La Muerte de las Abejas explicada con detalles.

Summary

El video destaca la vital importancia de las abejas como polinizadoras esenciales para nuestros cultivos, flores y alimentos. A través de un fascinante recorrido sobre su alimentación, comportamiento y servicios de polinización, se explora cómo las prácticas agrícolas modernas, el uso de pesticidas y la falta de biodiversidad han afectado negativamente a las abejas. También menciona cómo los apicultores y científicos trabajan para protegerlas y mejorar su salud. El mensaje final invita a plantar flores amigables con las abejas y evitar el uso de pesticidas, una pequeña acción que puede generar un gran impacto para salvar a las abejas.

Takeaways

• 🐝 Las abejas son los polinizadores más importantes para cultivos, frutas y flores, de los que dependen más de un tercio de la producción mundial de alimentos.
• 🌸 Las abejas no polinizan intencionalmente; lo hacen mientras recolectan néctar y polen para alimentarse.
• 👩‍🌾 En algunas partes del mundo, los humanos deben polinizar flores manualmente, utilizando pinceles o vibradores, especialmente en cultivos como los tomates.
• 🎶 Los abejorros pueden vibrar a una frecuencia similar a la nota musical Do para liberar polen de flores como las del tomate.
• 🏡 Existen más de 20,000 especies de abejas en el mundo, y la mayoría vive en el suelo o tallos huecos, lejos de la vida social de las abejas melíferas.
• 🧪 Las abejas melíferas han desarrollado sistemas de salud social, como la recolección de resinas con propiedades antibacterianas, que utilizan para proteger su colmena.
• 🔬 Desde la Segunda Guerra Mundial, las prácticas agrícolas han cambiado, eliminando plantas clave para las abejas, lo que ha contribuido a su declive.
• 🌍 La falta de diversidad floral y el uso de pesticidas están provocando la muerte masiva de abejas en todo el mundo, incluidas las especies silvestres.
• 🚛 Las abejas son transportadas en grandes cantidades para polinizar monocultivos, como los almendros, lo que las deja sin alimento cuando termina la floración.
• 🌼 Para salvar a las abejas, se pueden plantar flores amigables con ellas y evitar el uso de pesticidas, contribuyendo a la biodiversidad y su supervivencia.

Q & A

¿Por qué son importantes las abejas para la producción agrícola?

Las abejas son los polinizadores más importantes de frutas, verduras, flores y cultivos como la alfalfa, que alimentan a los animales de granja. Más de un tercio de la producción agrícola mundial depende de la polinización de las abejas.

¿Por qué las abejas polinizan las plantas?

Las abejas polinizan mientras recolectan polen y néctar para alimentarse, ya que obtienen su proteína del polen y los carbohidratos del néctar.

¿Qué ocurre en lugares donde no hay abejas para polinizar?

En lugares sin abejas, se paga a personas para que polinicen manualmente, transfiriendo polen de flor en flor con un pincel.

¿Qué papel juegan los abejorros en la polinización de los tomates?

Los abejorros son capaces de vibrar las flores de tomate, liberando el polen atrapado en los estambres. Este proceso, conocido como sonicación, mejora la polinización y la calidad de los tomates.

¿Cuántas especies de abejas existen en el mundo y cuántas son sociales?

Existen más de 20,000 especies de abejas en el mundo, pero solo unas pocas, como las abejas melíferas, han desarrollado comportamientos sociales.

¿Qué es el propóleo y cómo beneficia a las abejas?

El propóleo es una resina pegajosa que las abejas recogen de las plantas y usan para reforzar la arquitectura de la colmena. Tiene propiedades antibacterianas y ayuda a mantener la salud del enjambre.

¿Por qué las colonias de abejas comenzaron a morir masivamente en los últimos años?

Las abejas están muriendo por múltiples causas, como la pérdida de hábitats con flores, pesticidas, parásitos como el Varroa destructor y enfermedades.

¿Cómo afectan los monocultivos y pesticidas a las abejas?

Los monocultivos eliminan las plantas con flores que las abejas necesitan, y los pesticidas, especialmente los neonicotinoides, pueden desorientarlas o matarlas, afectando su capacidad para polinizar.

¿Qué es el Varroa destructor y cómo afecta a las abejas?

El Varroa destructor es un parásito que succiona la sangre de las abejas, debilitando su sistema inmunológico y transmitiendo virus mortales.

¿Qué podemos hacer para ayudar a las abejas?

