Bees: Keystone Species

KEYSTONE SPECIES-BEES Elliott Chang Keystone Species are species that would affect our lifestyle and how we live if they were to die out. There called Keystone Species because in an arch, there is one stone that keeps the 2 halves of the arch in place and if you were to take it out, everything would collapse. Bees are like that. Bees contribute to our society economically, ecologically and biologically. They are the species that really make everything the way it is for us. Bees contribute economically because the crops and plants we have are only here because of the pollination of the bees. Bees pollinate about 90 crops and a third of our food supply. Bees are central to the systems that support food production for human beings. An international study of 115 food crops grown in over 200 countries showed that 75% of the crops were pollinated by animals, especially by bees. Farmers are now focusing on using domestic bees to pollinate their crops since they can’t depend on only wild bees. But without a sufficient amount of bees for farmers, there won’t be any crops. Bees are ecologically important to society because they also pollinate a lot of the fruits, plants and berries that a lot of organisms depend on to live. The reason cows and other animals are alive is because of bees. Bees must pollinate the crops that the cows eat. Without the bees there would be no crops for the cows to eat, then causing the extinction of cows. Bees contribute biologically to society because they are such unique and incredible species. They are unique because they are social insects and there very interesting to study. They are fascinating creatures and great for models of natural pheromone. Bees have many features that set them apart from other pollinators. And how they act and how they respond to things are such fascination things to see. Albert Einstein once said that “If the honeybee goes extinct, we have four more years on Earth.” Bees play a major role in