Among the 1,330 crops used by humans, more than 1,000 require bee pollination. If there are too few bees, how many grains, cotton, oil crops, and fruits will people say goodbye to?
Recently, information came out from the National Seminar on the Environmental Quality of Agricultural Products Producing Areas: The number of bees in my country has dropped from 7.5 million colonies in the early 1990s to the current 6.8 million colonies, a decrease of nearly 10% in 10 years. Experts attending the meeting pointed out that this phenomenon has sounded the alarm Ecological alarm!
Bees are declining all over the world
The phenomenon of bee decline is serious all over the world. Compared with 2003, the number of bee colonies in Asia and Europe in 2004 was respectively A decrease of 27,320 groups and 90,108 groups. In addition to China, beekeeping countries such as the United States, Argentina, Mexico, Russia and Turkey have all seen a decrease in bees: In the United States, wild bees have decreased by 95% since 1994, and artificially raised bees have decreased by 95%. 50; The number of bee colonies in France has dropped from 1.5 million in 1994 to 1 million now; in 1981, bee diseases such as tick disease and Varroa mites occurred in Mexico, and the number of bee colonies was also greatly reduced; affected by the disintegration of the country It has seriously affected Russia, which was once the world's largest honey exporter. The number of bee colonies has dropped significantly, and the honey it produces can only meet domestic demand, and a small amount of imports are still needed.
Ecological deterioration is the root cause
There are many reasons for the decline of bees around the world. Of course, there are natural disasters, predation by natural enemies, rampant diseases and other natural factors. However, bee colonies can generally withstand it and maintain a balanced population. However, the addition of human factors has caused the bees to It was unbearable and the number was greatly reduced. Various man-made factors include blind introduction, indiscriminate application of pesticides, artificial genetically modified crops, electromagnetic interference and even war.
Let’s first look at blind introduction. my country introduced it as early as 1896 Apis mellifera was introduced on a large scale twice in the 1930s and 1960s. Due to the lack of sufficient scientific understanding of the consequences of species introduction, the introduced Apis mellifera took advantage of its "big mold" to barbarically steal honey from Apis cerana , interfered with the mating of Chinese honey bees, and introduced cystic larvae disease, adult bee paralysis, etc., which reduced the number of Chinese honey bees that were originally dominant in my country by more than 80%. Currently, there are less than 1 million groups of Chinese honey bees raised in the mountains and forests. It has been difficult to find wild colonies of Chinese honey bees in China. This situation also exists seriously in Spain, Argentina, Mexico and other countries.
Nowadays, applying pesticides is a common thing, and it is common for trees, flowers, melons and other crops to grow. Fruit, flower, grain and cotton crops are infested with insects, and the problem is solved by spraying pesticides; poultry, livestock, various pets, and living environments are infested with pesticides, and the problem is solved by spraying pesticides. The result of frequent use of chemical pesticides is a large number of insects, including bees. Death. According to reports, about 20% of the bee colony losses in the United States were directly caused by pesticides. Bees were killed in many places in our country due to spraying of pesticides. The most serious bee losses reached more than 90%. France once asked for a large number of bees due to the death of bees. Ban the use of a certain brand of foreign chemical pesticides.
Speaking of genetically modified crops, many experts swear that they are “harmless to humans and the ecological environment.” However, according to the British Journal of Nature, British scientists conducted The world's largest test of genetically modified crops lasted for five years and found that in fields where genetically modified crops were grown, the number of butterflies was reduced by two-thirds, and the number of bees was reduced by half.
Exist in nature and Electromagnetic waves in artificial environments have caused great losses to bees in the United States. The American media has reported on this. As for the damage caused by war to bees, there is a ready-made example: what happened in Kosovo in the late 1990s after the war. Beekeepers in Kosovo complained that the bees they raised used to be gentle and focused on collecting honey, but now they have become grumpy and aggressive. Sometimes they even "disown their relatives" and attack their owners. Many bees have not yet How to collect honey, you will die in the attack.
What will happen without bees
How long can human beings exist without bees?
Einstein once predicted: "If bees disappear from the world, mankind will only have 4 years left!" Because among the 1,330 crops used by humans, more than 1,000 require bees for pollination. If bees are too Without them, how many grains, cotton, oil crops, and fruits will people have to say goodbye to?
The French magazine "Science and Life" published an article on this, titled "The reduction of bees will induce drastic changes in the ecosystem." The article said, The sharp decline in the number of bee colonies may lead to a break in the biological chain. Chinese experts also say that Chinese honeybees have a balancing effect on our country's ecology, especially affecting populations in alpine mountainous areas. Without bees, the pollination of plants in alpine mountainous areas will be affected. The impact is from a forest with numerous plant species to a monotonous pine and fir forest. The reduction in plant diversity will lead to a reduction in the types of insects that rely on plants as a living condition, and further reduce the number of birds...
Think about it, what a sad prospect this is.