Podemos plantar flores amigables para las abejas y evitar el uso de pesticidas en ellas. Esto mejorará su nutrición y las ayudará a defenderse de enfermedades y parásitos.

Outlines

00:00

🐝 La importancia de las abejas en la polinización

Este párrafo explica la vital importancia de las abejas como los polinizadores más relevantes para frutas, verduras, flores y cultivos como la alfalfa, que alimentan a los animales de granja. Se destaca que más de un tercio de la producción agrícola mundial depende de la polinización de abejas. Sin embargo, las abejas no polinizan por el beneficio humano, sino porque necesitan alimentarse, obteniendo proteínas del polen y carbohidratos del néctar. También se menciona cómo, en algunas partes del mundo, los humanos deben polinizar a mano en ausencia de abejas, con métodos como el 'vibrador de tomates'. Las abejas, especialmente los abejorros, son esenciales para liberar el polen de algunas plantas mediante vibración, mejorando la calidad de los tomates en los invernaderos al realizar este proceso de manera natural.

05:01

🌸 La diversidad de especies de abejas y su rol en la salud del colmenar

Se menciona que existen más de 20,000 especies de abejas en el mundo, la mayoría de las cuales viven de manera solitaria. A pesar de que las abejas melíferas son las más reconocidas, la mayoría de las especies no son tan sociales. La autora relata cómo se interesó en las abejas a los 18 años tras leer un libro que describía las sociedades complejas de estos insectos. Comenzó a trabajar con una familia de apicultores y quedó fascinada por cómo las abejas se organizan sin una autoridad central. En su laboratorio, estudian cómo las abejas mantienen la salud de la colonia, desde eliminar abejas enfermas hasta usar el propóleos, un desinfectante natural que recolectan de las plantas y que mantiene la colmena libre de gérmenes.

10:03

🚨 El declive de las abejas y los cambios en la agricultura desde la Segunda Guerra Mundial

Este párrafo trata sobre el alarmante declive de las colonias de abejas, que empezó a reportarse en masa hace 7 años, especialmente en EE.UU. La población de abejas ha disminuido desde la Segunda Guerra Mundial debido a cambios en las prácticas agrícolas, como el abandono de cultivos de cobertura y el uso de fertilizantes sintéticos y herbicidas, lo que ha destruido las plantas que las abejas necesitan para sobrevivir. También se menciona la enorme dependencia de cultivos como las almendras de la polinización de abejas, lo que crea paisajes sin flores que no pueden sustentar a las abejas una vez que termina la floración.

15:05

🧪 Los pesticidas y su impacto en las abejas

Este párrafo analiza cómo los pesticidas, introducidos después de la Segunda Guerra Mundial, han afectado a las abejas. Investigadores de la Universidad de Penn State encontraron que las abejas recolectan polen con residuos de al menos seis pesticidas diferentes. Se habla de los insecticidas neonicotinoides, que pueden intoxicar y desorientar a las abejas, impidiéndoles regresar a su colmena. Además, las abejas enfrentan parásitos como el varroa destructor, que debilita su sistema inmunológico y propaga virus, agravando la situación.

Keywords

💡Abejas

Las abejas son insectos polinizadores esenciales para la producción de alimentos, como frutas, verduras y cultivos. En el video, se destaca su importancia no solo para la polinización, sino también como organismos que dependen de las flores para su supervivencia, ya que obtienen proteínas del polen y carbohidratos del néctar.

💡Polinización

La polinización es el proceso mediante el cual las abejas transfieren el polen de una flor a otra, lo que facilita la reproducción de las plantas. El video enfatiza que más de un tercio de la producción mundial de cultivos depende de la polinización por abejas, lo que resalta su papel vital en la agricultura.

💡Monocultivos

Los monocultivos se refieren al cultivo de una sola especie vegetal en una gran extensión de tierra. En el video, se critica esta práctica agrícola porque reduce la diversidad de plantas con flores que las abejas necesitan para alimentarse, creando 'desiertos agrícolas' que afectan negativamente a las poblaciones de abejas.

💡Colmena

Una colmena es una comunidad de abejas que actúa como un superorganismo, compuesto por miles de individuos que colaboran para mantener la salud y supervivencia de la colonia. En el video se describe cómo las abejas toman decisiones colectivas sin una autoridad central, lo que refleja una compleja organización social.

💡Propolis

El propolis es una sustancia pegajosa que las abejas recolectan de ciertas plantas y que utilizan para desinfectar y fortalecer sus colmenas. El video menciona que el propolis tiene propiedades antibacterianas y se ha utilizado tanto por las abejas como por los humanos desde tiempos bíblicos para combatir enfermedades.

