Honey Bees Impact

Honeybees have made a major impact on the world, not just agriculturally, but economically. Honey bees are accountable for pollinating 80% of the United State’s fruit, vegetables, and seed crops. More than 100 different variety of plants in the United States are pollinated. The work of the honey bee is essential to the production of $7 billion worth of agricultural crops in Arizona alone. More than $15 billion a year in United States crops, are pollinated by bees, including apples, berries, cantaloupes, cucumbers, alfalfa, and almonds. U.S. honey bees also produce about $150 million in honey annually. “Every third bite of food you take, thank a bee or other pollinator” (E.O. Wilson, Forgotten Pollinators, 1996). Bees are also the only insect that …show more content…
There are three types of bees in the hive/colony – Queen, Worker and Drone. In the Queen’s short 3-4-year lifetime, she lays 600-1500 eggs a day. This daily egg production could equal her weight. By laying all these eggs, she provides future workers and drones for the colony. In turn, the workers and drones maintain her so that she is capable of performing her enormous task. The drones are the male bees in the hive that mate and fertilize the eggs for the queen. The drones live from 40-50 days. Drones are rivals; they fight to mate with the queen, so that the most powerful drone wins and is able to mate with the queen, creating a new generation of superior bees, which results in selective breeding. In contrast the worker bees, which are the females, make honey and use their stingers to defend the hive. Each worker bee will produce 1/12 of a teaspoon of honey in their lifetime. Workers also visit between 50 and 100 flowers a day. Worker bees choose who the next queen will be. A worker bee cannot be a queen because they are sterile. Worker bees “live up to their tag line – busy as a bee,” (Helen Yoest). Honeybees have majorly impacted the world economically and