
The economic and ecological importance of honey bees. The contribution of human activities in the decline of European honey bees. The colony collapse disorder.

Answer to Problem 1CR
The honey bee provides products like honey, beeswax, pollen, royal jelly, nectar and so on for economic use. Ecologically they pollinate the flowers, so help in the production of fruits and seeds for other animals to feed on. The activities like deforestation, extraction of honey from honeycombs and climate change due to pollution have caused a decline in honey bee population. The colony collapse disorder is the condition when worker bees die rapidly and leave behind the queen bee with few nurse bees. This causes the death of the whole colony of bees.
Explanation of Solution
The honey bees are economically and ecologically important. They participate in the production of honeycombs that are a source of a variety of products like honey, beeswax, royal jelly, bee pollen, nectar and so on that are used commercially and are of high economic value. The ecological significance of the bees is that they are the major vectors that pollinate the flower while they visit flower for nectar. The pollinated flowers are then the source of fruits and seeds for herbivores, birds, and small animals.
Human activities have caused a drastic decline in the bee population. It is mainly due to loss of habitat. Deforestation is the air source of habitat loss and loss of food source. The bees are also affected by climate change which is caused due to pollution, the overexploitation of bee products have also resulted in a decrease in their population.
The European honey bees are facing the threat of endangerment due to excessive loss of forest cover, overexploitation of bee products, loss of food sources like flowers and fruits. This loss of trees has also affected other organisms that are connected in the food web with bees like herbivores, small animals, birds and many more.
The colony collapse disorder is referred to the condition of the honey bee colony when the worker bees start to disappear due to changing environmental conditions and the queen bee is left along with a few nurse bees. This leads to the decline in the production of honey as well as other bees and hence, as a result, the colony of the bees collapses.
Want to see more full solutions like this?
Chapter 8 Solutions
ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE (HIGH SCHOOL)
- How is the biofuel ethanol produced?arrow_forwardDistinguish between reserves and resoircesarrow_forwardDescribe what kind of energy source oil ia. Describe 5 advantages of oil as an energy source. Describe 5 disadvantages of oil as energy source. Discuss the future potential of oil as energy source in the United States. Describe how you would convince the residents of the State of Connecticut to utilize more oil as an energy source.arrow_forward
- Why is burning of municipal waste to produce energy more common in Europe than in North America?arrow_forwardList 3 energy conservation tecniquesarrow_forward1. Use the elevations in Figure 7.12 as a guide for drawing contour lines. The 100-foot contour line is provided for reference. Using a 20-foot contour interval, draw a contour line for each 20-foot change in elevation below and above 100 feet (e.g., 60 feet, 80 feet, 120 feet). You will have to estimate the elevations between the points. Label each contour line with its elevation. 2. Does the land shown on the topographic map you constructed generally slope downward toward the north or south? 3. Show the direction each stream is flowing by drawing arrows on the map.arrow_forward
- Drawing a Topographic Profile Follow the steps illustrated in Figure 7.13 to draw a topographic profile. Use the profile graph in Figure 7.14 to construct a west-east profile along the line A-A' on the contour map you completed in Figure 7.12. Step 1. Our sample profile will be along line A-A. When constructing profiles on maps provided by your instructor, do not draw on the map. Step 2. Lay a piece of paper along the line of the profile you want to construct. In this example this is line A-A'. Mark each place where a contour line intersects the edge of the paper and note the elevation of the contour line. Step 3. On a separate piece of paper, draw a horizontal line slightly longer than your profile line, A-A'. Select a vertical scale for your profile that begins slightly. below the lowest elevation along the profile and extends slightly beyond the highest elevation. Mark this scale on either side of the horizontal line. Lay the marked paper edge (from Step 2) along the horizontal…arrow_forwardWhen contour lines cross streams or dry stream channels, they form a V that points upstream. Draw arrows next to three of the streams (shown in blue) to indicate the direction in which each is flowing.arrow_forwardCoal-burning electric power plants in the Pa Midwest have contributed to acid rain in the eastern United States. Other energy sources would most likely be costlier than coal, thereby raising electricity rates. Should citizens in eastern states be able to pressure utility companies in the Midwest to change their method of generating electricity? What mechanisms might be available to make these changes? How effective are these mechanisms?arrow_forward
- Applications and Investigations in Earth Science ...Earth ScienceISBN:9780134746241Author:Edward J. Tarbuck, Frederick K. Lutgens, Dennis G. TasaPublisher:PEARSONExercises for Weather & Climate (9th Edition)Earth ScienceISBN:9780134041360Author:Greg CarbonePublisher:PEARSONEnvironmental ScienceEarth ScienceISBN:9781260153125Author:William P Cunningham Prof., Mary Ann Cunningham ProfessorPublisher:McGraw-Hill Education
- Earth Science (15th Edition)Earth ScienceISBN:9780134543536Author:Edward J. Tarbuck, Frederick K. Lutgens, Dennis G. TasaPublisher:PEARSONEnvironmental Science (MindTap Course List)Earth ScienceISBN:9781337569613Author:G. Tyler Miller, Scott SpoolmanPublisher:Cengage LearningPhysical GeologyEarth ScienceISBN:9781259916823Author:Plummer, Charles C., CARLSON, Diane H., Hammersley, LisaPublisher:Mcgraw-hill Education,





