Bees Like Their Meat and Potatoes Too!

Microbial meat and pollen potatoes that is! Researchers Prarthana Dharampal of the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Shawn Steffan, with the Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Research Service (ARS) analyzed 14 different bee species spanning six families (Melittidae, Apidae, Megachilidae, Andrenidae, Halictidae, Colletidae) and found that all families ranked higher in the food chain than that of strict herbivores. Trophic levels are used to define an organisms location in the food chain. The average trophic level of each bee species analyzed varied but averaged at 2.6 placing bees somewhere between herbivores and carnivores.