this post was submitted on 06 Aug 2025
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Science Memes

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[–] 9point6@lemmy.world 34 points 2 months ago (2 children)

..... Don't we need more bees?

[–] Luci@lemmy.ca 34 points 2 months ago (2 children)

Some of us have allergies to specific pollinators. I can’t have some honey without a scratchy throat.

Love bees! Can’t have what they make :((

[–] CosmicTurtle0@lemmy.dbzer0.com 18 points 2 months ago (2 children)

You might have a superpower.

A LOT of honey in grocery stores are actually syrup but due to capitalism, there really is no real way to tell for sure.

If you are allergic, but won't die, from having honey, you might be able to make a guide for those of us that actually want real honey but have trouble trusting asshole companies.

[–] Luci@lemmy.ca 17 points 2 months ago (1 children)
[–] meta4@retrolemmy.com 1 points 2 months ago

Love the brevity.

[–] mEEGal@lemmy.world 3 points 2 months ago

I mean... capitalism is the source of many problems, but probably not why we can't tell the difference between honey and counterfeit syrup sold as such

Chemistry is to blame here

[–] atomicbocks@sh.itjust.works 9 points 2 months ago (1 children)

The allergens in honey are from where the honey was made. If you haven’t already you might try locally sourced honey as it will have the allergens that are already in the air where you live.

[–] Luci@lemmy.ca 10 points 2 months ago

I’m allergic to basically everything outside so I’m kinda boned.

[–] Droggelbecher@lemmy.world 23 points 2 months ago (3 children)

We need more native pollinators, and honey bees are very good at outcompeting them once they're introduced, threatening biodiversity and thus ecosystems.

[–] 9point6@lemmy.world 10 points 2 months ago (2 children)

Ah I'm in the UK where they are native pollinators

[–] Droggelbecher@lemmy.world 9 points 2 months ago (1 children)

That doesn't mean that introducing them in unnatural numbers isn't harmful to biodiversity and other native pollinators

[–] 9point6@lemmy.world 0 points 2 months ago (2 children)

That's not what we're talking about though, we have a declining bee population problem that needs intervention to save

[–] Droggelbecher@lemmy.world 16 points 2 months ago (1 children)

That was exactly what I was talking about. Honey bees are just one very specific type of bees, and they're replacing the other ones.

[–] LwL@lemmy.world 1 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

Yes and no. Yes, they compete with the other ones and due to domestication have very high population, but also the same factors endangering honey bees (insecticides, monocultures) also endanger other bee species. So while "give the honey bees more sugar water so they survive" would be horrible foe ecological diversity, actually adressing the underlying factors would largely also benefit other species.

I wouldn't even be surprised if to some degree that still applied to places where they're invasive tbh

[–] FundMECFSResearch@lemmy.cafe 13 points 2 months ago

Yes. Every type of bee except honeybees is declining. In part because humans are constantly favouring honeybees.

[–] Swedneck@discuss.tchncs.de 8 points 2 months ago

still not healthy for them to be 85% of what's pollinating crops, though

[–] TheLeadenSea@sh.itjust.works 4 points 2 months ago (2 children)

Prime wherever you are that's not the UK defaultism to assume that honeybees are not native pollinators.

[–] Droggelbecher@lemmy.world 12 points 2 months ago

Breeding a native species in unnatural numbers is also a way of that species outcompeting other native species and harming biodiversity

[–] Cethin@lemmy.zip 2 points 2 months ago

You can narrow it down to just the Americas. The European honey bee (and subspecies) are native all across Europe, Asia, and Africa I believe.

[–] Tar_alcaran@sh.itjust.works 3 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Here in Europe, the European Honeybee is, not surprisingly, completely native.

[–] Droggelbecher@lemmy.world 11 points 2 months ago (1 children)

That doesn't mean that introducing them in unnaturally large numbers isn't harmful to biodiversity

[–] Tar_alcaran@sh.itjust.works 8 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Oh yeah, them artificially displacing solitary bees is still bad

[–] Droggelbecher@lemmy.world 7 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Agreed! But I don't really get what point you were trying to make in the first comment then?

[–] Tar_alcaran@sh.itjust.works 3 points 2 months ago

That the problem isn't "native vs invasive". It's "biodiversity vs monoculture".