A report on beekeeping in national parks and reserves, Western Australia
1988
Manning, R.J.G. (Western Australian Dept. of Agriculture, Perth. Apiculture Section)
Introduced honeybees do take a significant amount of nectar from native flora in Western Australia. Whether or not this has had an impact on native animals is still very much open to debate and two distinct sides to the subject have emerged. Both basically deal with the nectar resource. The first scenario, where honeybees have had an effect, could have resulted through increased honey production from the late 1940s. Any effects on nectivorous animal populations would have occurred in the proceeding years. No research past and present has shown that this has actually occurred. The second scenario, on the whole, has many research articles supporting the argument that there is little or no impact of honeybees upon native fauna both in Australia and overseas. The other "claimed" effects are of minor consequence. As long as honeybees are present in Western Australia all of these effects which have been observed will occur regardless of excluding bee hives from Parks and Reserves. Again, more research in these areas is required and policies could be adjusted as the data become available.
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