Malthus effect for bees on nearby island

[vincecate]

An island near me seems to have had something related to the Malthus effect that I find interesting. European honey bees communicate with each other and tell each other where there are good sources of nectar. Also storing food lets them get through periods of slow nectar production without losing lots of bees. This gives them a real advantage over other nectar eating insects. When honey bees were first introduced into Nevis they did really well. They multiplied fast and made lots of honey in each hive. But after awhile honey production per hive really dropped off and hives started dying off. I think the problem is there were so many beehives that they ran into the limits of their food supply and were all sort of on the edge of starvation.

This is interesting as a sort of controlled experiment in the Malthus effect. It is also of personal interest to me as I am a beekeeper and Anguilla is about 17 years behind Nevis and still in the stage where honey bees are doing really well. So Anguilla may be going through this Malthus situation for bees in the next 10 years.

On the other hand, we may really try to limit the number of wild hives, now that we understand what is going on.