“I want everyone to be better than me. That’s the great thing about conservation, you want people to be better than you, to all work together, and appreciate and encourage each other’s achievements, without competition.” – Peter Keilty

With no prior experience in the field of wildlife conservation, Peter has been determined to contribute all the knowledge and passion he has. His lifelong passion – being a beekeeper – became much more than that when he founded Bees For All. Now he inspires others to care about bees, insects, and wildlife conservation in general. In this interview, Peter introduces us to his organization and explains how managed honey bees can play a role in the conservation of wild pollinators. 

Peter, thank you for taking the time today. Can you tell us something about yourself?

Hi! My name is Peter Keilty. Although I’m originally from Northern Ireland, I have been living in Austin, Texas, for over a decade. I’m the founder of Bees for All, an organization designed to facilitate pollinator conservation through beekeeping. 

Can you tell us more about bees in the USA? 

In the USA, honey bees are seen as a non-native species. There is a slight caveat to this, which I’ll explain, but the general point is we should focus on native bees as much as possible.  Michael Engel, the foremost bee expert in the USA, described a honey bee fossil from 14 million years ago. It crossed the land bridge from Asia that was there at the time and made it as far as what is presently Nevada before its journey was arrested by a giant inland sea that cut through North America. This means that technically speaking, you could say honey bees, or at least the genus Apis, are native to the US. However, I don’t want people to think that all we need to do is have more bee hives in order to conserve bees, so I tend to treat honey bees as being non-native to the US, for most intents and purposes.

Okay, so even though some perspectives might differ, we know which point of view you have on this matter. Why is that important to you? 

Apis mellifera is an introduced species on these shores, and I sometimes get asked why we focus on them in our education and outreach initiatives. It’s my favorite question and one I am always glad to be asked because it shows that the person who is asking has some grasp of the issues we are trying to address. 

In the USA, honey bees are doing better than most pollinators, but still not great. We take care of them through medication and feeding and we monitor them for problems that might arise. However, native bees like the bumblebee, leafcutter, carpenter, etc. are not doing so well. These species and possibly some species that we don’t even know about yet are in danger of winking out of existence.

I think honey bees can, and do, play a huge role in raising awareness of the dangers pollinators and other insects face. Honeybees are one of the few insects that humans have been working with for thousands of years – we have formed a cultural affinity for these insects. Exposing the public to the wonder of pollinators through a beekeeping “experience” as we call it, is our way of helping the plight of all insects.  

That is an interesting idea, that honey bees can be the ambassadors for the conservation of other bee species. Can you elaborate a bit more on how Bees for All helps with getting this message across?

As I mentioned previously, beekeeping in and of itself is not strictly a form of conservation. It’s important culturally, economically, and agriculturally, but it’s not what people should focus on when it comes to conservation. Since colony collapse disorder surfaced,  bees have been very high profile and all over the news. As honey bees were the only ones commonly known, people started to put beehives in their gardens to “save the bees”. Having a hive is awesome, but I want people to think a little deeper about the issue.

Our beehives are mostly used for educational purposes. At Bees For All we organize events, share knowledge and try to engage the public through beekeeping. One of the things we do is take families, kids, and groups of people to our beehives to show them how it works and to get them excited about pollinators. When you get into a bee suit and then get covered in a cloud of bees, it really hammers home the magic of these insects and puts you directly in their environment. At that moment of excitement, when people are as engaged and receptive as possible, we also try to share information on what they can do at home to help pollinators.

That sounds very time-consuming, but also very interesting. Are there more projects or initiatives like these that you have within Bees For All? 

We have another initiative which we call the ‘Pollinator neighborhood’. With this project, we place a beehive in one of the yards of the community, usually someone who is already very switched on to pollinator issues and wants to help out. After that, we put the word out that we are going to organize several activities every few months. Examples of those events could be putting new bees in the hives in spring or honey-harvesting in summer. 

