Common pesticides are key factors in the declining bee population and colony collapse disorder. A disorder where seemingly healthy bees abandoned the hive, leaving the queen …show more content…
What is pollination? It is the transfer of pollen from the anther, the male portion of the flower, to the stigma, the female portion of the flower. Once this transfer is completed, the plants seed, nut or flower will begin to form. Nearly one third of crops around the world are pollinated by bees, crops such as kiwi, almonds, cherries, grapes, tomatoes, blueberries, alfalfa etc. In the past 50 some years, the population of honey bees has decreased to about half. Without these little critters, we will lose the majority of our produce crops, the lack of supply would dramatically increase prices. The lack of clover, a crop bees rely on as an important source to produce nectar, would mean a loss in the key part in the bees honey-making diet. Honey is used in the cosmetic industry, to produce moisturizer in creams, soaps, and shampoos. Other oil seeds which depend on/benefit from the pollination of bees like sunflower, cotton, and coconut which depend on or benefit from bee pollination would also be diminished, eliminating more than half of the world's diet of fat and oil. Cotton alone makes up around 35% of the world's total material fiber use and is the leading cash crop in the southern United States. Without cotton, we would no longer have clothing and everyday items like blue jeans, shoe laces, towels, and paper products. Across the world, alfalfa fields will die off, meaning beef and dairy cows will starve …show more content…
Grains, like wheat, rice, and corn wouldn't be greatly affected since these crops rely largely on wind pollination. All species, in some way shape or form, rely on other species, “everything is connected”. If one species is taken from this world, there will be a chain of events that follows, similar the the butterfly effect. If an organism such as the honeybee is removed, multiple species humans live off of like plants and animals will also die