Celebrate- Pollinator Protection Week Begins Today- June 16th, 2014

Pollinator Protection Week begins today.  In its seventh year, the observance is an international celebration of the valuable ecosystem services provided by bees, birds, butterflies, bats and beetles. 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. (Source: USDA.gov) It is estimated that at least one of every three bites of food is touched by a pollinator. In the United States, pollination by honey bees, native bees, and other insects produces $40 billion worth of products annually. (Source Pollinator.org) Although we hear about honey bees most often, butterflies, birds, beetles, moths, and other animals are also pollinators. Though research is on-going and much more is needed, it appears pollinators are threatened by a variety of factors including Colony Collapse Disorder, diseases, genetic diversity, habitat and nutrition, improper pesticide use, and mites and other pests.  Most researchers believe the greatest threats to bees are from mites and the lack of adequate habitats and nutrition sources.