In Britain most wild Bees are in decline. The Honey Bee, as Mike says, is in danger from the Veroa virus. Currently research is being conducted to try and control what is a world wide problem.
I might add that the near extinction of honey producing Bees in Britain is not new.
The Honey Bee that we are familiar with is a Furriner, and Italian Bee. The original Honey Bee in Britain was the Black Bee and was lost as a commercial breed early in the 20th century.
The spread of the 'African' Bee north into the states Larry is not actually an African Bee at all, it is a hybrid between the African and Italian Honey Bee.
It is slowly being 'tamed', in Brazil the Africanised Bee vastly out produces the Italian Bee in honey production and has taken Brasil from a minor producer of honey to one of the world's top producers.
About 25 percent of European crops rely on bees for pollination, and yes Lugo, parts of China are hand pollinating fruit trees as the local Bee population was wiped out by the excessive use of pesticides.
Einstein commented that if we ever exterminated the bee we would follow within four years.
Roy.
