Foreign, feral honeybees are crowding out native bee species in southern California

Los Angeles Times ^ | July 8, 2025 10:46 AM PT | Niamh Ordner

[E. Pluribus Unum]

LOS ANGELES — You’ve probably heard the phrase: “Save the bees.” But new research suggests we may need to be more specific about which bees we’re saving.

Europeans introduced western honeybees (Apis mellifera L.) to the Americas in the early 1600s. They play an essential role in pollinating crops and flowering plants, and are often hailed as the “unsung heroes of our planet.” They are both omnivorous and omnipresent: Researchers have found that western honeybees visit more plant species than any other species of pollinator and are the most common visitor to plants in non-managed habitats worldwide, accounting for nearly 13% of all floral visitors.

The problem is that this dominance may be coming at the cost of some native pollinators.

That’s what caught the attention of Joshua Kohn, a former biology professor at UC San Diego. “Pollination biologists in general in North America tend to ignore western honeybees because they’re not native,” he said. “But when I saw just how abundant they were, I thought to myself: They’re not just a nuisance, they’re the story.”

In San Diego County — a global bee biodiversity hotspot — feral honeybee populations have quietly exploded in number since the late 1960s. Many of these bees trace their ancestry to a hybrid of European and African subspecies, the latter known for traits that boost survival in hot, dry climates — places with mild winters and vegetation that blooms year-round. In other words, perfect for Southern California, where previously domesticated populations became feral colonies that thrived independent of human management, nesting in rock crevices, abandoned rodent burrows and other natural cavities.

However, despite their population growth and spread, researchers don’t know much about these bees’ pollen consumption, or the extent to which their foraging habits may...

[BenLurkin]

You’ve probably heard the phrase: “Save the bees.”

Where the he[[ would I hear that?

[Carry_Okie]

Native bees don't make honey. They must have pollen available all year. The problem for native bees isn't so much the exotics as is a lack of native flowering plants on the landscape to sustain them over the summer.

The problem is the combination of weeds and the lack of regular disturbance promoting native plant germination.

[DallasBiff]

Didn't this same thing happen some 50 years ago?

[Magnum44]

[Seruzawa]

When the mites were killing the honeybees a few years ago I saw a resurgence of the local natural bees here. They are smaller than honeybees and are black/white in color.

[FamiliarFace]

I do miss the old cast of SNL.

[tcox4575]

I was sure this headline was a euphamism for some other foreign invasion in California.

[Tell It Right]

I was sure this headline was a euphamism for some other foreign invasion in California.

Me too. At first I though it was The Bee.

[Beowulf9]

There was something special, different about them Maybe because they were from Second City but I miss them too.

[Buttons12]

CA has more different species of bee than anywhere!

[j.havenfarm]

Don’t care. Survival of the fittest at this point

[fso301]

There are no native honeybee species in California.

[tumblindice]

They hated the bee skit.

[mewzilla]

Viewers loved it.

That’s what mattered.

[dljordan]

Cartel bees?

[tumblindice]

Belushi finally put his foot down, refused to do it.

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

I don’t believe honey bees are native to the New World. the tribes used to see them as an indication the White Man was near and called them “White Man’s Flies.”

Back in the late 1970s when the African Bees were heading north and had everyone terrified of them, a scientist said when the African Bees mate with the European honey bees, the aggressiveness of the offspring would be lessened.

It did not work.

[mass55th]

Couldn’t these foreign, feral bees have been brought in, or found their way from China, the closest region to the California coast? Based on what China has wrought on this country in the past, I’d be suspicious of them. The first suspected case of Covid in this country was in a county north of Seattle...again, the west coast.

[Az Joe]

40 years ago, I was hiking a mountain in the desert east of Phoenix.

I was once overflown by a swarm of bees 30 feet long, 10 feet deep and 10 feet wide, a very dark shadow. They were about 40-50 feet above me. It sounded like several helicopters approaching. I saw the bees and froze. They must have been following the queen to a new locale. Had they noticed me,.... I’d still be out there,... or what was left of me.