Report on Forum 1 by Professor Jean Pierre Scheerlinck on Bees and sustainable food
production
Name: Yusheng Too
Student number: 1043654
Submission date: 24/9/2020
Word count: 1098
The forum is presented by Professor Jean Pierre Scheerlinck who is a professor in
Biotechnology at the Faculty of Veterinary and Agricultural sciences, the University of
Melbourne. He has experience as a biomedical scientist and manager in vaccine
development, animal models for human diseases and immunology. This forum presents the
idea of bees being important to agriculture but are currently facing threats to their
existence. Some main points covered are the history between bees and mankind, bee
biology, importance of bees to agriculture, effects of modern agriculture practices on bees
and alternatives to bee pollination.
Firstly, human interactions with bees since ancient times was discussed. In Spain, the
oldest records of honey gathering date back to 15,000 years ago. There is also the drawing
of “Man of Bicorp” found in Bicorp, Spain dating back 8000 years ago showing honey
gathering. There were also written records on migratory beekeeping in Egypt during 3000
BC. Basket and pots were also used as hives in Ancient Greek but bees were destroyed
during honey collection. Rev. L. L. Langstroth invented the movable frame with the
discovery of bee spaces to solve this problem.
Furthermore, bee biology was explained. Jean first presented the hive structure of
wild bees. Bee hives in the wild are usually located in trunks with frontal honey stores,
middle brood nest and an empty end. The temperature of the brood nest is maintained at
approximately 30 degree Celsius, promoting optimal growth by using water vaporisation to
disperse heat and beating chest muscles after wing dislocation to generate heat. Thus, he
argued that climate change normally doesn’t directly affect bees but indirectly through its
effect on plants. Tereza C. Giannini et al. (2012) proposed that suitable habitat for bees in
Brazil has decreased owing to climate change. Jean then explained the bee life cycle. Le
Conte and Maria (2008) also stated that climate-induced stress will in future compound
various factors endangering the honeybees. All bees’ larvae stay in royal jelly initially.
Worker bees develop in only 3 weeks and are responsible for nectar and pollen collection,
etc… Male drones take longer and are bigger in size. The queen larvae stay longer in royal
jelly and its cell is perpendicular to the comb. Queen bees mate outside with about 20
drones and stores the semen in special organs. It then stays in the hive to lay eggs.
Additionally, queen bees also observe additional queen cells and kill any competing queen
babies.
In addition to that, the importance of bees to agriculture was highlighted. In some
plants, self-pollination is not productive as there is no big mixing of the gene pool. Bees
helps to move pollens of one plant to the other as plants are immobile, increasing mixing of
the gene pool. An alternative to bee pollination is wind pollination which is less efficient.
This may be because wind pollination is not as specific as bees. In Australia, honey is a “by-
product” of pollination. It is formed from wild nectar collected by bees and about 25,000
tons of honey is produced annually. This makes up for 100 million AUD in 2017 according to
AgriFuture. However, the value of pollination to horticulture and agriculture far surpasses
that with a value of 14 billion AUD according to [Link] in 2014 to
2015. According to AgriFuture, there were 20000 registered beekeepers with 647000 hives
in total in 2017. About 200000 of these hives and about 480000 hives of wild honeybee
hives contribute to pollination. If Varroa mites were introduced to Australia, wild honeybees
will be eliminated. The demand for honeybee hives would increase to a total of 750000 to
make up for the lost. Jean argued that bee pollination is very important for agriculture as it
is responsible for 65% of agricultural production as shown by a report, Pollination Aware by
RIRDC. Examples of agriculture produce 100% reliant on bee pollination include but not
limited to, almonds, apples and avocados. Klen et al. (2007) also stated that over 75% of
crops for humanity’s consumption and 35% of food produced depends on animal
pollination.
Effects of modern agricultural practices on bees were then discussed. An example
given is monoculture farming which causes the ‘feast and famine’ effect on bees whereby
they can only obtain food during the 1-month flowering period and tend to starve for 11
months. Almond pollination in California is a form of monoculture farming. Jean
recommended introducing crop variety to respond to this issue. Instead, migratory
beekeeping is carried out to transport bee hives to where pollination is needed. Jean argued
that this form of beekeeping reduces biosecurity as bees are able to infect each other cross
country and increases the stress faced by bees. Michael Simone-Finstrom et al. (2016) also
suggested that their studies proved increased stress caused by migratory beekeeping,
evidenced by reduced lifespan compared to stationary colonies. Varroa destructor which is
an ectoparasite for bees is spread this way, causing wings deformation and killing the bees
by spreading virus. Human intervention is required for the removal of these parasites. Thus,
spreading of these ectoparasites to the wild can cause elimination of wild bees. Moreover,
fungicides used in agriculture also kill off broods of honeybees. Neonicotinoids, a type of
pesticide used can also have a cumulative effect on bees which is still unknown. Jean argued
that neonicotinoid, which is a neuro-active compound might affect the bees flight
orientation, disabling them of returning to their hives. Penelope R. Whitehorn et al. (2012)
also suggested that neonicotinoids contributed to the reduced honeybee population and
new queen production. However, Tjeerd Blacquière et al. (2012) suggested that no effects
on bees were observed in field with field-realistic dosages of neonicotinoids. A combination
of all the factors stated above may be the cause of colony collapse disorder whereby there
is a sudden disappearance of bees from a colony.
Finally, Jean touched on the alternatives to bee pollination. He explained about
human pollination which is carried out in southern parts of China, relying on manual harvest
of pollen thus inevitably increase labour cost. He also briefly spoked about pollination via
drones which is still in its early stages of development.
This forum set out to discussed the pivotal role of bees in modern day agriculture
and the threats to their existence. This includes agricultural practices which should be re-
evaluated so as to not threaten the population of honeybees. Farmers should focus on crop
variety to prevent a ‘feast and famine’ situation. This would reduce the need of migratory
beekeeping. Advances should also be made in applying fungicides during night-time so as to
reduce the impact on bees.
Reference List
Tereza, C.G., André, L.A., Carlos, A.G., Antonio, M.S., Isabel, A., Vera, L.I. (2012). Pollination
services at risk: Bee habitats will decrease owing to climate change in Brazil. Ecological
Modelling. 244, 127-131
Klein, B.E. Vaissière, J.H. Cane, I. Steffan-Dewenter, S.A. Cunningham, C. Kremen, T.
Tscharntke (2007). Importance of pollinators in changing landscapes for world crops.
Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. B, Biological Sciences. 274 (1608), 303-313
Tjeerd Blacquière, Guy Smagghe, Cornelis A. M. van Gestel, Veerle Mommaerts (2012).
Neonicotinoids in bees: a review on concentrations, side-effects and risk assessment.
Ecotoxicology. 21, 973-992.
Simone-Finstrom, M., Li-Byarlay, H., Huang, M. et al. (2016). Migratory management and
environmental conditions affect lifespan and oxidative stress in honey bees. Sci Rep, 6,
32023. [Link]
Le Conte, Yves & Navajas, Maria (2008). Climate change: Impact on honey bee populations
and diseases. Revue scientifique et technique (International Office of Epizootics), 28(485-
97), 499-510
Whitehorn, P., O'Connor, S., Wackers, F., & Goulson, D. (2012). Neonicotinoid Pesticide
Reduces Bumble Bee Colony Growth and Queen Production. Science, 336(6079), 351-352.
from [Link]