With these local flowers, you help prevent the loss of bees in Yucatan

Every May 20, World Bee Day is celebrated. These insects face various threats in Yucatan such as climate change and the indiscriminate use of agrochemicals, warned the professor of the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine and Zootechnics (FMVZ) of the UNAM, Ricardo Anguiano Báez.

“Although in Mexico we have not had a collapse, there are strong population losses of these insects, especially due to the use of pesticides in the Yucatan Peninsula, Jalisco, and in the Comarca Lagunera in Coahuila,” said the specialist.

Efforts have been made to try to learn the causes and to protect the bees. Anguiano Baez said.

“Perhaps the coordination between authorities, beekeepers and the academic community has failed us, to be able to work together and guide a national beekeeping policy”, recognized the specialist.

What to do to protect bees in Yucatan?
“We can favor the vegetation of our environment. There are flowers that are very universal for bees, such as lavender, but we need to analyze in our regions which flowers are typical of the region and try to have them in our gardens so that native bees have resources,” he asserted.

Another viable proposal is the search for species of melliferous plants with nectar quality that is appropriate to sustain bee populations during the dry, rainy, and winter phases.

What flowers do bees in Yucatan like?
Bees approach melliferous flowers, those that are characterized by being predominantly yellow and bluish in color, capable of reflecting UV light through “markers” called “nectar guides”, which are only visible to bees.

In addition to their characteristic sweet aromas, these flowers have petals or structures that function as a “landing surface” and offer as reward nectar more concentrated in sugar, pollen, or some resins and oils.

The Yucatan Peninsula is the area of ​​native flowers for bees such as the Xtabentún flower (Turbina corymbosa), Tajonal flower (Viguiera dentata), ja’abin (Piscidia piscipula), ts’its’ilche (Gymnopodium floribundum), chakah (Bursera simaruba ) and tzalam (Lysiloma bahamensis), which are the flowers preferred by bees for the production of honey in their hives.

The Yucatan Times
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