Polinators in Peril - Are Illinois Native Bees Getting Smaller?

Why it matters. Pollination services provided by native bees are an important natural process, providing ~150 billion dollars globally in agricultural gains. A bee’s body size is a trait that is an important indicator of the nutritional environment. A loss of habitat results in a loss of rich nutritional environments as flowers and resource become more fragmented and scarcer. It has been discovered that a bee’s body size is a determinant of their foraging range. The smaller the bee, the less distance they can travel for food, therefor, the more susceptible they are to habitat loss and resource limitation