Bees are among the most important animals on Earth, though most people think of…

Bees are among the most important animals on Earth, though most people think of them only as producers of honey or as insects to avoid. Their real value lies in pollination. When a bee visits a flower to collect nectar, grains of pollen stick to its hairy body. As it moves to the next flower, some of that pollen rubs off, allowing the plant to produce seeds and fruit.

Many plants depend on this process. Apples, almonds, strawberries, coffee and many vegetables rely heavily on insects, especially bees, to produce good harvests. Scientists estimate that roughly one in every three mouthfuls of food we eat depends, at least in part, on pollinators. Without them, many fruits and vegetables would become rare and expensive, and our diets would be far less varied.

Honeybees are the best-known pollinators, but they are far from the only ones. There are around 20,000 known species of bees in the world, most of which live alone rather than in large colonies and do not produce honey at all. Bumblebees, for example, are especially good at pollinating tomatoes because they can shake pollen loose by vibrating their wings, a technique honeybees cannot use.

In recent decades, however, bee populations in many parts of the world have declined. In the winter of 2006, beekeepers in the United States began reporting that large numbers of their honeybees had simply disappeared from their hives, a phenomenon that became known as colony collapse disorder. Since then, scientists have identified several causes of bee decline rather than a single one. These include the loss of wild flowers as land is turned into farms and cities, certain pesticides, diseases and parasites, and changes in climate that affect when flowers bloom.

Governments and individuals have begun to respond. Some countries have restricted the use of pesticides that are particularly harmful to bees. Farmers are being encouraged to leave strips of wild flowers at the edges of their fields, and cities have started planting bee-friendly flowers in parks and along roads.

Ordinary people can help too. Growing a variety of flowers on a balcony or in a garden, avoiding chemical sprays and leaving a corner of land untidy for wild bees to nest in are simple steps that can make a real difference. The future of bees, and of much of the food on our plates, may depend on such small decisions.