Population of several
pollinators is declined day by day. Currently, there are no national or
regional organizations that collect data or track the populations of
pollinators. We must put attention on these important donors to our food
chain, particularly as they continue to dwindle. Honeybees are currently
our primary pollinator for many crops and we rely upon them heavily, too much
so. There are many native pollinators that could and do help carry the
load and in some cases replace honeybees as the primary pollinator as they are
individually more efficient pollinators than honeybees. Heavy
concentration on native pollinator conservation will be needed to restore these
creatures back to the numbers where they can be of full benefit to agriculture.
The global threat to the
pollination of flowers and food production crops, highlighted by a dramatic
decline in honeybee colonies, could be eased by a renewed focus on ‘wild'
pollinators. Agri-environment schemes that encourage farmers to create
bee-friendly habitats could be the key to increasing numbers of valuable wild
pollinators like bumblebees in the wider countryside.
"Dr Carvell, an ecological researcher, sees wild pollinators as a
vital ‘insurance policy' to avoid the effect of honeybee losses such as those
in the US, leaving crops like almonds and apples without their key pollinators,
and in China where growers have been forced to pollinate apples by hand. With
honeybee numbers dwindling and the obvious risks of relying on a single
domesticated species to provide almost a third of what we eat, it is vital to
conduct more research into both managed and wild pollinator populations.” Source:
Science Daily Pollinating insects producing medically active compounds
Many plants that require pollination are also medically active and are used in many types of traditional and pharmaceutical drugs. However there is another set of medically active compounds that are produced by the bees and available in the colony. Apitherapy, is the use of these honey bee products such as, honey, pollen, propolis, royal jelly and even bee venom to prevent, heal, or help ease symptoms of diseases or disorders.
“The importance of pollinators is that also pollinate many of the plants that we use medicinally. "Of all the medicinal applications now accepted for North American plants, over 50% we presaged by the medicine practitioners of the Native American Indian tribes.”
"Today flowering plants provide almost 25% of the basic ingredients of our modern drugs."source:Midwest Pollinator Conservation
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