Most people think of honeybees when they think of bees, and are surprised to learn that honeybees are not native to North America. They were brought here in the 1600s by Europeans for honey and wax, and are native to Europe, western Asia and Africa.

Honeybees are well known and admired for having an amazing social structure and ability to communicate with each other.

You may also be surprised to learn that honeybees as a species are not at risk of extinction. The number of honeybee colonies is increasing, and honeybee populations are holding steady, not declining. On our continent, they are very useful in large scale agricultural pollination. Most threats to their health are from the way they are handled in agricultural conditions, including their exposure to widespread pesticide use and continual re-location.  

But honeybees are by no means our only bees, nor the only bees pollinating both wild and agricultural environments. Massachusetts has almost 400 species of native bees, and it is many of these bee species that are declining in numbers and facing the risk of extinction. As explained here, native bees and other pollinators co-evolved over millennia with native plants, and as a result they have developed very specialized, mutually beneficial relationships. This process of coevolution resulting in specialized insect/plant relationships has happened all over the world.  

Because there is a wide variety of native bees, they are excellent pollinators of both native and agricultural plants in a range of weather conditions (unlike honeybees) and are essential not only to wild ecosystems but agriculture as well. They pollinate the plants that feed many different species of animals, birds, amphibians, and humans. They are at risk for numerous reasons, including loss of habitat and pesticide use. It is native bees that need our protection.

Research is showing that honeybees compete for resources with native bees by taking pollen and/or nectar from plants that native bees must have, and not even necessarily pollinating the plant while they do so. Getting a honeybee hive might be a fun and interesting activity, but beekeeping is not helpful for native bee conservation. Because honeybees did not co-evolve with our native plant species, they do not do the majority of the pollination in a healthy ecosystem. This takes a wide diversity of insects. As bee researcher Dr. Nick Dorian says, “Having a diverse set of bees ensures that there’s resilience built into our food system and our ecosystem.”

To conserve at-risk pollinators, we need to protect natural habitat and expand it by planting native plants. These are the first steps towards supporting the native pollinators that really do need our help. For more information, you can find videos and articles about the impact of honeybees on native bees and plants below.