3 ms·

I can't speak for every location, but where I live, feral honeybees (escapes from beekeepers) out-compete many native pollinators. They also outcompete many nat

I can't speak for every location, but where I live, feral honeybees (escapes from beekeepers) out-compete many native pollinators. They also outcompete many native birds by taking their nesting sites (tree hollows, man-made bird houses, etc.). For example, in my region, there is exactly one species that can perform buzz pollination (a specific pollination technique that is required by certain plants, including tomatoes) — blue-banded bees — but they are in decline due in large part to wild honeybee colonies. I have worked very hard over the years to grow lots of plants specifically appealing to blue-banded bees, but I still very rarely ever see them. The flowers are overwhelmingly dominated by honeybees. I don't mind a few of them around, but there are WAY too many of them. They leave so little food for other pollinators and so few nest sites for native birds. Professional beekeepers prevent their colonies from swarming, and many of them — certainly all the ones I know of in my area — will also capture wild colonies (and kill the colonies they cannot capture) as a service to the public to help control this nuisance invasive species. But there is only so much that a few good beekeepers can do; they are massively outnumbered by feral bee colonies released by less responsible amateur beekeepers from years past.

gerdesj 2y ago
Thanks for the heads up: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buzz_pollination https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buzz_pollination "About 9% of the flowers of the world are primarily pollinated using buzz pollination" So buzz pollination is very important. Here in the UK I suppose bumble bees do the job. Blue banded bees are native to Australia (according to some frantic searching!) I'm not sure what to suggest and you will know better than most what happens when you try to tinker with species introduction. Australia is practically a poster child for how not to do it but to be fair very few parts of the world are unscathed from unwise introductions. Here in the UK, Japanese Knotweed, Himalayan Balsam, a shrimp from NZ (can't remember the name) and others are a bit of an issue. We even have feral apples (thanks Romans) - not really, that was a benign introduction, that seems to have been a win/win and cider resulted! I think we got honeybees from the Roman occupation too but the climate here means that colonies usually need some assistance to survive - wild colonies are rare. The biggest pest for honey bees here is the Varroa mite. Varroa can only live in honey bee colonies, but you let that loose and I doubt it will end well. I can only suggest trying to find what attracts honey bees and growing that in one place and what works for blue banded bees as far away as possible. Reading this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amegilla_cingulata https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amegilla_cingulata - threats. Even Cane toads munch on them! Its a tough one but you could try getting touch with the nearest uni biology/environmental/conservation or whatever department and see if they have any ideas. Good luck!

gerdesj 2y ago

Thanks for the heads up: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buzz_pollination https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buzz_pollination "About 9% of the flowers of the world are primarily pollinated using buzz pollination" So buzz pollination is very important. Here in the UK I suppose bumble bees do the job. Blue banded bees are native to Australia (according to some frantic searching!) I'm not sure what to suggest and you will know better than most what happens when you try to tinker with species introduction. Australia is practically a poster child for how not to do it but to be fair very few parts of the world are unscathed from unwise introductions. Here in the UK, Japanese Knotweed, Himalayan Balsam, a shrimp from NZ (can't remember the name) and others are a bit of an issue. We even have feral apples (thanks Romans) - not really, that was a benign introduction, that seems to have been a win/win and cider resulted! I think we got honeybees from the Roman occupation too but the climate here means that colonies usually need some assistance to survive - wild colonies are rare. The biggest pest for honey bees here is the Varroa mite. Varroa can only live in honey bee colonies, but you let that loose and I doubt it will end well. I can only suggest trying to find what attracts honey bees and growing that in one place and what works for blue banded bees as far away as possible. Reading this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amegilla_cingulata https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amegilla_cingulata - threats. Even Cane toads munch on them! Its a tough one but you could try getting touch with the nearest uni biology/environmental/conservation or whatever department and see if they have any ideas. Good luck!