Bees Worse and Better

This week a TV newsmagazine (Brian Williams, I think) indicated that not 25 percent, but 60 percent, of commercial honeybee hives have collapsed.

Honeybees, said the news show, pollinate 30 percent of crops in the United States, mostly fruits.

A friend, who used to keep a few hives for honey and wax, wondered if this would be an opportunity for indigenous bees. The honeybees were imported, and drove out native species. Sure enough, the reporter interviewed a biological worker in a field of wildflowers. An effort to increase the population of wild bees is being made, by sowing lots of their favorite flowering plants along streams and in areas not used for crops. Having many types of bees can lower the risk of having them all collapse at the same time.