When most people think of bees, they picture a fuzzy, gold-and-black insect buzzing from flower to flower, making honey and living in a hive. Chances are, they’re thinking of the European honey bee.
Domesticated in Europe and brought to the U.S. like livestock, honey bees are often called the chickens of the insect world. They are widely used, carefully managed, and selectively bred for productivity. Today’s honey bees live in human-made hives, work from dawn to dusk, and pollinate about a third of the food we eat.
A single colony can include tens of thousands of bees, covering several square miles and pollinating many crops. In the United States, their work adds more than $15 billion to agriculture each year.
There’s no easy replacement. Some crops, like vanilla, already require hand pollination, which is expensive and time-consuming. Without bees, many fruits and nuts wouldn’t be available at the scale we need.
Unlike native bees, honey bees are generalists. They visit a wide range of flowers and can be trucked across the country to follow blooms from Hawaiʻi to Maine to the groves of Riverside.
500 Ways to Bee: A Field Guide for Your Own Backyard
European honey bees may be the most familiar, but they are only one species. Riverside is home to over 500 native bee species. Mason bees nest in cracks and line them with mud. Carpenter bees chew into wood. Bumblebees and others nest in the ground. The pebble bee builds its home from tiny stones held together with mud and plant resins.
Most native bees are solitary. Each female builds a nest, gathers pollen, and lays a few eggs. They don’t make honey or rely on a colony, but they are efficient pollinators. Many native plants evolved alongside them, forming partnerships that depend on precision. Some bees have mouthparts shaped for specific flowers. Bumblebees can buzz-pollinate, a technique honey bees can’t do.
These bees live in walls, soil, wood, and sometimes in nests of pebbles. Some are metallic green, others fuzzy and black. Each one plays a role in keeping the landscape in balance.
(Courtesy of the Museum of Riverside)
The Buzzkill: What’s Threatening Our Pollinators and How We Can Help
When people talk about saving bees, they usually mean honey bees. But native bees are the ones most at risk.
Native bees rely on specific plants and undisturbed places to nest. Without healthy habitat, they decline. Unlike honey bees, they don’t have beekeepers to help when times get tough.
Even honey bees face pressure. In large-scale farming, they’re exposed to disease, parasites, and stress. Varroa mites feed on bee body tissue (or, you could say, fat deposits) and can wipe out colonies. Colony Collapse Disorder describes the breakdown caused by disease, malnutrition, pesticides, and climate stress. It’s not one disease, but a set of conditions that weakens the whole system.
Pesticides are a major threat. Most harm pollinators as well as pests. Invasive plants also create problems. Generalist honey bees will forage on non-native plants like Sahara mustard, helping them spread and crowd out native wildflowers.
Supporting pollinators starts with habitat. Lawns offer little, but native plants provide food, shelter, and nesting space. Avoiding pesticides, leaving some bare soil, and letting leaves and stems stay through the seasons helps too.
Even small efforts matter. A pot of native flowers, a patch of untrimmed yard, or a corner of drought-tolerant plants can help support the bees in Riverside.
Be sure to check out our booth at the Insect Fair this weekend for insect activities and fun facts shared by our experts. Catch our stage presentation on bees and don’t forget to purchase your tickets for the butterfly tents.
More information: The Riverside Insect Fair takes place Saturday, April 26, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Main Library, 3900 Mission Inn Avenue, Riverside, CA 92501. Tickets are timed entry and cash only: $3 for adults, $1 for children 12 and under. Visit riversideca.gov/insectfair for details.
