In my family, beekeeping has been passed down from one generation to another, hence it's no surprise that since a very young age I've learnt to speak 'the language' of bees, and to this day I have an immerse love and appreciation for these magnificent flying insects (I know it sounds ridiculous, but in my view the buzz emanating from a (healthy) beehive in the height of summer is the most energising, happiness-inducing sound there is!).
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This week, an interesting study has come my way, highlighting the plight of Apis mellifera or the European honey bee (a problem that has been puzzling the research community for many years), and the resulting shortfall in supply of pollination services to agriculture across Europe. I've creating an infographic to show some of the key findings from this research:
pollinators & service delivery in europe | Infographics
Breeze, T.D., Vaissiere, B.E., Bommarco, R., Petanidou, T., Seraphides, N., et al. (2014) Agricultural Policies Exacerbate Honeybee Pollination Service Supply-Demand Mismatches Across Europe. PLoS ONE 9(1): e82996. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0082996.
