CHAPTER ONE BEES AS BIOINDICATORS A swarm of honeybees hovers over a hillside of flowering plants Blossoms extend out long skinny structures called stamens Tiny powder-like grains called pollen cling to the ends of the stamens The bees gather food from the flowers for their hive At each blossom pollen sticks to the bees hairy bodies The insects dart from flower to flower Pollen spreads among the plants Stamens stick out from flowers to help spread pollen 5
Some bees such as honeybees and bumblebees carry pollen with the flat parts of their hind legs called pollen baskets The Great Relationship Many plants need pollen from other plants of the same species to reproduce They rely on pollinators such as bees to help with this Pollination allows plants to produce fruits and vegetables These contain seeds that may become new plants Nectar attracts bees to flowers Nectar is a sugary liquid made by plants Bees use nectar and pollen for food and to 6
make honey As bees take nectar from flowering plants they spread pollen Bees and plants are interdependent This means that both living things need each other to survive Without bees many plants would die And bees would starve without plants The relationship is part of the balance of the natural world Busy Bees Honeybees can travel up to six miles 10 km from the hive On each trip a bee can gather pollen from 75 to 100 flowers One bee can make 12 to 15 flights per day Bees always return to the same hive Inside every hive is a queen bee The queen keeps the hive healthy by laying eggs A single queen bee can lay up to 2,000 eggs in one day The number of bees in a hive changes throughout the year In summer a hive can house more than 80,000 bees With such high numbers of bees a hive can collect pollen from more than 500 million flowers in a year Bees use the pollen to feed growing bees 7
