Honey bees are an introduced species that are extremely important but they are not a native species to Canada,” said Dr. Shelley Hoover at a presentation on Pollinators on Jan. 22.
It is European honey bees that you find in Alberta.
Hoover is an associate professor at Lethbridge University in the department of Biological Sciences studying and researching bees, their management and their effects on the environment.
“We have probably over 900 species of bees in Canada and within Alberta we have about 400 species of bees,” said Hoover.
The total value of what honeybees bring to the economy of Canada in terms of pollination is been estimated to be between 3 to $7 billion.
The value of honey produced is estimated at $300 million.
In terms of food production, the value of produced honey is dwarfed by what they bring to pollinating other crops.
For the farming community they increase the yield output of 75 per cent of all crops by several species of crop.
Canola, alfalfa, soybeans, and blueberries are just a few of the crops that benefit from the all-important bee.
There are several pollinators that have overlapping resource use with honey bees including
These pollinators are potentially competing for the floral resources, the pollen in the nectar, and they're also potentially sharing pathogens, viruses that can be transmitted among the various flowers.
Commercially managed bumble bee colonies are used to pollinate greenhouse crops like tomatoes and peppers or sometimes field crops, in particular high and low bush blueberries.
The honey bees are extreme generalist pollinators where they can pollinate virtually any crop, according to Hoover.
Honeybees produce honey and other products such as wax and royal jelly.
Alberta has 40 per cent of the colonies in Canada across the prairies and that translates to 308,000 bees in Alberta.
Bees need pollen for their food as it provides their protein source.
Pollen provides protein lipids, vitamins and minerals that they need to maintain themselves as adults but primarily to rear larvae or rear new bees.
As the bees grow, they need a lot of protein.
They are dependent on what flowers and pollen sources are available.
The pollen availability directly affects the number of honeybee workers that can be reared by the colony.
The amount of pollen changes with the seasons.
In April each year there's not a lot of pollen available for the bees except for trees like willows and fruit trees.
It picks up in May and early June where dandelions and other annual flowers grow which are a benefit. In late June and July the crops are flowering like canola and alfalfa providing pollen for the bees.
Bee colonies are growing quickly because there is protein to feed the developing brood.
In the fall when the amount of pollen decreases the reproductive process slows and stops according to Hoover. In September and October there is late blooming flowers things like goldenrod that helps the bees produce honey.
The protein content also varies among the seasonal pollens available for bees. The optimum percentage of protein in pollen that is beneficial to the bees is 22 per cent or higher to grow the brood of new bees. Canola pollen varies from 22 to 27 per cent protein and seven per cent fat, which is good for reproduction.
The long Alberta winters have bees feeding on stored honey.
If they run out of stored honey and no nectar is available, the colony could potentially starve said Hoover.
The bees can be fed sugar syrup as a substitute for nectar until the seasonal cycle improves pollen resources.
You can view the webinar .
