Florida\u2019s native bees come in all shapes and sizes, often with their own quirks.<\/p>\n
Blueberry bees gravitate toward their namesake, blueberry plants. Buzzing bumblebees, with their fluffy, plump bodies, visit a wide range of Florida crops. And sweat bees are attracted to, well, human sweat.<\/p>\n
These bee species are among about 320 local Florida bees.<\/a><\/p>\n While the state\u2019s mild climate is great for blooming plants and native pollinators, population increases and overdevelopment are threatening bee species.<\/p>\n \u201cFor native bees, land use change, habitat loss, is arguably the biggest threat, and that in Florida is primarily due to development,\u201d said Rachel Mallinger, a pollinator ecologist at the University of Florida.<\/p>\n Native bees are easy to miss if you\u2019re not looking \u2014 but they\u2019re the state\u2019s lifeblood, providing a boon to Florida\u2019s crops and ecosystem.<\/p>\n Here are five things youmay not know about the state\u2019s native bees.<\/p>\n Native bees don\u2019t always look how you may expect.<\/p>\n \u201cTraditionally, most people think of the honeybee when they think of any bee,\u201d said Jaret Daniels, an entomologist and curator at the Florida Museum of Natural History.<\/p>\n Honeybees were imported from Europe in the 17th century, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. And while they\u2019re important for honey-making and crop pollination, they aren\u2019t the only bees around.<\/p>\n Florida\u2019s native bees can come in spectacular colors, and can appear as if from a science fiction novel.<\/p>\n Take sweat bees, for example. They\u2019re often an iridescent green. Or mason bees, which can be a dark, metallic blue.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have many that are beautifully colored, all different sizes \u2014 large and small \u2014 have cool, different nesting requirements and different lifestyles,\u201d Daniels said.<\/p>\n Buzzing Florida bees live different lifestyles. Some prefer scrubland. Some are active at different times of the year. Most live and die within a year.<\/p>\n A majority of Florida\u2019s native bees live in the ground. Take mining bees, for example. Adult females often dig tunnels in clay and carve out homes for themselves and their future babies, according to the University of Florida.<\/a><\/p>\n Daniels said you may find multiple burrows, or even hundreds, in an area made by bees. Often, they may be mistaken for ant nests.<\/p>\n Other bees take up residence in cavities or dead wood.<\/p>\n Carpenter bees, which may be considered pests, like to burrow in old wood, making an old barn or house ideal nesting areas.<\/p>\n Unlike honeybees or bumblebees, most native bees don\u2019t have a colony to protect. Instead, they live solitary lives.<\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019re not social, meaning that they\u2019re nonaggressive,\u201d Daniels said.<\/p>\n Often, female bees make their nests, sometimes underground, and lay their eggs \u2014 and then they\u2019re gone, Daniels said.<\/p>\n \u201cThere is no social structure to that nest,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Native bees are easy to bring into a yard because they\u2019re so docile.<\/p>\n Helping native bee populations can start in your own backyard, Daniels said. And the more neighbors join in, the better. These gardens won\u2019t replace wild landscapes, but they provide resources for pollinators that are becoming increasingly hard to find.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s sort of like that recycling mentality,\u201d Daniels said. \u201cIn this case, there actually is something that every person can do.\u201d<\/p>\n Roughly 90% of all flowering plants use insects for pollination, Mallinger said. Experts often consider bees to be the most efficient pollinators.<\/p>\n A University of Florida study, for which Mallinger was an author, estimated pollinators contribute at least $50 million per year to seven of Florida\u2019s most valuable crops.<\/p>\n That number is likely an underestimate.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is what we would lose for our major crops,\u201d Mallinger said. \u201cIt\u2019s not even including what we would lose for our minor crops, and it\u2019s also not including any effects on both the flavor and nutritional value of the crop.\u201d<\/p>\n Of the state\u2019s top 10 animal pollinator-dependent crops, four (blueberries, watermelons, cucumber and squash) are consistently stocked with managed bees (typically honeybees), the 2021 study said.<\/p>\n Native species, along with other pollinators like flies or butterflies, largely pollinate the others.<\/p>\n The Florida State Wildlife Action Plan outlines 25 native bees with the \u201cgreatest conservation need.\u201d<\/p>\n