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The Importance of Bee-Ing Together

This is The Discovery Files, from the U.S. National Science Foundation.

Whether from pesticides or loss of habitats, many bee species may simply disappear! But how important are bees and the different types of bees to our environment?

The diversity of bee species plays a critical role in the health of flowers and farms. Scientists call it the "insurance effect," a great variety of bees working together to pollinate specific plants, the reward being a good crop.

Funded in part by NSF, researchers at Rutgers University and the University of California-Davis diligently tracked bees on some 80 blueberry and watermelon farms. They studied what bees were present and the diversity of bees needed to pollinate the crops.

They learned plants and flowers need an ever-changing array of bees, different pollination, from different bees, at different times in the growing season.

Three or four bee species could pollinate a crop in a single day, but it may well require two or three times that number during a growing season, and twice more than that to yield a successful crop year to year.

Bee colonies are facing declining numbers. They need a great variety of plants and pesticide-free regions to survive. From green bees to blue bees, tiny bees to huge bees, each plays an important, unique role in its own and our environment.

And what role can we play? Planting diverse flowers and plants that they may have a verdant landscape to pollinate.

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