The result of this project has been increased awareness among the neighbors in the community on questions like: “Should I use pesticides?” or “What can I personally do to change my environment for the better?”. The community has started to feel more responsible for their environment, and with more insects, there’s a knock-on effect of not only increased pollination but more prey for other animals such as lizards and birds, and on up the food web, it goes. A heightened sense of environmental awareness is great for the entire neighborhood. 

In conservation, we talk a lot about the importance of biodiversity, but what do you think about bio-abundance, and how do honey bees factor into that? 

Something that people overlook very often is bio-abundance. Besides biodiversity, which defines the number of different species, bio-abundance looks at the total weight of the animals and the number of animals within a species. Despite my focus on protecting the biodiversity of native bee species, I am currently studying whether the sheer numbers of bees could be an important buffer in the food web, given the decline in insect biomass all around, especially in places like China and Western Europe. In the USA, I believe they play a huge role in ecosystems. I don’t want to undermine the importance of native bees, as these will always be a top priority, but having 50,000 bees in a beehive must do something to increase the available food for predators and I’d like to find out more about these relationships. 

I’ve seen honey bees preyed upon by lizards hanging around the beehives. But I have also seen spiders who make webs right in front of the hive entrance, so the bees who try to get out of the hive are instantly caught by the spiders. It’s anecdotal evidence at the moment but, in comparison to a field without beehives, the fields with beehives have shown to have a much higher diversity of insect predators, and I hope to have the hard evidence to back this up in the years to come. Losing biodiversity makes me incredibly sad, but what keeps me up at night is the (not all that far-fetched) possibility of total ecological collapse, and it may be that the honey bee will have an important role to play in not only our future but the future of a range of other animals and plants, too. 

So the ecosystem might benefit from honey bees kept through beekeeping, that’s interesting to hear. Another topic often mentioned when talking about conservation is climate change. How do you see the future for the bees in regard to that? 

I am positive! Climate change is going to drive native species to places they haven’t been before. I think they will either migrate uphill or they will migrate to the poles on either the northern or Southern Hemisphere. Some of the species won’t even survive that, which is also something that I do realize. The latter sounds pessimistic, but if we look at bumblebees, that is to be expected. Their furry physiology makes them extremely fragile. Anything above 42 to 44 degrees Celsius will be too warm for them to survive. 

Which physical measures can we take to conserve the native species that we have and that we currently know? 

Firstly, we can preserve large natural areas where they can thrive, with minimal human interference. In order to be sustainable, corridors in between those areas are almost always necessary. Secondly, it is time to engage private landowners, large and small. Add up all the private land and you’ll see there is an enormous area to work with. 

In Nevada,  they have already banned “non-functional turf”. This is simply ornamental grass which serves no function – a manicured lawn, in other words. In the end, these lawns will only drain the precious water that we have, and the pushback on them is growing in intensity, particularly in the dry, Western states. Instead of non-functional turf, I advise allowing a little wildness that will give the bees a chance to thrive in both urban and suburban areas. 

What can we do to help pollinators?

There are many things each of us can do to give pollinators a helping hand. Pollinator conservation is very satisfying because you can see positive results in a very short time. I describe it as “instant gratification”, because a little effort goes a long way. 

One of the simple things that you can do is create a bee hotel. This isn’t difficult or expensive. Start with a wooden block, and drill holes of different sizes in it. We call it a bee block. Just put it in your garden with a little protection from the rain and leaf cutters, mason bees and other cavity-nesting solitary bees will find it. You should be aware to throw out the bee hotels after a year, so as not to encourage pathogens, and stay away from “hotels” that have tens or hundreds of holes, usually bought from stores, since solitary bees would not live in those kinds of densities in the wild and it could, again, encourage disease.

If you want to contribute even further, you can search online for “larval host plants” for your particular country or region. This creates an opportunity for butterflies and moths who are only able to breed on these specific species of plants. Even things as simple and passive as turning off your outdoor lights at night, as the artificial light will cause navigation issues for birds and insects. The big one, however, is to quit using pesticides. 

Bees are tiny creatures that have a huge impact on the environment. This much is clear from Peter’s story. If you want to know more about Bees For All, check out the following links: 

Website: www.beesforall.com 

Instagram: @beesforall