BBC Learnings · Section 7

Is there a future without bees

How are you, Neil? Oh, I've been as busy as a bee this week, Sam.

Level: C1 · 109 sentences

Transcript

  1. How are you, Neil?
  2. Oh, I've been as busy as a bee this week, Sam.
  3. Ah, don't you sound like the bee's knees!
  4. Alright, Sam. There's no need to get a bee in your bonnet!
  5. As you can hear, English is full of idioms involving bees.
  6. But the sad truth is that bee numbers
  7. are declining at an alarming rate
  8. and in some places disappearing altogether.
  9. And this has serious consequences for humans.
  10. Today, one third of the food we eat depends
  11. on insects to pollinate crops, fruit and vegetables.
  12. But bees are in trouble.
  13. In some European countries, up to half
  14. of all bee species are facing extinction,
  15. placing our food supply chain at risk.
  16. Bees are vital in pollinating hundreds of crops
  17. from apples and blackberries to cucumbers.
  18. In fact, almost all plants need insects
  19. to reproduce, which is my quiz question.
  20. Of the world's top 50 crops,
  21. how many rely on insect pollination?
  22. Is it a 35 out of 50, b 40 out of 50,
  23. or c 45 out of 50?
  24. I reckon those busy bees pollinate b 40 out
  25. of 50 of the most common crops.
  26. OK, Sam, we'll find out the answer later.
  27. Now, if you think back to your school biology lessons,
  28. you may remember that plants and flowers contain both
  29. male and female reproductive parts inside.
  30. But what exactly is going on when bees pollinate a plant?
  31. Here's Claire Bates from the BBC World Service programme People Fixing the World to remind us.
  32. What is pollination?
  33. All flowering plants need it to reproduce.
  34. Pollen is moved from the male part
  35. of a flower to the female part of a flower.
  36. Then fertilisation can happen causing fruit to grow.
  37. Some staple crops such as wheat,
  38. rice and corn are pollinated by the wind.
  39. However, many plants don't release their pollen easily
  40. and this is where insects, and especially bees, come in.
  41. As they collect nectar to eat,
  42. pollen sticks to them and they
  43. carry it from flower to flower.
  44. Pollination is the process in which pollen is taken
  45. from one plant to another so that it can reproduce.
  46. This is the important work done by bees and insects.
  47. Only after pollination can the next process occur.
  48. fertilisation, when the pollen carried from another plant fertilises
  49. a female ovule to make new seeds.
  50. Fertilisation occurs in all flowering plants,
  51. some of which, like wheat, potatoes and rice,
  52. are staple crops – food that is eaten
  53. in large amounts as part of a community's daily diet
  54. and provides a large fraction of their energy and nutrient needs.
  55. Fewer bees reduces pollination levels, meaning
  56. fewer new seeds are created and fewer crops grown.
  57. But it isn't just the decline
  58. in bee numbers causing a problem.
  59. Like us, bees need to rest,
  60. and this has led some to come up
  61. with creative new ways of supplementing bee pollination.
  62. One such innovator is Keren Mimran, co-founder of agrotech company IDET.
  63. Here she is explaining how dropping
  64. pollen from drones can pollinate crops,
  65. giving a helping hand to hardworking bees.
  66. How come our food security is so much dependent
  67. on an insect that we cannot really control?
  68. We can bring the bees to the orchard or to a field,
  69. but we cannot control their behavior.
  70. They do not come out of the hive
  71. when it's raining or when there's heavy wind.
  72. They work only during daytime.
  73. There must be a possibility of developing a mechanical solution to the pollination challenge.
  74. Keren Miran there,
  75. speaking on the BBC World Service programme People Fixing the World.
  76. Bees' behaviour can't be controlled.
  77. When it rains, they won't leave their hive.
  78. That's the structure where bees live.
  79. either built by people or made by the bees themselves.
  80. So, Keren's company has developed drones
  81. to drop pollen on her orchard –
  82. an area of land on which fruit trees are grown.
  83. The need for these high-tech solutions reflects the seriousness
  84. of the pollination problem for food security –
  85. everyone getting enough affordable and nutritious food
  86. to meet their daily dietary needs.
  87. I had no idea bees were so important, Neil.
  88. Maybe I underestimated how hard they work.
  89. Ah, you mean today's quiz question.
  90. I asked how many of the top 50 world crops rely on insect pollination.
  91. Ah, and I said B, 40 out
  92. of 50 of the top crops.
  93. And you were right.
  94. They certainly are the bee's knees
  95. when it comes to pollinating plants.
  96. So, in today's programme we've been hearing
  97. about the important role bees play in pollination.
  98. transferring pollen from plant to plant necessary for the next stage
  99. of fertilisation – producing new seeds and fruit inside a plant.
  100. Bees and insects play a vital role
  101. in growing the world's staple crops –
  102. food which, eaten in large amounts,
  103. makes up the majority of a community's daily diet and meets their nutrient needs.
  104. So, bee numbers are directly linked
  105. to the issue of food security.
  106. Everyone getting enough affordable, nutritious food to meet their dietary needs.
  107. Which explains why, when bees won't leave their home or hive,
  108. some people have started using drones
  109. to pollinate their orchards – land-growing fruit trees.