European Honey Bee Collecting Pollen from Capeweed in South Australia Patrick Prior
The presence of the Western or European Honey Bee (Apis mellifera) is a joy to farmers, but a nuisance to the native Australian bees. While these honey bees are fantastic for harvesting honey and indiscriminately pollinating any flower they encounter, these bees wake up from the colder months earlier than many species of the native Australian bees and strip the pollen from the flowers before the natives wake up. Whether this honey bee is or was once part of a hive that was kept by a beekeeper, or is a part of South Australia's feral population, its bright orange pollen basket (Corbicula) show the success of this individual.
Despite its beauty and associated positivity that we have created, these European Honey Bees could be devastating for Australia's native bee population alongside with habitat loss. The pollination that any bee provides is irrefutably vital to the wider ecosystem, even if that pollination is just of a Capeweed flower or Cape Dandelion (Arctotheca calendula).



