I was immediately put off by the article's lead pitting honeybees versus native bees. Unless we want to surrender the abundance of some food crops that are primarily or almost completely pollinated by honeybees, we need to pay attention to their survival. The survival of native species is also important because of the role they play as primary or exclusive pollinators of many native plant species.

The fundamental question is how human beings, who introduced honeybees to large parts of the world along with other agricultural species of animals, can live in a sustainable balance with the inhabitants of a place prior to the arrival of man. That's an ongoing issue - witness the complete absence of wooly mammoths, the extinction of passenger pigeons, and the near extinction of bison in North America.

Phrasing such questions as an either-or issue is not productive unless you are campaigning for the complete elimination of one species, homo sapiens, from this planet.

Big Al