Researchers estimate that 5.5 million bees nest in the ground of the Ithaca cemetery. Taken aback by this discovery, they are calling to protect these nesting sites.
“I was completely stunned when we ran the numbers,” one of the study’s co-authors confessed. Researchers from Cornell University estimated that nearly 5.5 million bees, of the Andrena regularis species, were living under the East Lawn cemetery in the city of Ithaca, located in New York state, United States.
This study, conducted in 2023, was published on Monday, April 13 in the scientific journal Apidologie. “I’m sure there are other large gatherings of bees around the world that we simply haven’t identified yet, but according to what is in the scientific literature, this is one of the largest,” said Steve Hoge, the study’s lead author, as reported by DiscoverWildlife, a BBC magazine.
While in the collective imagination bees nest in trees, scientists indicate that about 70% of bee species in the United States actually live underground. “I’ve seen published estimates of hundreds of thousands of bees aggregating. But I never would have imagined it would be 5.56 million bees,” added researcher Bryan Danforth to Scientific American. For comparison, the city of New York has about 8.8 million inhabitants.
“cemeteries as refuges”
Between March 30 and May 16, 2023, the Cornell University team placed ten emergence traps, small net tents that contain the bees, in the cemetery. By counting the number of bees emerging from the ground per square meter, they estimated between 3.1 million and 8 million in total on the grounds.
“This study enriches our knowledge of bee ecology and underscores the potential importance of cemeteries as refuges for ground-nesting bee populations,” the researchers wrote in their publication.
“If we do not preserve nesting sites and someone covers them with asphalt, we could lose 5.5 million bees, which are important pollinators, in an instant,” added Bryn Danforth to the Cornell Chronicle.
Indeed, the cemetery grounds are relatively undisturbed environments, particularly due to low pesticide use. Additionally, the Cornell orchards, located about 500 meters from the cemetery, provide abundant food sources for the bees to gather pollen and nectar. East Lawn cemetery is therefore an ideal refuge.
