Editing Honey bee (section)

==Pollination==
{{Main|Pollination management|List of crop plants pollinated by bees}}
[[File:Bee Leg with Pollen Bulb.jpg|thumb|Hind leg of a honey bee with pollen pellet stuck on the pollen basket or corbicula. When the worker bee is collecting pollen, their legs make the transfer of pollen from the inner basitarsal combs to the outer pollen basket (shown in the figure).]]
[[File:Buzzing bees.ogg|thumb|Buzzing bees on the flowering plum]]

Of all the honey bee species, only ''A.&nbsp;mellifera'' has been used extensively for commercial pollination of fruit and vegetable crops. The scale of these pollination services is commonly measured in the billions of dollars, credited with adding about 9% to the value of crops across the world. However, despite contributing substantially to crop pollination, there is debate about the potential spillover to natural landscapes and competition between managed honey bees and many of the ~20,000 species of wild pollinators.<ref name="Geldmann-2018">{{cite journal |last1=Geldmann |first1=Jonas |last2=González-Varo|first2=Juan P. |title=Conserving honey bees does not help wildlife |journal=Science |volume=359 |issue=6374 |year=2018 |pages=392–393 |doi=10.1126/science.aar2269|pmid=29371456 |bibcode=2018Sci...359..392G |s2cid=206665383 }}</ref>

Species of ''Apis'' are generalist floral visitors, and pollinate many species of flowering plants, but because of their "generalized" nature, they often do so inefficiently. Without specialized adaptations for specific flowers, their ability to reach pollen and nectar is often limited. This combined with their behavioural flexibility may be why they are the most commonly documented [[Pollen theft|pollen thieves]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Hargreaves |first1=Anna L. |last2=Harder |first2=Lawrence D. |last3=Johnson |first3=Steven D. |date=2009 |title=Consumptive emasculation: the ecological and evolutionary consequences of pollen theft |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1469-185X.2008.00074.x |journal=Biological Reviews |language=en |volume=84 |issue=2 |pages=259–276 |doi=10.1111/j.1469-185X.2008.00074.x|pmid=19382932 |s2cid=205599079 }}</ref> Indeed, for plant species with more specialized pollinators, experiments show that increased honeybee visitation can reduce pollination, both where honey bees are non-native<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=do Carmo |first1=Roselaini Mendes |last2=Franceschinelli |first2=Edivani Villaron |last3=da Silveira |first3=Fernando Amaral |date=2004 |title=Introduced Honeybees (Apis mellifera) Reduce Pollination Success without Affecting the Floral Resource Taken by Native Pollinators |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/30043128 |journal=Biotropica |volume=36 |issue=3 |pages=371–376 |doi=10.1111/j.1744-7429.2004.tb00329.x |jstor=30043128 |bibcode=2004Biotr..36..371D |s2cid=86316179 |issn=0006-3606}}</ref> and even where they are native.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Hargreaves |first1=Anna L. |last2=Harder |first2=Lawrence D. |last3=Johnson |first3=Steven D. |date=2010 |title=Native pollen thieves reduce the reproductive success of a hermaphroditic plant, Aloe maculata |url=http://doi.wiley.com/10.1890/09-0792.1 |journal=Ecology |language=en |volume=91 |issue=6 |pages=1693–1703 |doi=10.1890/09-0792.1 |pmid=20583711 |bibcode=2010Ecol...91.1693H |issn=0012-9658}}</ref> What's more, their tendency to visit all species in a given area means that the pollen they carry for any one species is often very diluted. As such, they can provide some pollination to many plants, but most plants have some native pollinator that is more effective at pollinating that species.<ref>[https://www.decodedscience.org/plants-pollinators-and-the-price-of-almonds/28797/2 Plants, Pollinators, and the Price of Almonds] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180919094322/https://www.decodedscience.org/plants-pollinators-and-the-price-of-almonds/28797/2 |date=2018-09-19 }}<br />"Flowers set more seeds when visited by wild insects, and the more plants that were visited by wild insects, the more likely they were to set fruit. In some places the researchers considered, wild insects were pollinating most of the plants despite rented honey bees being present."</ref> When honey bees are present as an invasive species in an area, they compete for flowers with native pollinators, which can actually push out the native species.<ref>[https://www.popsci.com/honeybees-hog-limelight Saving pollinators is about more than just honeybees]<br />The problem is that there are only so many flowers and places to nest. And once the numbers of honeybees have been artificially inflated (commercial-scale beekeeping would not exist without humans) the increased competition for these resources can push native non-''Apis'' pollinators out of their natural habitats. Honeybees also spread exotic plants and transmit pathogens, both of which have been shown to harm other pollinators.</ref>