💡Neonicotinoides

Los neonicotinoides son un tipo de insecticida que afecta el sistema nervioso de los insectos, como las abejas. En el video, se menciona cómo estos químicos se absorben por las plantas y pueden afectar a las abejas, intoxicándolas o desorientándolas, lo que les impide regresar a sus colmenas.

💡Parásitos

Los parásitos, como el 'varroa destructor', son amenazas para las abejas porque debilitan su sistema inmunológico y propagan virus. El video describe cómo estos parásitos se alimentan de la sangre de las abejas, lo que contribuye a la mortalidad masiva de las colmenas.

💡Resinas

Las resinas son sustancias pegajosas que las abejas recolectan de ciertas plantas para crear propolis. El video explica cómo estas resinas tienen propiedades antimicrobianas y son esenciales para la salud colectiva de la colmena, ayudando a protegerla de bacterias y hongos.

💡Polinización manual

La polinización manual se refiere al proceso en el que los humanos transfieren polen de una flor a otra usando herramientas, como pinceles. En el video, se menciona que en algunas partes del mundo donde no hay suficientes abejas, los humanos realizan esta tarea, aunque es mucho menos eficiente que la polinización natural por las abejas.

💡Diversidad de flores

La diversidad de flores es crucial para la salud de las abejas, ya que les proporciona el alimento necesario durante toda la temporada de crecimiento. El video aboga por plantar flores nativas y variadas para ayudar a las abejas a obtener una nutrición adecuada, lo que a su vez mejora la polinización y la biodiversidad.

Highlights

Bees are crucial pollinators, responsible for pollinating one-third of the world's crop production.

Bees gather pollen and nectar for their own survival, and in doing so, they unintentionally pollinate crops and flowers.

In parts of the world without bees, humans must pollinate crops by hand using paintbrushes, which is inefficient.

Bumblebees are one of the few bees capable of sonicating flowers, releasing pollen by vibrating their flight muscles at a frequency similar to the musical note C.

Tomato growers now use bumblebee colonies in greenhouses to pollinate flowers naturally, resulting in higher-quality tomatoes.

There are over 20,000 species of bees, many of which are solitary and spend most of their lives hidden in the ground or in hollow stems.

Honeybees are often the charismatic representatives for the vast majority of other bee species due to their social nature and honey production.

Beekeepers consider honeybee colonies as superorganisms, where 40,000 to 50,000 individual bees work as a single unit with no central authority.

Bees have developed a social health care system, with some bees tasked with identifying and removing sick individuals from the colony to maintain overall health.

Propolis, a resin collected by bees, is a natural disinfectant that helps keep colonies healthy by killing bacteria, mold, and other germs.

Bee populations have been in decline since World War II due to changes in farming practices, including the use of synthetic fertilizers and herbicides.

Monocultures like almond orchards create food deserts for bees after pollination, requiring over 1.5 million bee hives to be transported across the country for almond pollination.

The rise of pesticides, including neonicotinoids, has led to bee deaths and disorientation, reducing their ability to find their way back to the hive.

Bees are also threatened by parasites like the Varroa destructor, a blood-sucking parasite that spreads viruses and weakens bees' immune systems.

A potential solution is to plant bee-friendly flowers that bloom throughout the growing season and avoid contaminating them with pesticides, helping bees thrive and supporting biodiversity.

Transcripts

[Applause]

