The hum of honeybees as they flit from flower to flower from spring through fall carries the promise of summer fruits and autumn harvest. Many flowers depend on bees and other insects to transport their pollen, and that pollen is needed to fertilize the flower’s eggs so they can mature into seeds. The relationship also benefits the bees because they depend on nectar from flowers to make honey and to mix with pollen to feed to their young. When we look at the amazing adaptations of honeybees, both physical and behavioral, we learn much about the life and work of these busy, buzzy insects.
Honeybees are an introduced species brought to North America by settlers from Europe in the 1600’s for honey and to pollinate crops. They are highly efficient pollinators and so come into competition with the native bees that live here. While most native bees are solitary, honeybees are social insects, living in colonies of many thousands of bees. Each colony is a single family comprised of the queen and her offspring. Working together in a highly organized way, honeybees accomplish remarkable feats of construction, navigation, decision making, defense, and honey making – far beyond what an individual insect could do on its own. Native bees (some 400 species in the Northeast) are important pollinators too and we can help them all by having native flowering plants in our yards and gardens. As we watch for insects, we will likely see both honeybees and native bees, and other insect pollinators, visiting the flowers.
Nearby Nature 