By Makenna McCorvey
Staff Writer
Starting in September we have seen catastrophic fires scorching 7.3 million hectares of land across Australia. 100,00 million citizens have been evacuated from their homes, 23 people have been killed, dozens of citizens are missing, and an estimated ⅓ of the Koala population has been killed. We have seen extreme biological destruction, and one vital creature to succession is bees. According to friendsoftheearth.uk , “Bees are perfectly adapted to pollinate, helping plants grow, breed and produce food. They do so by transferring pollen between flowering plants and so keep the cycle of life turning.” Bees are vital to a healthy ecosystem, especially when the ecosystem is in such chaos. So, how are the fires even affecting the bees? Smoke activates a defense mechanism in bees that causes them to engorge themselves with honey and swarm the hive. This means they lost the hive and are likely to die. If they don’t do this the hive will fill with smoke and suffocate the remaining bees. Not too much research has been done on the loss of bees due to the bushfire, but with the size of those fires, we can only assume many bees have been lost. I suspect this will affect succession immensely. Only time will tell. For now, we can only support the fire extinguishing and animal rescue efforts. While we do so, we can help our own communities bee population. Ways to do this is, building habitats, planting bee-friendly plants, making water sources (like a birdbath), and ditch the pesticides (buy locally sourced organic food). Visthttps://www.redcross.org.au/ for more information.
