Science Memes

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submitted 2 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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[–] [email protected] 20 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Bees collect nectar for nutrition and they collect pollen as their protein source. These activities pollinate as a by-product. Honey bees collect a lot of nectar to refine into honey to survive the winter months. This makes the honey bee ideal for some flowering plants which have a lot of nectar that the honey bee needs. Many native species have short lifecycles. Some only during a bloom of a particular flower. This is why native bees make better pollinators as a whole. Honey bees pass up many flowers that have little benefit to them as a nectar source. Native bees collect the pollen that would be undisturbed by the honey bee.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

Invasive honey bees are less effective pollinators for most native plants than native bee species. However, they indeed consume a lot of nectar, leaving less for the native bees to survive.

Admittedly, it's not a simple relationship, but between increased competition and fewer resources due to landscape changes, it's not necessarily a good one.