===Claims of human dependency===
[[Western honey bee]]s have been described as essential to human food production, leading to claims that without their pollination humanity would starve or die out.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.elitedaily.com/news/world/humans-need-bees-to-survive/755737|title=If All The Bees In The World Die, Humans Will Not Survive|website=Elite Daily|date=15 September 2014 }}</ref><ref>[https://www.businessinsider.com/the-world-without-honeybees-2013-6#if-bees-dies-beekeepers-who-make-their-living-by-managing-bee-colonies-will-go-out-of-business-1 A Devastating Look At Our World If Honeybees Disappeared]<br />"A world without honeybees would also mean a world without fruits, vegetables, nuts, and seeds."</ref> Apples, blueberries, and cherries, for example, are 90 percent dependent on honeybee pollination.<ref name="AgBioResearch-2018">{{cite web | title=Supporting pollination in agriculture | website=AgBioResearch, [[Michigan State University College of Agriculture & Natural Resources]] | date=2018-10-01 | url=https://www.canr.msu.edu/news/supporting-pollination-in-agriculture | access-date=2022-07-09}}</ref> [[Albert Einstein]] is sometimes misquoted as saying "If bees disappeared off the face of the earth, man would only have four years left to live"''.''<ref>[https://www.vice.com/en/article/what-would-happen-if-all-the-bees-died-tomorrow/ What Would Happen if All the Bees Went Extinct?]<br />"First, the easy part: "I've never seen anything definitively link the quote to Einstein," says Mark Dykes, the chief inspector for Texas Apiary Inspection Service. Quote checkers like this one, and this one agrees. But debunking its message? That's more complicated."</ref> Einstein did not say this and there is no science to support this prediction.<ref>[https://www.nrdc.org/onearth/would-world-without-bees-be-world-without-us Would a World Without Bees Be a World Without Us?]<br />"Albert Einstein is sometimes quoted as saying, "If the bee disappears from the surface of the earth, man would have no more than four years to live." It's highly unlikely that Einstein said that. For one thing, there's no evidence of him saying it. For another, the statement is hyperbolic and wrong (and Einstein was rarely wrong)."</ref>

Many important crops need no insect pollination at all. The ten most important crops,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.businessinsider.com/10-crops-that-feed-the-world-2011-9|title=The 10 Most Important Crops In The World|first=Eric|last=Goldschein|website=Business Insider}}</ref> comprising 60% of all human food energy,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/most-important-staple-foods-in-the-world.html|title=What Are the World's Most Important Staple Foods?|website=WorldAtlas|date=7 June 2019}}</ref> fall into this category: [[Plantain (cooking)|plantain]]s are sterile and propagated by cuttings, as are [[cassava]]; [[potato]]es, [[Yam (vegetable)|yam]]s, and [[sweet potato]]es are root vegetables propagated by [[tuber]]s; [[soybean]]s are [[Self-pollination|self-pollinated]]; and [[rice]], [[wheat]], [[sorghum]], and [[maize]], are [[Anemophily|wind-pollinated]], as are most other grasses.<ref>{{Cite book| last=Gibson | first=D.J. | title=Grasses and grassland ecology | year=2009 | location=Oxford | publisher=Oxford University Press | page=82 | isbn=9780198529187 }}</ref>

No crops originating in the [[New World]] depend on the western honey bee (''Apis mellifera'') at all, as the bee is an [[invasive species]] brought over with colonists in the last few centuries.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.usgs.gov/faqs/are-honey-bees-native-north-america|title=Are honey bees native to North America?|website=USGS|date=7 May 2024}}</ref> [[Tomato]]es, [[Capsicum annuum|pepper]]s, [[Cucurbita|squash]], and all other New World crops evolved with native pollinators such as [[squash bee]]s, [[bumble bee]]s, and other native bees.{{Citation needed|date=August 2021}} The [[stingless bee]]s mentioned by Jefferson{{Clarify|date=August 2021}} are distant relatives of the honey bees, in the genus ''[[Melipona]]''.{{Citation needed|date=August 2021}}

Still, honey bees are considered "crucial to the food supply, pollinating more than 100 of the crops we eat, including nuts, vegetables, berries, citrus and melons."<ref name="PBS News-2023">{{Cite web|url=https://www.pbs.org/newshour/economy/struggling-beekeepers-stabilize-u-s-honeybee-population-after-nearly-half-of-colonies-died-last-year|title=Struggling beekeepers stabilize U.S. honeybee population after nearly half of colonies died last year|date=June 22, 2023|website=PBS News}}</ref> The [[USDA]] reports "Three-fourths of the world’s flowering plants and about 35 percent of the world’s food crops depend on animal pollinators to reproduce"<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.usda.gov/peoples-garden/pollinators|title=The Importance of Pollinators &#124; USDA|website=www.usda.gov}}</ref> and honey bees "pollinate 80 percent of all flowering plants, including more than 130 types of fruits and vegetables."<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.farmers.gov/blog/value-birds-and-bees|title=The Value of Birds and Bees|date=June 22, 2020|website=Farmers.gov}}</ref>