Without the bees to pollinate plants and crops, we would be set to see a huge change in our local parks. Trees and flowers couldn’t grow and even wildlife could become extinct without nutritious plants in the food chain.
Alison Benjamin, co-author of ‘A World Without Bees’ said in a recent Guardian article: “Spare a thought for the poor birds and small mammals that feed off the berries and seeds that rely on bee pollination. They would die of hunger and in turn their predators – the omnivores or carnivores that continue the food chain would also starve.”
Hyde Park
Image 1. shows a before and after of London’s Hyde Park in the present day compared to what it would look like in a bee-less society.
Kew Gardens
Image 2. shows a before and after of Kew Gardens in Japan in the present day and what it would look like in a bee-less society.
Farmers’ fields, and their livelihoods, would also be under threat if bees weren’t there to pollinate their crops. Without the bees, how would we get many of the foods that make up an important part of our diet?
Image 3. shows a before and after of a present-day cornfield and what it would look like in a bee-less society.
Caroline, lead florist at Bloom & Wild, said: “It’s surprising to think how much bees have a positive impact have on our health and wellbeing, from the crops that everyone needs for nutrition to the beautiful flower arrangements that we create, at Bloom & Wild, to bring joy to our customers. Bees are a vital part of our ecosystem that needs to be protected.”
Dr Richard Comont at The Bumble Bee Conversation has said “Without any bees at all the main thing that would suffer is the recruitment rate of insect-pollinated plants (ie the number of new plants of each species that started growing each year).
Obviously this would be particularly serious for annuals which are entirely insect-pollinated as recruitment would drop right off (though not completely as many have long-lived seeds).
There would definitely be noticeable effects from the reduced amount of fruit, both on humans (higher prices, less availability) and fruit-eating animals (no food). Again though, the decline would be a question of degree, not a cliff edge”.
