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About one third of all food is produced as a result of insect pollination, and the European honeybee, Apis mellifera, is responsible for about 80% of this. In Australia, farmers rely on large populations of feral European honeybees (managed bees gone wild).

The European honeybee is under threat The Asian honeybee, Apis cerana, poses a significant threat to these populations as it is a host to two types of predatory mites with the capacity to wipe out huge numbers of the European honeybee – the varroa mite (Varroa destructor) and the Asian bee mite (Tropilaelaps clareae).

One of the strategies to combat this problem is the introduction of alternative pollinators such as the Canadian leafcutter bee.

Libraries and tags

• Entomology Insects  bees   flowers