Save our pollinators: The last hope to secure our endangered future

Description

A honey bee foraging [Apis mellifera (Linnaeus, 1758] on dandelion (Taraxacum sp., Family-Asteraceae) flower in Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada. It is important to note that Canada has a very short growing season and hence offers a limited range of plants (crops and wildflowers) available for bees to forage moving from their winter to summer food transitions. Early in the spring when the crops are not available, dandelion is a weed that bursts into flowering across Canadian provinces from west to east. This is the primary food source for many honeybees and native bee species for their survival at the start of the growing season in Canada. Insect pollinators across different ecosystems are demonstrating an alarming decline with many species being threatened with extinction due to over-application of toxic pesticides in agriculture, pollution, climate change and global warming, parasitic diseases, colony collapse, lack of nectar foraging plants and suitable habitats. Conservation of insect pollinators like bees is extremely important from the perspective of agriculture as they are responsible for pollinating several important food and industrial crops.

Taken By

Saikat Basu

Taken On

December 23, 2019

Tagged

CV6 animal apidae bee insect invertebrate honey_bee flower plant wasp petal bumblebee pollinator arthropod botany