Drink Coffee? Thank a Bee: Honeybee Pollination Research Roundup

If you eat fruit, drink coffee, or love flowers, you need to thank a bee today. In this springy time of pollen-gathering, here's a little roundup of articles on the topic of honeybee pollination.

Had Your Morning Coffee? Thank a Killer Bee; Smithsonian Scientist Shows Pollination by Exotic Honeybees Increases Coffee Crop Yield by More Than 50 Percent Who knew? According to the researcher, David W. Roubik, "the work of two or three dozen wild African honey bees is in every cup of coffee that you drink."

Primitive Plants Use Heat and Odor to Woo Pollinating Insects. Sex sells.

Wild Bees Making Honeybees Better Pollinators. I bet you'll never guess why.

Oregon Bee Loves Berries, May Help Fill Gap Caused by Colony Collapse Disorder of European Bees. Native bees to the rescue? We hardly deserve it.

See also my recent post on native bees (a.k.a. "alternative pollinators").

And buzz on over to Bee Culture to download a Cornell University study entitled The Value of Honeybees as Pollinators of U.S. Crops in 2000 (on the lower right-hand corner of the Home Page, look for the article under "Free Reprints").