Can you verify this information?

[BjornBee]

On the following link there is some statements that I am not sure about.

http://www.5newsonline.com/news/kfsm-wild-wednesday-virus-puts-honeybees-at-risk-20120118,0,6001738.story?track=rss

1) "Honey bees account for 80% of all pollination around the globe".

Is this true? While I know there are about 20,000 different Apoidea bee species, the statement singles out honey bees. That would also leave the other 20% of all global pollination to ants, bumblebees, moths, bats, solitary bees, butterflies, flies, and all other insects.


2) "It is the only food that includes all substances necessary to sustain life, including water"

Is his true? Assuming they are talking about human life, can you eat just a diet of honey and live without any other input? How much honey could you. or must you eat, to fullfill the daily water requirements that you wouldneed? Even if they were talking about honey bees, can honey bees even do that? Or do bees need such things as additional pollen to sustain life?

Thank you.

[Michael Bush]

I think you could live on bee brood, bee bread and honey... but you'd be missing a lot of protiens and essential amino acids
with just honey...  I've seen the list of human requirements and I've seen the ingredients in honey...

I don't know of a number to refute it.  I don't know where they would come up with an accurate number, but just observing every time I see flowers I see more than 50% of the pollinators seem to be other insects.  But these are not food plants.  Perhaps they MEANT to say 80% of the pollination of food?  Even then it seems doubtful.

[SEEYA]

Corn is wind pollinated and so are most (?) grasses. I think some soybeans are self fertile, of course they're hybrids, and that MAY require bees.

Some more media experts at work? :roll:

[FRAMEshift]

That would also leave the other 20% of all global pollination to ants, bumblebees, moths, bats, solitary bees, butterflies, flies, and all other insects.

That would imply that only one type of insect pollinates each flower.  If 80% of plants are pollinated by bees, it could also be true that
80% are pollinated by wasps, and that 75% are pollinated by flies.  I'm just making up numbers here but the point is that the percentages don't add up to just 100%.

Assuming they are talking about human life, can you eat just a diet of honey and live without any other input?

No, but there have been people who did eat a honey only diet for a while... until they died.  This was part of ritual preparation for becoming a mellified man.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mellified_man

A recent book by Ian McDonald deals with this in detail.   http://www.tor.com/blogs/2011/07/ian-mcdonald-the-dervish-house

[BjornBee]

I don't think so. They did not say that honey bees contribute to the pollination of 80% of the global pollination.

They stated that honey bees account for 80% of all pollination. That leaves other rationale out of it.

I understand what your saying. But this is not what they are suggesting.



"Until they died"..... :-D

We as beekeepers probably have the knowledge to rationalize and perhaps, if need be, stretch the statements to attach other meanings. The average reader probably only reads it the way it is stated.