Revista de la Facultad de Medicina Veterinaria y de Zootecnia

Photograph taken by Jesús Alberto Cárdenas Ruiz, a Zootechnician from the Universidad Nacional de Colombia, showing a group of Apis mellifera bees, commonly known as the honey bee. This introduced (non-native) insect plays a strategic role in Colombia due to the ecosystem service of pollination it provides in crops such as avocado, coffee, and Andean fruits, among others. The species is distributed across the Colombian altitudinal gradient, ranging from coastal areas to high Andean páramo environments at elevations above 3,000 meters above sea level.