Recently, the honey bee has gotten quite the glow-up. It is the poster child of pollinators, a constant reminder that more than 70 per cent of the world’s food crop yield depends on the work of pollinating insects.
The Maltese honey bee is responsible for most food crops here in Malta. In fact, beekeeping here has such a long tradition that even its name is thought to be a derivative of the Greek word for honey.
However, the fuzzy nectar collectors are far from the only pollinators out there and many of them are in sore need of a honey-bee-like image upgrade.
One of the most universally-hated insects is the wasp. It is easy to see why ‒ most species of wasps are predatory and will feast on human food just as happily as on other insects. They are also more likely than bees to use their stingers against anyone who tries to stop them from gathering food for their colonies. While they are notoriously bothersome, they actually do a massive job killing pests. In the UK alone, wasps are estimated to hunt 14 million kilograms of insects per year. But not all of them are hunters.
Wasps are increasingly recognised for being pollinators. While they are not as effective at transporting pollen as their fuzzy relatives, they are crucial to the survival of many plant species. Over 1,000 species of figs can only be pollinated by their own subspecies of fig wasp, a small, solitary insect that spends most of its lifespan inside the fig fruit.
Another surprising contestant in the world of pollinators is not an insect at all. Around 500 species of plants ‒ like mangoes, bananas and agave plants ‒ are pollinated by bats.
And while many wild bees have no hives that can be harvested for honey, they are hugely beneficial to food crops. It has even been shown that crops have a higher yield when wild flowers that attract native insects are grown next to them.
Sadly, many native pollinators are endangered. Due to loss of habitat, diseases spread through invasive and imported insect species, and the destruction of local flora for agricultural purposes have led to a decline in wild pollinators. But even in urban areas, there is a lot that you can do to help Malta’s native pollinators, from planting certain flowers to building hiding spaces for solitary insects.
For more about Malta’s nature find Science in the City, Malta’s live digital activities between the 27–29 Nov here: scienceinthecity.org.mt/live-virtual-festival
Sound bites
• For the first time ever, the Science in the City festival, Malta’s science and arts activity was launched as a purely digital festival due to the coronovirus pandemic. Festival visitors are able to experience 10 pre-festival events running until November 26, an Explore the Arches from November 25 and the live virtual festival from November 27 to 29, with over 30 activities.
scienceinthecity.org.mt/pre-festival-events/
• Physicist Paul Gato has been through a lot. His neighbours reported loud bangs and strange sounds coming from his flat. When police investigated, Paul had disappeared. In his diary, Gato wrote that the most dangerous thing in the world was to be ‘trapped between mirrors’. Gato had lost his mind but perhaps found something else. Dare you take part in his final experiment? If so, join the event called The Mirror Trap on November 17.
For more science news, listen to Radio Mocha on Radju Malta and www.fb.com/RadioMochaMalta/
Did you know?
• In the 17th century, a Russian nobleman was the first person to receive a bone transplant, replacing part of his skull with a bone fragment from a dog. After the successful surgery, the patient was then excommunicated by the church for not being fully human.
• Throughout 1978 to 1991, tens of thousands of chicken heads loaded with a rabies vaccine were dropped over Switzerland, to lower the prevalence of the disease in wild foxes.
For more trivia, visit www.um.edu.mt/think.