Imported bumblebees for pollination service risks, possible solutions
What you will learn here
- Information about individual bumblebee species
- Summary of information for the general public, schools and breeders
Last updated: 25/7/2021
Contents
Introduction
Reaction Bumblebees PLUS
Pollination service in greenhouses
The problem occurs mainly where bumblebees are to be used as a pollination service in the wild
The main problem is the escape of sexual individuals, the multiplication of hybrids in nature and their gradual spread
Do we really want to experience this? Do we really have to risk it the way it is happening with bees today?
Is the Ministry of the Environment's methodology really terrible? What is the main evil?
So, do you still perceive the methodology as a "bumblebee massacre"?
So what to do about it?
Conclusion and summary
Introduction
You can find the article or its audio version HERE
Comment Pollinate and die _ The Ministry prepared a bumblebee massacre
Photo: Seznam News
Reaction Bumblebees PLUS
The title is a bit of a classic tabloid . Unfortunately, that's the price paid by journalists for using strong stimuli to grab readers' attention. Well...sometimes it's the readers' own fault, but a journalist shouldn't have to pander.
Otherwise, thank you for the article. The Čmeláci PLUS group has been dealing with this issue for a long time and drawing attention to it.
The article describes a very important topic that you should not miss.
Let's look at the facts and content of the article.
The author Pavel Baroch correctly and critically describes in the article that we as a human society have become accustomed to it and do not want to do without fruit and vegetables grown at any time. And that is why they resort to "quick and "cheap solutions" = boxes with laboratory-produced bumblebees, agricultural hybrids. They don't even talk much about bumblebees, they simply call it a "pollination service". Poor bumblebees have such characteristics that they can be used for this (a few species). So bumblebees work in greenhouses as part of such a service - regardless of the time of year.
Pollination service in greenhouses
A cardboard box with bumblebees, in the state of a developed nest and full of workers, is placed in the greenhouse . They fly and pollinate what is around. After a few weeks, the nest reaches its peak, i.e. it produces queens and males. Then it weakens relatively quickly and soon disappears (see https://www.cmelaciplus.cz/zivotni-cyklus-cmelaka/).
In greenhouses, such a "box" , i.e. a weakening nest, mercilessly destroyed . The machine has stopped working, it is replaced by a new one. Now a new box comes in its place and the tradition continues.
But do you think that the nest is always destroyed, or are the bumblebees just carried outside and thrown behind the greenhouse? Unfortunately, the methodology is not always followed here.
This thing has been going on for a long time, but it's just not being talked about. It's all wrong. We're interested in fresh fruit and vegetables. Unfortunately, we're only interested in the price tag for what it's produced. Nobody says it either, and if they do, they just show nice footage of bumblebees in a greenhouse. They don't talk about bumblebees, they don't talk about machines, and you won't even hear about their end. The terms "super bumblebees" and "pollinating machines" have appeared as a concept relatively recently, thanks to our activity.
If bumblebees work in a greenhouse , it's wrong. We've abused them , we don't care how they end up, but so be it. It's like another agricultural creature, and it often ends up in the slaughterhouse, for our benefit.
The important thing is that bumblebees work in a greenhouse and should not get out of it . The greenhouse is closed and has ventilation and entrances protected by a system of nets. If this works and the vegetable/fruit producer follows the rules, then it will not harm nature.
But is using a pollination service as romantic as you see in the following video? Did you notice that it doesn't show how the bumblebees are mercilessly killed afterwards?
The problem mainly occurs where bumblebees are to be used as a pollination service in the wild.
This works basically the same, except it's not an enclosed space .
The producer places the boxes there and they start pollinating. As soon as the nest starts to weaken, he adds another one. Just look at the plantations of blueberries, raspberries or strawberries in your area You will commonly see such boxes there . Only in exceptional cases is it a closed space and this is where the " big bad " occurs, i.e. a problem for nature.
No one will stop agricultural hybrid bumblebees from flying outside their designated crop areas . This mainly happens when such crops finish blooming and the bumblebees start to starve. They start flying into the surrounding area and there they provide food for other pollinators – all insects, including natural bumblebees.
It is important to remember that in order for the pollination service to function well from a human perspective, agricultural hybrids are bred to have strong nests, i.e. as many workers as possible . These nests then create strong food competition for other bumblebees, thus suppressing them.
Bumblebees do not belong in our nature for pollination service
The main problem is the escape of sexual individuals, the reproduction of hybrids in nature and their gradual spread.
If a box with hybrid bumblebees is placed in an open area, new queens and males will spread out into the wild . There they will multiply and gradually spread further.
If this is not prevented, it could theoretically displace other bumblebees and there would then be only one species in nature - the one bred by humans.
It is clear to everyone that the bumblebee is irreplaceable, so why are we doing this ? We need to have more species of bumblebees and not be dependent on one species, just as we are dependent on the honeybee.
The author of the article correctly points out known cases of the introduction of alien species and the negative consequences.
The pressure from the agricultural lobby is enormous . The number of applicants for pollination services is increasing. The applicants talk about the " public interest ". According to them, this is the fruit and vegetables on our tables.
But none of them talk about the fact that the real public interest is a healthy nature and a sustainable state . When we depend on one species of bumblebee, nature will lose its irreplaceable helpers. When something happens to that one species, the original “public interest” literally turns into a fight for life. The costs of the solution can be unimaginable.
