"The #Bee Is Declared The Most #Important Living Being On The #Planet" Actually #no. I actually think this is a terrible piece of science communication. Firstly, what is "the bee"? There are 20,000 or so species of bees in the world. https://science-andinfo.blogspot.com/2019/07/the-bee-is-declared-most-important.html?m=1&fbclid=IwAR3g3i4IJN2eUBkwG1vxmXeWZ2LdAA8_rDC_aMaqc2BjZZbqQINaSsc_JVs

Some a major #pollinators, others are #nectar and #pollen thieves. And "bees are not carriers of #pathogens"? They can harbour lots of pathogens, just probably not ones that are zoonotic (transfer to humans), but then again, lots of people are highly #allergic to pollen.

#Bees also aren't the only #pollinators (although they often are the main pollinators, but there are other exclusive #mutualisms between #plants with gnats , #wasps, #lepidoptera, #beetles, #birds, even #mammals and #reptiles!). And only a very small subset of bees produce #honey

That #quote by #AlbertEinstein actually isn't true - he never said that. And it's also not true that humans would all die out in 4yrs if bees went #extinct.

There'd still be #food, it would just be more #expensive, and #yields would drastically decrease, but there are #plants that are #pollinated by #wind, or are selfing, or can be pollinated by other #animals.

The #mobile #telephony idea is weak at best, and wouldn't cause bee major #bee #declines. The greatest reason for declines isn't fumigation of #crops - it's #habitatloss. Lots of bees never even go in or near crop fields yet are declining.

Overall though, how 'important' a living being on the planet is shouldn't be judged in terms of what they can do for us. That's totally #anthropocentic. I think you'd agree your #worth and #value isn't dependent on what you can do to serve or provide me.

All living #species have worth as being an amazing product of #evolution. #bees #AcademicChatter #scicomm #speciesism #savethebees