The bees, according to some, are simply small insects that produce honey; Their importance is much higher. Let's see why and what would happen if they were not there.
When we talk about producing animals, producing any food, you never think of bees. We think of cows, pigs, chickens, maybe sheep, but the "smallest pet of the world" never think of anyone. Yet bees, by economic importance, are the third most important animal of the world: they follow the cattle, which are in the first place, and the pigs, second, but exceed the chickens, which are the quarters.
But how is it that an insect that can produce 15kg of honey per year is more important than animals that make eggs and produce meat, but one of the most consumed meat?
Often we stop to think only of the fact that bees produce honey when they actually do not just do this. If you ate a fruit this morning, it's worth a bee. If you drink a smoothie, if you eat a jam, if you drink a fruit juice, it's because there was a bee.
Bees are important for pollination
Have you ever wondered if the fruit tree flowers are really beautiful to see? And scented to smell? This feature is not random, but it is just about to attract bees. By "bees" it is not only the apis mellifera, which is the one that produces honey, but over 20,000 kinds of similar insects that have a common characteristic: they feed on the nectar of the flowers.
What they do, however, when they pick up nectar then put it in hive and produce honey, is not the only important thing. Even in plants there are males and females, and male and female gametes must meet, so that the male fertile the feminine and give birth to a "son", which is the seed, enclosed in a wrap that is the fruit. The seed, in ideal conditions (in the soil), will give rise to another plant.
The flowers represent both male and female gametes, although they are made so that a plant can not self-fertilize. The pistil, which is the center of the flower, produces the male gametes called pollen. The female gamete, on the other hand, is at the base of the flower.
The bee, entering the flower, at the base, to take the nectar, does a nice 'shower' of pollen, because as he enters his hair he is soaked with this substance; Then the bee moves to another flower on another plant and releases the pollen in the other flower, helping plant fertilization. In short, if a plant did not have a beautiful and scented flower, the bee would not notice it and would never fertilize it.
Fertilization, the encounter between pollen and the feminine gamete at the base of the flower, is the event that will give way to fruit growth: hence if bees, which are the insects that collect the nectar (already the butterflies or The wasps work differently), there were not, there would be no fruit. In such a scenario we would go to the supermarket and not only would we see the saddle honey shelf, but also that of fruit and some types of vegetables. And this is how you understand how bees are economically important to the environment.
And this also makes us understand what we are losing: there are some parasites like varroa that are ruining bees, and therefore we can not do anything like citizens, but also pollution is drastically reducing populations. And here you can do something, because if we all do a little good action, the results can be great and important. Because the bees are small, they seem insignificant, but we do not realize how much their work is important in our lives.
Let us think, because the phrase attributed to Einstein (though he did not seem to have told him) "If the bees disappeared, man would only have four years of life" was not entirely wrong.
