Just a quick post here. I regularly look at the TED website for great short talks and lectures on all sorts of topics, science included. I would really recommend this site to everyone; learning via videos on the sofa, what more could you want?!
Honey bees are a natural resource, much the same as cattle or sheep, except instead of using them for their meat (which I can't imagine would be too tasty!) we collect their honey and also require their input into pollination of flowers to keep up our plant biodiversity level.
They have been in the press for a few years now as their numbers are depleting in the countryside rather rapidly. However, it seems that they are flourishing in cities, so perhaps it is here that we should be cultivating them and eventually supplementing rural areas by releasing bees there?
Watch the talk below to find out more...
(I apologise that the screen is a little big for the page, this was the smallest it would allow me to embed!)
Interesting - I recently read that London arguably had too many bees! Apparently the recent bee-keeping trend has meant current bee numbers may not be sustainable, as we don't have enough plants for them to pollinate.
ReplyDelete(Articles from BBC and independent.)
I haven't got any hard scientific evidence though, it may just be conjecture. What do you think?
Oh wow, thanks for the links! It does seem to be that bee-keeping has become somewhat trendy!
ReplyDeleteIf the science behind this is correct then perhaps the whole initiative of bees in cities needs to be addressed, because if London (one of the greenest cities on Earth) doesn't have enough plants then I imagine many others also don't!!