By Amelia Walters,Elyse Armanini

Copyright abc

Did you know that one in three food items you eat is dependent on the pollination of a bee?

Picture yourself walking down the fruit and veggie aisle at your local supermarket, looking at the apples, tomatoes, avocados, and cherries you will likely put in your trolley.

Even the lemons you pick from your own garden would not be available in abundance without the pollination of our bees.

So, why is it important now more than ever to help promote pollination in your own backyard?

Pollination importance

The deadly honey bee parasite, varroa mite, was detected in South Australia for the first time earlier this month.

It made the state the fifth jurisdiction to detect the pest after a discovery was made in the Riverland during a beehive consignment surveillance check.

If the mite reaches the feral bee population, also known as the European honey bee, 95 per cent of the species could be wiped out, the Department of Primary Industries and Regions South Australia (PIRSA) said.

About two-thirds of Australian agricultural production benefits from insect pollination, most of which is provided by European honey bees, according to AgriFutures Australia.

Beekeeper and honey producer in South Australia’s Riverland, Kerry Chambers, said residents with backyard beehives should be learning about their roles and responsibilities when monitoring their hives for varroa mite.

“[Backyard beekeepers] need to ensure they’re registered with PIRSA and that they’re getting all of the information they need to know about how to manage this,” she said.

While the threat to the feral honey bee remained high, Ms Chambers said there were ways to protect them.

She said pesticides were not the solution for residents who did not know how to deal with bee swarms.

“For anyone who sees a swarm, just contact your local beekeeper,” she said.

“[They] can do the checks and make sure the hive is not vulnerable to varroa mite … and safely turn the swarm into a managed hive.”

Swarming usually happens in spring as the weather warms up and flowers start to bloom.

Native plants help

Native bees cannot be hosts of varroa mite, according to the CSIRO.

And while not all native species pollinate agricultural crops, the presence of native wildflowers contributes to higher biodiversity.

Loxton-based Riverland Native Plants owner, Tim Field, said planting multiple native varieties in different sizes and providing accessible drinking water was “a good place to start” in boosting native bee populations.

“Emu bushes, or eremophilas, [are] a drought-tolerant, arid type of plant.

“They come in everything from ground covers through to trees.

“[There are] a couple of bluish-purple flowering varieties that we often see our native blue-banded bees all over.”

Mr Field said Australia was fortunate it had ideal conditions for growing native plants in drier conditions.

“Little halganias [blue mallee flower] and little gardenias are some of the small local things that you can find in the Mallee [which can help].”

Mr Field said he had seen an increase in people looking to attract and keep bees in their gardens in recent weeks.

“I think there’s a lot more concern these days about pest species in our environment,” he said.

“We’ve had fruit fly outbreaks and now we’ve got varroa mite.”

Backyard bee hotels

Pollination ecologist Kit Prendergast said it was important people played their part in preserving feral and native bees.

“There are over 1,700 described native bee species, but we estimate that there’s at least 500 undescribed,” Dr Prendergast said.

“The biodiversity of Australian native bees is incredible, and there is so much more still to be discovered.”

She said bee hotels were an easy way to “increase populations of cavity-nesting native bees” in people’s backyards.

“If they’re designed correctly, they can definitely attract [native bees] to your yard,” she said.

Preservation is key

Dr Prendergast said while the threat of varroa mite to the feral bee population was concerning, extinction was not likely.

“It has been around in other countries for quite a while, and we have not seen the extinction of honey bees globally,” she said.

She said Australians did need to worry about a decline in native bees.

“These are the bees that could be at risk of extinction,” she said.