List of Headings
- i Parallels between bee and human activities
- ii An evolutionary turning point
- iii A lack of total co-operation
- iv The preservation of individual plant species
- v The commercial value of bees
- vi The structure of flowering plants
- vii The pursuit of self-interest
- viii The need for further research
Questions 1-6
Drag a heading into each box.
1. The stage was thus set for a succession of ever-closer mutual adaptations of bees and flowering plants.
2. Around one third of our food is directly or indirectly dependent on the pollinating services of bees. On a global basis, the annual value of agricultural crops dependent on the pollination services of bees is estimated at 拢1,000 million (US$1,590 million).
3. Although flowers need bees and vice versa, it pays each partner to minimise its costs and maximise its profits.
4. This sounds remarkably like the ideas of the 18th-century economist Adam Smith. In his book, The Wealth of Nations, Smith postulated that in human society the competitive interactions of different 'economic units' eventually resulted in a balanced, or 'harmonious' society.
5. These trees are pollinated by large, fast-flying bees. There is evidence that certain types of bee learn the distribution of these scattered trees and forage regularly along the same routes. The bees are therefore acting as long-distance pollinators.
6. We need to know much more about bees and their relationships with plants before this question can be answered.