Why do we Need Bees?

Hi, I'm Earth Ranger Giovanna and I'm here at this fantastic hothouse to talk to you about bumblebees. Now you're probably wondering, what do bees and tomatoes have in common? Well bumblebees actually play a very important role in the production of tomatoes. Here to tell me more is Dr. Purdy, who's been studying bees for over a decade. Thanks Giovanna, you're right. Bumblebees do have a very special role when it comes to producing tomatoes. Their role is to pollinate the flowers on the tomato plants. See, pollination happens when a brightly colored powder is moved from one part of the flower to another. The pollen is produced in the male part of the flower, which is called the anther, and it's moved to the female part of the flower, which is called the stigma. It takes one tiny grain of pollen to make each seed in the fruit or vegetable. For some plants, like grain and corn, the pollen is carried by the wind, but for many plants, like fruit and vegetables, bumblebees are responsible for the pollination. That's very interesting. So can you tell me some of the other foods that bumblebees pollinate? Yes, bumblebees are important for pollination of raspberries, blackberries, blueberries, almonds, watermelon, pumpkins, and many others, just to name a few. And they also help to pollinate other crops, like clover when it's grown for seed, or canola grown for cooking oil. So does that mean without pollination, we'd have trouble growing enough food? That's right, Giovanna. We'd have grain and corn, but we depend on bumblebees for pollination of many fruits and vegetables. Remember that I said that one tiny grain of pollen is required for each seed in a fruit or vegetable. That means that if a flower doesn't get pollen, or doesn't get enough pollen, there'd be less crop to harvest and the fruit would be smaller. We depend on pollination by bumblebees for much of our food supply. Wild plants and the wild animals that feed on them depend on bumblebees for pollination too. The problem is some bees have been disappearing and all bees are under stress. Do we know what's causing this? Yes, recent research tells us that there are many factors. New bee diseases coming into our area, competition for food and nesting areas, loss and fragmentation of habitat. Pollution, pesticides, and climate change are also thought to be threats. So by the sound of it, there are a lot of things that are making it harder for bees to survive, which is why we need to do more research to get to the bottom of this extremely important issue. That's right, Giovanna, we do need to know a lot more about bumblebees. This is why it's so important for Earth Rangers to join forces and support research so that we can better protect bumblebees. We're raising money to help scientists study habitat needs, pollination habits, and population sizes of wild bumblebees living in western Canada, like the western bumblebee. This will help scientists understand bee diversity and pollination behavior. So what are you waiting for, Earth Rangers? Let's do our part to help bring back the wild.