This is one of the approximately 4,000 native bee species in the United States, Halictus ligatus. A recent study found that native bees tested had been exposed to neonicotinoid pesticides in many cases.
Credit : USGS Bee Inventory and Monitoring Lab
The new analysis, Pollinators in Peril: A systematic status review of North American and Hawaiian native bees, revealed that more than 700 species are in trouble from a range of serious threats, including severe habitat loss and escalating pesticide use.
“The evidence is overwhelming that hundreds of the native bees we depend on for ecosystem stability, as well as pollination services worth billions of dollars, are spiraling toward extinction,” said Kelsey Kopec, a native pollinator researcher at the Center for Biological Diversity and author of the study. “It’s a quiet but staggering crisis unfolding right under our noses that illuminates the unacceptably high cost of our careless addiction to pesticides and monoculture farming.
“The widespread decline of European honeybees has been well documented in recent years. But until now much less has been revealed about […]
What did the Obama administration ever do about this?
This, like many problems in these dark times, may be up to the “Grass Roots”.
We have a small plot set aside in our yard for “Bee flowers”. Even a pot on your porch helps. Or recommend adding Bee flowers to your community garden.
This is a time for us to all pitch in to save our home.