Honey bees are bullying other bees

Honeybees are aggressively pushing wild pollinators away from flowers, with scientists documenting how they chase off rivals and dominate valuable food sources. New research warns that rising temperatures and increasing honeybee populations could intensify this competition, threatening wild bees and other important pollinators. Honey bees are bullying other bees, scientists discover.

New research has documented how honey bees chase, displace, and intimidate rival insects, providing the first detailed evidence of how extensively they interfere with other species’ access to food. The study, conducted by researchers at Anglia Ruskin University (ARU) and published in Ecological Entomology, followed pollinator activity over two years at five locations in and around Cambridge, England. Each site was situated within 300 meters of an established honey bee colony.

Researchers observed insects visiting bramble ( Rubus fruticosus) and ivy ( Hedera helix), two flowering plants that provide important supplies of nectar and pollen. Both attract large numbers of insects during their flowering periods, making them useful places to investigate competition for food. Honey Bees Dominate the Competition for Flowers To examine how different pollinators interact, the team divided flower visitors into five groups: honey bees, bumble bees, solitary bees, hoverflies, and an ‘other’ category containing butterflies, beetles, and wasps.