Most people imagine bees buzzing around hives, organized around a queen. But that’s just part of the story. In fact, over 70% of bee species live alone, nesting underground, and they help pollinate 80% of the world’s flowering plants. Despite their crucial role in our ecosystem, these solitary bees are often overlooked.
Recently, a team from Cornell University made a surprising discovery at East Lawn Cemetery: approximately 5.5 million bees of the species Andrena regularis, a kind of miner bee. This finding, published in the journal Apidologie, highlights a hidden world beneath our feet.
Discoveries in an Unlikely Place
Andrena regularis bees have an interesting biology. According to Steve Hoge, an undergraduate researcher at Cornell, these bees overwinter as adults. This is quite rare among bees, allowing them to emerge early in spring, right in time for apple blossoms.
Not far from the cemetery lies Cornell Orchards, a 22-acre site planted with apples and other fruits. Established in 1910, it provides a vital food source for these bees. Hoge notes that while large bee populations likely exist elsewhere, this is one of the biggest documented aggregations. Research on Andrena regularis is limited; the last significant study was conducted in 1978, so this recent find is a major step forward.
Counting the Bees
Estimating millions of bees hidden underground is no easy feat. The researchers used “emergence traps,” which are glass jars with funnels to capture emerging bees. Most of the captured species were Andrena regularis. They calculated the number of bees emerging per square meter and multiplied that by the estimated area they occupy, arriving at 5.5 million as a reasonable midpoint.
Bryan Danforth, a senior author of the study, has emphasized that ground-nesting bees are the most common type of bee, though they remain poorly studied. The cemetery’s unique environment proved to be an ideal research setting.
Cemeteries as Biodiversity Reserves
It may seem surprising that a cemetery serves as a biodiversity hotspot. However, they’re increasingly recognized for supporting various plant and animal life. A 2023 study in Conservation Biology revealed that cemeteries can be just as valuable as parks in maintaining local biodiversity. Their sacred status often shields them from development, unlike many other green spaces.
Keven Morse, the superintendent of East Lawn Cemetery, has noticed many animals visiting the site, from geese to coyotes—now joined by millions of bees. His thoughts on the discovery? He wished he didn’t have to mow!
This highlights not just the surprising life present in overlooked spaces, but also our ongoing journey to understand and protect our natural world.
By learning more about solitary bees and their habitats, we can better appreciate their role in our environment and the need to preserve such unique ecosystems. For more on the importance of bees, check out the Bee Conservancy and their efforts in conservation.