this is our life with

bees and this is our life without

bees bees are the most important

pollinators of our fruits and vegetables

and flowers and crops like alfalfa hay

that feed our farm animals more than

onethird of the world's Crop Production

is dependent on Bee

pollination but the ironic thing is that

bees are not out there pollinating our

food in

they're out there because they need to

eat bees get all of the protein they

need in their diet from pollen and all

of the carbohydrates they need from

nectar they're flower feeders and as

they move from flower to flower

basically on a shopping trip at the

local floral Mart they end up providing

this valuable pollination

service in parts of the world where

there are no Bees or where they plant

varieties that are not attractive to

bees people are paid to do the business

of pollination by hand these people are

moving pollen from flower to flower with

a

paintbrush now this business of hand

pollination is actually not that

uncommon tomato Growers often pollinate

their tomato flowers with a handheld

vibrator now this is this one's the

Tomato

Tickler this is this is

because the pollen within a tomato flour

is held very securely within the male

part of the flour the anther and the

only way to releasee this pollen is to

vibrate it so Bumblebees are one of the

few kinds of bees in the world that are

able to hold on to the flower and

vibrate it and they do this by shaking

their flight muscles at a frequency

similar to the musical note C so they

vibrate the flower they sonicate it and

that releases the a pollen in this

deficient swoosh and the pollen gathers

all over the fuzzy bee's body and she

takes it home as food tomato Growers now

put bumblebee colonies inside the

greenhouse to pollinate the tomatoes

because they get much more efficient

pollination when it's done naturally and

they get better quality

tomatoes so there's other maybe more

personal reasons to care about bees

there's over 20,000 species of bees in

the world and they're absolutely

gorgeous these bees spend the majority

of their life cycle hidden in the ground

or within a hollow stem and very few of

these beautiful species have evolved

highly social behavior like honeybees

now honeybees tend to be the charismatic

representative for the other

19,900 plus species because there's

something about honeybees that draws

people into their

world humans have been drawn to

honeybees since early recorded history

mostly to harvest their honey which is

an amazing natural

sweetener I got drawn into the honeybee

World completely by a fluke I was 18

years old and bored and I picked up a

book at the library on bees and I spent

the night reading it I had never thought

about insects living in complex

societies it was like the best of

Science Fiction come true and even

stranger there were these people these

beekeepers that love their bees like

they were family and when I put down the

book I knew I had to see this for myself

so I went to work for a commercial

beekeeper a family that owned 2,000

hives of bees in New Mexico and I was

permanently

hooked honey bees can be considered a

super organism where the colony is the

organism and it's comprised of 40 to

50,000 individual be

organisms now this Society has no

Central Authority nobody's in charge so

how they come to Collective decisions

and how they allocate their tasks and

divide their labor how they communicate

where the flowers are all of their

Collective social behaviors are

mindblowing my personal favorite one

that I've studied for many years is

their system of Health Care so bees have

social health

care so in my lab we study how bees keep

themselves healthy for example we study

hygiene where some bees are able to

locate and weed out sick individuals

from The Nest from The Colony and keeps

the colony healthy and more recently

we've been studying resins that bees

collect from plants so bees fly to some

plants and they scrape these very very

sticky resins off the leaves and they

take them back to the nest where they

cement them into the nest architecture

where we call it

propolis we found that propolis is a

natural disinfectant it's a natural

antibiotic it kills off bacteria and

molds and other germs within the colony

and so it bolsters the colony health and

their social immunity humans have known

about the power of propolis since

Biblical times we've been harvesting

propolis out of bee

colonies uh for human medicine but we

didn't know how good it was for the bees

so honey bees have these remarkable

natural defenses that have kept them

healthy and thriving for over 50 million

years so 7 years ago when honeybee

colonies were reported to be dying in

Mass first in the United States it was

clear that there was something really

really wrong in our Collective

conscience in a really Primal way we

know we can't afford to lose

bees so what's going

on bees are dying from multiple and

interacting causes and I'll go through

each of these the bottom line is bees

dying reflects a flowerless landscape

and a dysfunctional food system

now we have the best data on honeybees

so I'll use them as an example in the

United States bees in fact have been in

Decline since World War II we have half

the number of managed hives in the

United States now compared to 1945 we're

down to about 2 million hives of bees we

think and the reason is after World War

II we changed our farming practices we

stopped planting cover crops we stopped

planting clo and alala which are natural

fertilizers that fix nitrogen in the

soil and instead we started using

synthetic fertilizers Clover and Alfalfa

are highly nutritious food plants for

bees and after World War II we started

using herbicides to kill off the weeds

in our Farms many of these weeds are

flowering plants that bees require for

their survival and we started growing

larger and larger crop mono

cultures now we talk about food deserts

places in our cities neighborhoods that

have no grocery stores the very Farms

that used to sustain bees are now

agricultural food deserts dominated by

one or two plant species like corn and

soybeans since World War II we have been

systematically eliminating many of the

flowering plants that bees need for

their

