BEES

Last crawled date: 3 years ago

There are 1,000 different species of wild bees in France and 20,000 worldwide. According to scientists, bees appeared on Earth 100 to 150 million years before humans. They allowed the evolution of flowering plants and guaranteed their survival. Because insects, and mainly bees, contribute to the pollination of 80% of species of flowering plants and cultivated plants. 'Pollination is an essential element in the sexual reproduction of plants, explains Bernard Vaissière, research fellow in the bee and environment unit at INRA in Avignon. Plants produce pollen which contains male gametes, and this pollen 'is not mobile. It must therefore be transferred to the receiving part of the female apparatus of each plant. For this, there is gravity, wind, or insects, and therefore bees'.