BBC LEARNING ENGLISH

6 Minute English
A future without bees
This is not a word-for-word transcript

Neil
Hello. This is 6 Minute English from BBC Learning English. I’m Neil.

Sam
And I’m Sam. How are you, Neil?

Neil
I’ve been as busy as a bee this week, Sam.

Sam
Oh, don’t you sound like the bee’s knees!

Neil
All right, Sam, there’s no need to get a bee in your bonnet!

Sam
As you can hear, English is full of idioms involving bees.

Neil
But the sad truth is that bee numbers are declining at an alarming rate and in
some places disappearing altogether.

Sam
And this has serious consequences for humans.

Neil
Today, one third of the food we eat depends on insects to pollinate crops, fruit
and vegetables.

Sam
But bees are in trouble. In some European countries up to half of all bee species
are facing extinction, placing our food supply chain at risk.

6 Minute English ©British Broadcasting Corporation 2020

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Neil
Bees are vital in pollinating hundreds of crops, from apples and blackberries to
cucumbers. In fact, almost all plants need insects to reproduce – which is my quiz
question – of the world’s top 50 crops, how many rely on insect pollination? Is it:
a) 35 out of 50?,
b) 40 out of 50? or
c) 45 out of 50?

Sam
I reckon those busy bees pollinate b) 40 out of 50 of the most common crops.

Neil
OK, Sam, we’ll find out the answer later. Now, if you think back to your school
biology lessons, you may remember that plants and flowers contain both male
and female reproductive parts inside.

Sam
But what exactly is going on when bees pollinate a plant? Here’s Claire Bates
from BBC World Service programme People Fixing the World to remind us:

Claire Bates
What is pollination? All flowering plants need it to reproduce. Pollen is moved
from the male part of a flower to the female part of a flower, then fertilisation
can happen causing fruit to grow. Some staple crops such as wheat, rice and corn
are pollinated by the wind however many plants don’t release their pollen easily
and this is where insects, and especially bees, come in. As they collect nectar to
eat, pollen sticks to them and they carry it from flower to flower.

Neil
Pollination is the process in which pollen is taken from one plant to another so
that it can reproduce. This is the important work done by bees and insects.

Sam
Only after pollination can the next process occur – fertilisation - when the
pollen carried from another plant fertilises a female ovule to make new seeds.

Neil
Fertilisation occurs in all flowering plants, some of which like wheat, potatoes
and rice are staple crops - food that is eaten in large amounts as part of a
community’s daily diet and provides a large fraction of their energy and nutrient
needs.

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Sam
Fewer bees reduces pollination levels, meaning fewer new seeds are created and
fewer crops grown.

Neil
But it isn’t just the decline in bee numbers causing a problem. Like us, bees need
to rest and this has led some to come up with creative new ways of
supplementing bee pollination.

Sam
One such innovator is Keren Mimran, co-founder of agro-tech company, Edete.
Here she is, explaining how dropping pollen from drones can pollinate crops,
giving a helping hand to hard-working bees.

Keren Mimran
How come our food security is so much dependent on an insect that we cannot
really control? We can bring the bees to the orchard or to a field but we cannot
control their behaviour. They do not come out of the hive when it’s raining or
when there’s heavy wind, they work only during daytime. There must be a
possibility of developing a mechanical solution to the pollination challenge.

Neil
Keren Mimran speaking on the BBC World Service programme People Fixing The
World. Bees’ behaviour can’t be controlled - when it rains they won’t leave their
hive – the structure where bees live, either built by people or made by the bees
themselves.

Sam
So Keren’s company has developed drones to drop pollen on her orchard – an
area of land on which fruit trees are grown.

Neil
The need for these high-tech solutions reflects the seriousness of the pollination
problem for food security - everyone getting enough affordable and nutritious
food to meet their daily dietary needs.

Sam
I had no idea bees were so important, Neil. Maybe I underestimated how hard
they work.

Neil
Ah, you mean today’s quiz question. I asked you how many of the top 50 world
crops rely on insect pollination.

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Sam
And I said b) 40 out of 50 of the top crops.

Neil
And you are right! They certainly are the bee’s knees when it comes to
pollinating plants!

Sam
So in today’s programme we’ve been hearing about the important role bees play
in pollination – transferring pollen from plant to plant, necessary for the next
stage of fertilisation – producing new seeds and fruit inside a plant.

Neil
Bees and insects play a vital role in growing the world’s staple crops -
food which, eaten in large amounts, makes up the majority of a community’s
daily diet and meets their nutrient needs.

Sam
So bee numbers are directly linked to the issue of food security - everyone
getting enough affordable, nutritious food to meet their dietary needs.

Neil
Which explains why, when bees won’t leave their home - or hive – some people
have started using drones to pollinate their orchards – land growing fruit trees.

Sam
And that’s it for this edition of 6 Minute English. Bye for now!

Neil
Goodbye!

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VOCABULARY

pollination
process in which pollen is taken from one plant or part of a plant to another so
that new plant seeds can be produced

fertilisation
plant reproduction in which pollen from one plant travels to the ovary of another
and fertilises a female ovule to make new seeds and fruit

staple crops
food, like rice or wheat, which is eaten in large amounts as part of a community’s
daily diet and provides a large fraction of their energy and nutrient needs

orchard
area of land on which fruit trees are grown

hive
structure where bees live, either built by people or made by the bees themselves

food security
everyone having reliable access to a sufficient quantity of affordable, nutritious
food that meets their dietary needs

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