Do we really want to experience this? Do we really have to risk it like what is happening to the bees today?
The pollination service has not yet had firm rules, the use of bumblebees of agricultural hybrids has not been defined or controlled. When the rules did exist, no one enforced them. That is why it is common today to let a box of bumblebees live and the mothers and males settle in nature. After all, who would harm good bumblebees? People really do take them home from greenhouses, they get them for free. And so they only have them in their garden. But they generally have no idea that they are harming nature by doing so.
Some dishonest sellers even sell such bumblebees to people for their gardens. They don't even tell them what they are selling them and that they should dispose of the bumblebees after a few weeks. Who would buy such bumblebees, doomed to die?
Is the Ministry of the Environment's methodology really terrible? What is the main evil?
No one wants to harm farmers or consumers . That's why experts have compiled a methodology and rules that at least partially eliminate the consequences of using pollination services in open spaces.
In the box with bumblebees, agricultural hybrids, there is a queen separator – a reduced entrance hole. This allows the workers to work, but does not let the queens out. However, it does not prevent the males from flying away, they are about the size of the workers. They can mate in nature with other bumblebees of a related species. The consequences of such crossing are not yet known and we must consider them a risk. .
To ensure that the queens do not escape into the wild, it is ordered that the nest be humanely destroyed after use and that the queens are not left to suffer in it. Freezing or CO2 is the most humane method, which does not cause the insects to suffer. The entire nest is destroyed, because at that time the number of workers in it is rapidly decreasing. This corresponds to the empirically defined 8 weeks. In reality, the nest should be destroyed earlier, it is a compromise.
It's probably still strong coffee, but the nest is really slowly dying in this state. If its liquidation is not ensured, hybrid agricultural bumblebees will spread into nature. Liquidation is therefore the lesser evil, whether we like it or not.
We do not want to defend the Ministry of the Environment, but we must realize that the main evil is the misuse of bumblebees for pollination .
So, do you still perceive the methodology as a "bumblebee massacre"?
Isn't it more like a massacre to decimate natural species of bumblebees, bees, and other insects with a mass of agricultural hybrids?
We should be glad that this methodology has finally been created and that strict adherence to it is beginning to be required.
So what to do about it?
First of all, we should avoid using the pollination service as such . It worked without it before, so let's get back to that.
This is due to intensive farming , the effort to grow as much as possible in the smallest possible area. Therefore, pesticides are used to protect such a concentration of crops against natural pests.
Now the pollination service so that the concentrated crops can be pollinated. If everything is in one area, the natural pollinators simply don't have time, or it takes them longer. The area is too big for them. They couldn't reproduce there because the conditions weren't there the previous year.
Unfortunately, the use of pollination services cannot be banned very well. People will not give up agricultural products, even if they have to be imported from abroad. This would greatly disadvantage our producers.
The solution is to divide the cultivation into several areas strips of other vegetation and natural meadows between them . Pollinators will multiply here and pollinate the necessary crops. But they will not be forced after they have bloomed. This will have a positive impact in general.
Producers may have slightly increased transport costs, but they will save on chemicals, pollination services, and they will also help nature. It is known that our nature has one of the worst compositions in the EU thanks to farmers. In the end, it will be cost-neutral, taking into account all the effects, much better .
If a fruit and vegetable producer cannot avoid using a pollination service, they should use domestic bumblebee species for pollination. However, it should not be an abundant bumblebee species , such as the ground bumblebee (Bombus terrestris). There are so many of them in nature that their further reproduction would have a similar effect to the use of agricultural hybrid bumblebees.
Therefore, it is necessary to use other bumblebee species , especially the less abundant , and not to focus on just one species and use as many of them as possible.
We can use bumblebees from our nature, help them reproduce, and support them and their breeders .
Various types of neglected solitary bees can also . They are often forgotten, yet they are very important helpers.
Above all, we should stop abusing nature and return to it more, not just try to rape it .
Conclusion and summary
- In an attempt to make things better, humans harm themselves and end up making things worse. The use of agricultural hybrid bumblebees for pollination services is a prime example of this.
- Farmers are not forced to use pollination services. They often get themselves into the trap of wanting the highest possible profit. This paradoxically generates additional costs. Many grow crops in harmony with nature, use it and help it. The costs will not be higher, and they can even save money.
- In order to limit the negative consequences of using a pollination service, a methodology has been introduced that is now making us suddenly scared and which the author, in the spirit of the tabloids, calls the "Bumblebee Massacre".
- Thank you very much for the methodology, it was long awaited. It is extremely good that it is. We congratulate everyone involved for that. However, the methodology must be consistently promoted, strictly monitored for compliance. Then it is a way to mitigate the negative consequences of pollination services in the wild.
- The "Terrible Methodology and the Bumblebee Massacre" have one very important effect. Thanks to them, the public will learn what it's all about. They will be interested in why it's all happening. Eventually, under public pressure, perhaps a significant number of farmers will stop using the pollination service. After all, they won't kill bumblebees. They will look for other ways to live in harmony with nature.
Thank you to everyone who read the original Seznam Zprávy report and our response. Yes, the topic is not easy, but thanks to public interest, things are moving forward and hopefully in the right direction.
You can find more posts on this topic on our website HERE