The Colony: The Biological Significance Of Bees

Significance of the Colony

Tenika Heidelberg

Biology 113 Lab

September 22, 2017

Significance of the Colony Planet earth is known to be the only planet in the universe that is capable of harboring life. This includes trees, insects, animals, and humans. The planet itself has its own system of balancing itself out when things aren’t the way they are supposed to be, without the help of humans. Unfortunately, that is not always the case especially when humans cause a problem that mother nature cannot fix. A great example of this would be found within the many colonies of bees both on farms and wild. Bees are, “A broad-bodied four-winged, hairy insect that gathers pollen and nectar and that can sting” (Webster 58).

Not to mention that fact the colors of the world would decrease. Flowers would no longer bloom and spread like they do now, apples would no longer be a fruit to harvest. Some species of trees would die, meaning less oxygen being produced. Bees do so much for the environment and for humans, without them life would change drastically for the worse. Why is it important to know how the loss of bees will affect our planet? Unfortunately, we need to focus on this more because of

The result is a breakdown of the colony and insufficient workers are present to maintain the colony” (Colony). This specific phenomenon has many causes, humans have a large portion of the blame. Humans take it upon themselves to claim the right to destroy colony’s just to get honey. There are even honey bee farms where there are special hives for the bees, just to harvest the honey easier. This is great for humans but for the bees not so much. By taking their honey which they work hard for we are taking their food source for hibernation in the winters to come. Harvesters replace the harvested honey with a corn syrup supplement that doesn’t provide the nutrients that the bees need in order to survive winter. Making honey sounds easy enough, right? It is for us because all we do is harvest it, for bees it’s a different story. “They have to dry out the nectar and add enzymes from their bodies to convert it into honey, which they can use for nourishment.

During this process, a single worker bee may visit as many as 10,000 flowers per day in order to produce just a teaspoonful of honey over the course of her entire lifetime” (Peta). Other factors that play into the impact on colony collapse disorder include the making of candles and lip balms neither of them a necessity for humans just a luxury. Humans steal beeswax from honey bee hives, all for a good smell and smooth