Three-fourths of the world’s flowering plants and about 35 percent of the world’s food crops depend on animal pollinators to reproduce. More than 3,500 species of native bees help increase crop yields. Some scientists estimate that one out of every three bites of food we eat exists because of animal pollinators like bees, butterflies and moths, birds and bats, and beetles and other insects. Pollinators visit flowers in their search for food (nectar and pollen). During a flower visit, a pollinator may accidentally brush against the flower’s reproductive parts, unknowingly depositing pollen from a different flower. The plant then uses the pollen to produce a fruit or seed. Many plants cannot reproduce without pollen carried to them by foraging pollinators.
You may have heard that bees are disappearing and bats are dying. These and other animal pollinators face many challenges in the modern world. Habitat loss, disease, parasites, and environmental contaminants have all contributed to the decline of many species of pollinator
In the United States, the pollinators which we depend on for the majority of our pollination services are bees, including the non-native European honeybee and over 4,000 species of native bees. Evidence of population declines of bees, not only in the United States, but around the world, has prompted scientists to encourage changes in ecosystem management.
Pollinators are a reminder that of the 100 crop species providing 90 percent of the world's food, over 70 are pollinated by bees.
Improving existing and providing new habitat for pollinators has become a major focus for Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) in working with our many partners and private land owners.