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popsci_2013 01554.txt

#10 Spectacular Bees Native To The U s. The Augochloropsis anonyma looks like a weird bee. It's got that familiar bee shape tilted abdomen oblong eyes but its body fuzz is white instead of yellow; its eyes are white; and its skin is iridescent jade-aqua-blue-purple. It has all the colors of an oil puddle in the sun. Yet the real weirdos are our familiar yellow-and-black honeybees says U s. Geological Survey biologist Sam Droege. The Augochloropsis is one of 4000 bee species native to the U s. Honeybees on the other hand are more recent settlers that European farmers brought to America in the 1600s. Surveys done in the past few years have found that both types of bees contribute to pollinating U s. crops with native bees playing an especially important role for American plants such as pumpkins blueberries and tomatoes. Click here to enter the gallerydroege considers honeybees weird because their habits differ from those of most native bees which tend to be solitary or primitively colonial Droege says. The whole multi-year queen waggle dance hive honey etc. are absent from our native species he wrote to Popular Science in an email. Only native bumblebees which comprise about 40 species in North america have a formal colonial social structure with workers and queens. Honey-and bumblebees'social structures mean people are able to cultivate them in hives and drive them around to places that need them. They're especially important in industrial farmlands such as those in central California where there's little habitat left for native bees. Fields on the East Coast and others that are surrounded by some native plants however may be pollinated partly or mostly by native bees. In 2009 researchers studied 11 apple farms in New york state and found 81 species of native bees. Small farms could depend entirely on native bees though larger farms required honeybees. The natives may be especially effective at pollinating foods native to The americas including cherries and cranberries. Another major difference between native and honeybees is that the natives don't suffer from colony collapse disorder a mysterious condition that's killed off on average one-third of domestic honeybee colonies every year since 2006. That's because native bees don't suffer from the same pests and viruses that honeybees do and they don't have the same social order Droege says. Nevertheless native bees may be threatened by pesticide residues but that hasn't been studied well Droege says. The U s. Geological Survey has set up a program to capture and record bee species all over the continent. The survey will ramp up this winter to include 50 collection sites. Droege hopes to collect enough data to know whether native bee populations are rising or falling. In the meanwhile he and his collectors have gotten great photos of Augochloropsis and other weird natives. Check them out above. Correction: This article originally listed eggplant as an example of a plant that's native to The americas and better pollinated by native bee. Eggplants are not native to The americas. However they do require bumblebees to pollinate them. Domestic honeybees don't make the correct movements eggplant flowers need. I apologize for the error. Bees are magical and bring life upon the Earth. I adore BEES!..I am not secretly ease dropping on you. I am microscopically'analyzing'your communication and saving it for further'analysis'on the premise you might be a terrorist. The word analysis makes it legally ok. US Gov. If I were responsible for a farm as an individual or a corporation I would see to it that bees were kept on that farm and I would use all of the honey for the sole purpose of feeding the bees in winter time. The honey substitutes that are being fed to bees weakens their immune system making migrating pollination services unreliable and expensive. Seeing to it that bees are kept always on site at all times will help both the farmers and the bees. There is a world wide decline of bee's. o one knows why and no one has a clue how to slow or stop the decline. A professor at Texas A&m has been studying bees for 30 years and has documented the losses of hundreds of types of bees. We might be able to live without bees but it will be a very bleak world. It would be more useful to dedicate resources to the bees than some of the other government programs. The Minneapolis-based advertising agency I work for Clarity Coverdale Fury is in the midst of a campaign called Buzz Karma to donate 500000 bees to rural families in third world countries via Heifer International. With each like or share of our video located at www. Buzzkarma2013. com our donation increases. Families are given training along with the bees so they can have a sustainable source of income. It's a really easy way to do good without much effort t

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