BEES IN A FOREST FIRE

Fire does not discriminate. It destroys every living organism in its path, including Bees, which are already under severe threat due to the degradation of natural habitats and the pressure on the environment caused by man.

What do Bees do if a fire approaches them? Do they run away to escape, like many other animals? Unfortunately not, because the queen, laden with many eggs, is too heavy to fly. Without a queen, a bee colony is doomed. Therefore, if the Bees absconded without their queen, they would die. Also, their babies are inside the wax cells, unable to move, and need the constant care of Bees to survive. The Bees cannot carry them and would not abandon them helpless. The only option for the Bees is to stay inside their nest, protecting the queen and their babies.

Bees' strategy in a developing forest fire is well known: they stock up on a large amount of honey from the combs so that they have the energy to do intensive ventilation, in a team effort to prevent smoke suffocation, and to protect the queen and their babies. At the same time, until the last moment, they ride out the fire, hoping it will not reach their home. If, despite all this, the fire reaches them, they are burned alive in their home, all together.

Of course, the day after the fire is harsh for any colonies that may have survived. Ash negatively affects the flying ability of Bees, and their ability to breathe, smell and feed. Their survival is further compromised by a lack of food due to burnt vegetation, the poisoning of larvae from ash, as well as other factors such as high temperatures and drought. Having also suffered some losses in population, a surviving colony, weakened and wounded, struggles for survival, with an uncertain future.

There is, however, a glimmer of hope in all this devastation. After the fire, an exciting regeneration takes place in the ravaged land: the increase in ph, due to the ash, rewards the newly established plants with more nutrients, which, with the help of the unobstructed sunlight on the now open (deforested) habitat, burst forth in a sea of flowers, grasses and shrubs. Bees and other insects benefit. Because of this, Bee diversity and abundance fully recovers in the span of a few years. Rebounded Bee populations help habitats return to functional ecosystems, trumpeting a new cycle of life in the once charred landscape.