Bees might not be your favorite insects out there.
After all, their stings can really hurt.
Ouch!
But as far as important species go,
bees are near the top of the list.
You see, bees are critical pollinators,
meaning they're responsible
for pollinating more than a third of the crops
that feed the world's population.
But today, bees are dying off at record rates.
So, what would a world without bees look like,
and what would that mean for our global food supply?
Well, if all the bees on Earth suddenly dropped dead
tomorrow, things wouldn't look good for our planet.
And that's because pollination is critical
to the health of our global ecosystem.
It's what allows plants to reproduce
and grow the fruits and vegetables humans need
for a balanced diet.
And the thing is, bees are some of
the best pollinators out there.
In fact, they've coevolved with flowering plants
over millions of years to become pollinating machines.
Elina Niño: Of course, a lot of them are fuzzy,
so they have hairs,
or specialized equipment, so to speak,
where they can store pollen.
Narrator: Bees help pollinate the reported
84% of crops humans eat that are insect-pollinated.
Globally, this accounts for a staggering
$235 billion to $577 billion
in annual food production.
Without bees and other pollinators,
supermarket shelves would hold about
half the fruits and vegetables they have now,
transforming the produce section from this...
to this.
We wouldn't have luxuries like almonds, apples,
or avocados.
Niño: We would also suffer in terms of dairy production.
We use alfalfa to feed dairy cattle,
and dairy cattle, of course, produces the milk,
and the milk is used to produce
many dairy products that we eat.
When I talk to the kids, all the kids
are very disappointed to hear that we might lose ice cream.
Narrator: The extinction of bees could have a disastrous
domino effect, killing off animals that eat those plants,
and so on up the food chain.
Luckily, humanity wouldn't face a global famine
like you might expect.
Niño: We wouldn't necessarily starve to death,
because there are a lot of plants that we do eat
and we depend on that are wind-pollinated,
including, for example, wheats.
Narrator: So if the bee apocalypse does hit,
we could still meet the daily calorie needs
of our global population.
Our diets, however, would suffer in major ways,
as foods that provide key nutrients for our bodies
would become scarce and extremely expensive.
Niño: A lot of the plants that we eat
that are dependent on animal pollination
do provide the necessary micronutrients
that improve our health.
We would probably be very sickly.
So, for example, let's just think about citrus, right?
We would probably have issues with scurvy,
if you think about it.
I guess you could really supplement that with vitamins,
but again, definitely not all of the vitamins
can be as easily accessible to the body
as they are when you're actually eating them.
Narrator: According to the US Department of Agriculture,
the work that bees do for US farmers is worth
about $15 billion a year, so without them,
the cost of produce would skyrocket.
Niño: Especially those who are socioeconomically challenged,
they already have hard times accessing the healthy foods,
so this would probably impact them even worse.
Narrator: And we could be closer to a bee-less future
than you might expect.
In 2018, American beekeepers reported losing
41% of their colonies,
and worldwide, bees have been dying off
at record rates for the past decade.
Niño: Honeybees, at least in the past, I believe, 12 years
have been declining about
up to 45% annually, in some cases.
Narrator: Scientists haven't pinned down an exact reason
for this sudden decline in the bee population.
However, likely reasons are global warming,
overuse of pesticides, and parasitic varroa mites,
which spread viruses to bee colonies.
Right now, countries around the world are working
to monitor bee colonies and even create
new pollination methods using robots.
Niño: There are researchers
who are trying to develop drone pollinators,
so using drone technology
to pollinate flowers.
It all would most likely be more costly.
Narrator: So, what can the average person do
to be more bee-friendly?
Well, if you have a garden, plant a range of flowers
so wandering bees can have access to nectar
throughout the year.
Niño: Bees that we have that are wild bees,
that are native bees,
a lot of them actually nest in soil,
so leaving bare ground for those bees is really useful
if you're redoing your lawn, for example.
Providing access to water would also
be very helpful for the bees,
and reducing pesticide input if at all possible.
Narrator: While steps are already being taken
to save the world's bee population,
there's still a lot to be done
to protect Earth's most buzzy pollinators.