Bees: pollination and predators

Barb D

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jul 2, 2008
Messages
619
Reaction score
91
Location
Maryland
Website
bqdell.blogspot.com
Let's say you have a planet which has water and air, but no plants or animals. Or perhaps you have a biosphere with artificially maintained air and water. You import top soil and seeds/plants for crops. You need to pollinate the crops, so you import honey bees. Side benefit: you also get honey.

Will the bees overpopulate without any other animals, insects or birds in the ecosystem? Or will they self-regulate?

(You may add chickens into the eco-system for the eggs, too, but that hasn't been decided yet.)
 

hammerklavier

It was a dark and stormy night
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Feb 7, 2008
Messages
711
Reaction score
85
Location
NC
They self regulate to a degree (kicking out the drones when times get tough, for instance), but with no habitat for them to live in they would be dependent on human run bee houses (they might find places that surprise you, such as in abandonded machinery). As such, I think what you would have is a human-managed population.