The plight of pollinating bees

Abstract

Pollinating animals (mostly bats, bees, beetles, birds, butterflies, flies, moths and wasps) provide almost incalculable economic and ecological benefits to humans, flowering plants and wildlife. Bees are the world's dominant pollinators, as the approximately 17 000 known bee species 7 collectively interact with most of the planet's quarter million angiosperm species. Animal pollination by bees and other insects is the first step in the flowering/fruiting process resulting in the production of vegetables and fruits containing viable seeds, essential nutrition comprising roughly 35% of the human diet. 2 Recent statements suggest we may be losing pollinators and their ecological services on a global scale, due to habitat destruction and other causes, and could face a crisis in agricultural pollination.