Importance of Bees

Serena Cuoghi
Title of Professor of Biology

The pollination of thousands of plant species around the world depends directly on the presence of bees. Without them, most of the crops developed by humanity would not be possible. As a consequence, hunger would reign more strongly among us, but in turn the natural populations of plants would decrease, breaking the ecological balance. of nature and making our planet an almost desert place, revealing its importance for the development of plant life such as the we know.

The most prosperous and abundant group in the animal kingdom is that made up of insects and among them we find such fascinating beings in behavior and organization, as essential for the survival of life on the entire planet, these incredible creatures are known to all like bees.

Popularized throughout the world for their rich honey, bees are actually the silent generators of many other benefits for humanity, making them truly worthy of a special recognition above any other group of insects, since the importance of bees covers areas ranging from ecological balance to industry pharmaceutical.

A hive for the strength of all

The bee hive, also known as a honeycomb, is much more than a structure made by them for their protection. This honorable house turns out to be the source of a very varied selection of substances that – luckily for us – have high nutritional values ​​and medicinal properties.

In the hives we not only find honey composed of sugars, but also the industrious bees are capable of processing lipids in the form of wax, another very useful product for humans, which has made it possible for centuries to make candles, ointments and ointments. In the same way and looking a little deeper, in the beehive we find a compound with extraordinary properties which is called propolis.

Being so complex, closed and populated the hive, in addition to being full of carbohydrates that fungi and bacteria like so much, it was not surprising that its peculiar inhabitants developed a way to keep their home clean, which is why they were able to create propolis for medicinal purposes for themselves, and this powerful product has antibiotic and antifungal properties which are being studied and used by modern medicine, highlighting the importance of bees, even for the treatment of complex diseases.

The nutrients produced by the bees have such an impact on the functioning of the metabolism, that in the case of themselves It directly influences the development of its larvae so that they become adult workers or queens, depending on the food they eat. receive.

Curiosity about this phenomenon became the main engine for the development of ever deeper investigations, not only on the chemical composition itself and its properties for bees, but towards the search for potential benefits that they can also provide to humans, finding new properties and uses with each study, for which reason The importance of bees and the products they make for their own sustenance will continue to stand out for much longer among the most relevant studies for nutrition and health. pharmaceutical.

Benefits and utilities of honey

The main substance for which bees became famous is honey, and since the time of the ancient Egyptians, more than 12,000 years ago, honey was considered a valuable treasure, finding vessels full of this precious viscous liquid on the sides of the sarcophagi of the pharaohs, as for example in the case of Tutankhamun. This fact in itself is not particularly surprising, since what is truly extraordinary is that even after thousands of years, the honey found was in perfect condition. state, being for this reason that honey has been categorized as the food with the longest validity, a faculty that the ancient Egyptians presumably knew about, adopting it as mystical symbol of eternal life and leaving us a clear message throughout the centuries about the importance of bees, not only for them, but for all the rest of the humanity.

It is so that until today the rich honey has accompanied us on the menu of all cultures and corners of the world, who discovered it and how it spread to the rest of humanity its use and properties, perhaps they are mysteries that we can never answer, however, something that is clear is that honey at home cannot be lack. From sweetening countless exquisite desserts, to being the perfect base for the preparation of any home remedy to relieve discomfort, to being the perfect complement for pancakes and even as one of the major substances used in the world of cosmetic chemistry, honey reminds us daily of the importance of bees for our own subsistence.

References

Invernizzi, C., Antúnez, K., Campa, J. P., Harriet, J., Mendoza, Y., Santos, E., & Zunino, P. (2011). Health situation of honey bees in Uruguay. Veterinary Medicine (Montevideo), 47(181), 15-27.

Martin-Culma, N. Y., & Arenas-Suárez, N. AND. (2018). Collateral damage to bees from exposure to agricultural pesticides. Lattice, 14(1), 232-240.

Ospina, M., Dressler, R. L., & Ramírez, S. (2002). Euglossine bees (Hymenoptera: Apidae) from the Neotropical Region: List of species with notes on their biology. Colombian Biota, 3(1), 7-118.

Vit, P. (2004). Hive products collected and processed by bees: Honey, pollen and propolis. Magazine of the National Institute of Hygiene Rafael Rangel, 35(2), 32-39.