survival and these mono cultures extend

even to crops that are good for bees

like almonds 50 years ago beekeepers

would take a few colonies hives of bees

into the Almond Orchards for pollination

and also because the pollen in an Almond

Blossom is really high in protein it's

really good for

bees now the scale of almond monoculture

demands that most of our nation's bees

over 1.5 million hives of bees be

transported

Across the Nation to pollinate this one

crop and they're trucked in in semi

loads and they must be trucked out

because after bloom the Almond orchards

are a vast and flowerless

landscape bees have been dying over the

last 50 years and we're planting more

crops that need them there has been a

300% increase in Crop Production that

requires be pollination

and then there's

pesticides after World War II we started

using pesticides on a large scale and

this became necessary because of the

monocultures that put out a feast for

crop

pests recently researchers from Penn

State University have started looking at

the pesticide residue in the loads of

pollen that bees carry home as food and

they found that every batch of pollen

that a honey collects has at least six

detectable pesticides in it and this

includes every class of

insecticides

herbicides fungicides and even an inert

and unlabeled ingredients that are part

of the pesticide formulation that can be

more toxic than the active

ingredient this small bee is holding up

a large mirror how much is it going to

take to contamin at

humans one of these class of

insecticides the neonicotinoids is

making headlines around the world right

now you've probably heard about it this

is a new class of insecticides it moves

through the plant so that a crop pest a

leaf eating insect would take a bite of

the plant and get a lethal dose and

die if one of these neonic we call them

is applied in a high concentration such

as in this ground application enough of

the compound moves through the plant and

gets into the pollen and the nectar

where a bee can consume in this case a

high dose of this neurotoxin that makes

the bee twitch and

die in most agricultural settings on

most of our Farms it's only the seed

that's coated with the insecticide and

so a smaller concentration moves through

the plant and gets into the pollen enor

and if a bee consumes this lower dose

either nothing happens or the bee

becomes intoxicated and disoriented and

she may not find her way

home and on top of everything else bees

have their own set of diseases and

parasites Public Enemy Number One for

bees is this thing it's called veroa

Destructor it's aptly named it's this

big blood sucking parasite that

compromises the bees immune system and

circulates

viruses let me put this all together for

you I don't know what it feels like to a

bee to have a big blood sucking parasite

running around on it and I don't know

what it feels like to a be to have a

virus but I do know what it feels like

when I have a virus the flu and I know

how difficult it is for me to get to the

grocery store to get good

nutrition but what if I lived in a food

desert and what if I had to travel a

long distance to get to the grocery

store and I finally got my weak body out

there and I consumed in my food enough

of a pesticide neurotoxin that I

couldn't find my way home and this is

what we mean by multiple and interacting

causes of

death and it's not just our honey bees

all of our beautiful wild species of

bees are at risk including those tomato

pollinating bumblebees these bees are

providing backup for honeybees they're

providing the pollination Insurance

alongside our honey bees we need all of

our bees so what are are we going to do

what are we going to do about this big

bee bummer that we've

created it turns out it's hopeful it's

hopeful every one of you out there can

help bees in two very direct and easy

ways plant bee friendly

flowers and don't contaminate these

flowers this beef food with

pesticides so go online and search for

flowers that are native to your area and

plant them plant them in a pot on your

doorstep plant them in your front yard

in your lawns in your boulevards

campaign to have them planted in public

gardens Community spaces Meadows set

aside Farmland we need a beautiful

diversity of flowers that blooms over

the entire growing season from Spring to

Fall we need roadsides seated in flowers

for our bees but also for migrating

butterflies and birds and other

wildlife and we need to think carefully

about putting back in cover crops to

nourish our soil and nourish our

bees and we need to diversify our Farms

we need to plant flowering crop borders

and hedge RS to disrupt the agricultural

food desert and begin to correct the

dysfunctional food system that we've

created so maybe it's seems like a

really small countermeasure to a big

huge problem just go plant flowers but

when bees have access to good nutrition

we have access to good nutrition through

their pollination services and when bees

have access to good nutrition they're

better able to engage their own natural

defenses their health care that they've

relied on for millions of

years so the beauty of helping bees this

way for me is that

every one of us needs to behave a little

bit more like a bee Society an insect

Society where each of our individual

actions can contribute to a grand

solution an emergent property that's

much greater than the mere sum of our

individual

actions so let the small Act of planting

flowers and keeping them free of

pesticides be The Driver of large scale

change on behalf of the bees thank

[Applause]

you thank you just uh a quick question

the latest numbers on the on the die off

of bees is there any sign of things

bottoming out what's your hope SL

depression level on this yeah at least

in the United States an average of 30%

of all beehives are lost every winter

about 20 years ago we were at a 15% loss

so it's getting precarious that's not

30% a year that's 30 yes 30% a year but

then beekeepers are able to divide their

colonies and so they can maintain the

same number they can recuperate some of

their loss it we're kind of at a Tipping

Point we can't really afford to lose

that many more we need to be really

appreciative of all the beekeepers out

there thank you

[Music]