berliner-imkern-tierquaelerei-vor/24304670.html https://www.tagesspiegel.de/berlin/kritik-an-bienenkaesten-a... and a terrible translation thereof: https://www.archysport.com/2019/05/criticism-of-bee-boxes-on-skyscrapers-expert-accuses-berlin-beekeepers-animal-cruelty-berlin/ https://www.archysport.com/2019/05/criticism-of-bee-boxes-on...

stinos 7y ago
Came here to post similar. I don't think there are enough and/or large scale studies already, but there are 'local' studies showing negative effects of honeybees on wild bees (and all other pollinators, not to forget). It depends on a number of factors of course, but the general idea is pretty logical: suddenly there's a thousand extra eaters in your area but the amount of food didn't change. Meaning unless you have enough food for all, some are going to suffer. So most people I know with a job in nature conservation and similar think it's really about time this gets studied properly and then possibly regulated; not just Berlin has problems. There are places in the Netherlands and Belgium for instance where beekeepers drive the hives to the border of nature reserves to have their bees have a go at them. If that happens to be a place with only a small population of an endangered pollinating species left, it's not unlikely they will be effected negatively. At the same time there seems to be a rise in people interested in 'amateur' beekeeping, at least around here. And from experience they either simply don't realize that might be a problem, or they just ignore it / don't want to believe it because they think they're doing a good thing, taking care for bees (even though it is debatable whether it's really ok to just take their honey), solving the global bee decline, etc. tldr; the initiative sounds good but there might be unwanted and unknown side effects.

by usrusr 7y ago

stinos 7y ago

Came here to post similar. I don't think there are enough and/or large scale studies already, but there are 'local' studies showing negative effects of honeybees on wild bees (and all other pollinators, not to forget). It depends on a number of factors of course, but the general idea is pretty logical: suddenly there's a thousand extra eaters in your area but the amount of food didn't change. Meaning unless you have enough food for all, some are going to suffer. So most people I know with a job in nature conservation and similar think it's really about time this gets studied properly and then possibly regulated; not just Berlin has problems. There are places in the Netherlands and Belgium for instance where beekeepers drive the hives to the border of nature reserves to have their bees have a go at them. If that happens to be a place with only a small population of an endangered pollinating species left, it's not unlikely they will be effected negatively. At the same time there seems to be a rise in people interested in 'amateur' beekeeping, at least around here. And from experience they either simply don't realize that might be a problem, or they just ignore it / don't want to believe it because they think they're doing a good thing, taking care for bees (even though it is debatable whether it's really ok to just take their honey), solving the global bee decline, etc. tldr; the initiative sounds good but there might be unwanted and unknown side effects.