Plight of the Bees

Lefler 1

Julianne Lefler

Bursch

Honors Biology p. 5

2 December 2013

Plight of the Bees

In biology all things are connected; if one disaster occurs, it causes a chain reaction. Recently, the bee population has been declining in mass amounts and most people do not notice or think twice about what this could do to the environment. If the bee population goes extinct it could have a negative effect on the world. Bees are an important way we grow our food. Without them there would be no food for humans or other animals to get the nutrients needed to survive. People will also lose their jobs, and there would be no such thing as clothes. The decline in bees is a serious dilemma and could eventually lead to the end of life on earth.

When bees visit flowers to collect nectar, they collect pollen which gets stuck on their fur. As they go from flower to flower they spread the pollen around to different plants. This is known as pollination. Without pollination, many fruits, plants, and nuts would be unable to grow. If there are not enough bees to pollinate, there will not be enough crops during the harvest season for everyone to receive food.
Bees not only provide food, but they provide jobs for million of people around the world. There are many beekeepers are all around the world, each with a passion for what they do. They depend on bees to produce honey so they can make a living off of it. If there are no bees left in the world, there will be no need for beekeepers leaving millions without a job as well as many more with no honey.
Bees are also a part of the production of clothing. If there are no bees to pollinate cotton, the clothes we wear as well as towels, blankets and many more would cease to exist. By not pollinating the cotton, there would be a small amount produced each year. This means people would pay high prices for only small amounts of cotton. Bees are the reason we can wear clothes every day and without them, vast problems can occur.
Will it take no food on the table and starvation for people to realize that the decline of bees is a serious issue. Or will it be when millions of people lose their jobs. It could also be when everyone is wearing old, torn up clothing because there is nothing left to wear that people will realize how important bees are. Considering that all things are connected to each other, without bees, the world would fall apart and nothing or no one would not survive very long.