Nerdy Jobs: Beekeeping

Watch

1. I WAS A BEEKEEPER for a day!youtu.be/hAVklEerZFI

Word of the day

Apiary (AY-pee-er-ee). A place where colonies of bees are kept in hives.

• A library and an apiary share the -ary ending. Library comes from Latin librārius, “of books.”
• The western honey bee’s scientific name is Apis mellifera, “honey-bearing bee.”

Bonus word. Nucleus (NOO-klee-us) is Latin for “kernel,” a shortened form of nuculeus, from nux, “nut.” In a cell, the nucleus holds the DNA. In beekeeping, a nucleus colony, or nuc, is a small starter colony with a queen, brood and food stores.

Predict

1. In the episode, a Bee Country beekeeper says bees are “responsible for a third of our food.” Alexandra-Maria Klein’s team checked the leading food crops grown around the world. Make a prediction before you read the paper. If every bee disappeared, what would happen to world food production by weight? Would it fall by about a third, by more than a third or by less? Give your reasoning in one sentence.

   Hint. Think about wheat, rice and corn. Then think about crops that still make some fruit or seed without bees.

Read the paper

Klein and others, “Importance of pollinators in changing landscapes for world crops,” Proceedings of the Royal Society B, 2007. The paper is free to read.

Klein’s team used crop data for 2004 from the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations. The team counted a crop as dependent on animal pollinators if its production rises when animals can visit its flowers, by any amount. By production volume, 60% of global food came from crops that do not depend on animal pollination, 35% from crops that depend on pollinators, and 5% went unevaluated. The pollinators include honey bees, wild bees and other insects, and birds or bats for a few crops. The team also reviewed experiments that compared crop flowers with and without access to pollinators. They sorted 107 crops that people eat directly into levels, by how much production drops without animal pollinators. The counts below come from Figure 3 and the abstract of the paper.

1. Quantitative reasoning The table sorts 107 crops by how much production drops without animal pollinators. What percent of the 107 crops lose 40% or more of their production without animal pollinators?

   Hint. Fill in the last column first. Then add the rows that drop by 40% or more.

2. Process of science The abstract says 35% of global production comes from “crops that depend on pollinators.” Most of those crops still make part of their harvest without animals, so the authors add that “the amount of production directly attributable to animals is lower than this value.” What does Klein’s 35% count? And why is the food that pollinators produce a smaller share than 35%?

   Hint. Think about a crop in the modest level. Which part of its harvest would still grow with no pollinators?

3. Systems The abstract reports that 87 of the 115 leading crops make more food with animal pollinators. Crops that do not depend on animal pollination make about 60% of global food production by weight, and crops that depend on pollinators make about 35%. How can both findings be true? And what would a steep drop in pollinators change about the world’s food supply?

   Hint. Think about which crops supply the most food by weight, like wheat, rice and corn, and how those crops are pollinated.

4. Science and society Klein’s team writes that honey bees “remain the most economically valuable pollinators of crop monocultures worldwide,” and that honey bees and wild pollinators are both valuable for 35 crops. The abstract warns that “agricultural intensification jeopardizes wild bee communities.” In the episode, Annika says honey bees aren’t native to the US, and New York State has over 400 species of native bees. Rewrite the beekeeper’s line “they’re responsible for a third of our food” so it matches Klein’s findings. Then explain why your version should name more pollinators than honey bees.

   Hint. Use the 35% and say what it counts. Then think about who else visits crop flowers.

Exit ticket