Honey bees like the one featured in today’s picture are a vital part of American agriculture. Known as “nature’s tiny work horses,” honey bees are responsible for pollinating about one-third of the food we eat. For example, high-value crops such as almonds, blueberries, cherries, apples, and broccoli depend almost entirely on honey bees to produce fruit and seeds.
Although America’s honeybee population is vital, it is also becoming increasingly VULNERABLE or susceptible to harm from a lack of genetic diversity. It turns out that honey bees are not native to North America. Only a handful of the subspecies found in Europe, Africa, and Asia were imported into the United States Recent research found that roughly 94 percent of America’s managed bees are descended from a single evolutionary lineage.
American farmers and SAT test writers are concerned about the PAUCITY or shortage of genetic diversity among American honey bees. I hope a recent vocabulary in context question featuring honey bees will raise student awareness about this problem while also illustrating VULNERABLE and PAUCITY!
VULNERABLE – open to danger
PAUCITY – a shortage or scarcity of something; a dearth