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ROW, tomatoplantsstand formation in insidea greenhouse in

Willcox, Arizona. Green stems pokefromcoconut-fiber blocks, reaching toward glassthe paned Lab-coated sky. technicians elevated on electric carts meticulously prunethecrop.
EurofreshFarms harvests130million pounds of tomatoes a year from theseperfect plants, grown on 311 acresin buildings outfitted with miles of pipe to ferry water and a network of steelwire aboveto capturethe climbing vines. The ripening fruit smells faintly artificial, all sweetness and no soil. But there is a natural presencehere too. It reveals itselfasa low hum that settles deepinside the ears:a thousand bumblebeeshard at work. To reproduce,most flowering plants depend on a third party to transfer pollen between their male and femaleparts. Some require extra encouragement to give up that golden dust. The tomato flower, for example, needs a violent shake,a vibration roughly equivalent to 30 times the pull of Eartht gravity, explains Arizona entomologist StephenBuchmann, international coordinator of the Pollinator Partnership."The scale is differentj' he says,"but consider that fighter pilots usually black out after half a minute at four to six g's." Growers have tried numerous ways to rattle pollen from tomato blossoms.They've used shaking tables,air blowers,blastsof sound, and vibrators laboriously applied by hand to each bloom cluster.But the tool of choice in today's greenhouses? The humble bumblebee.Give a bee accessto a tomato flower, and she'll glom on and quiver fiercely as she feeds,Ietting loose a cloud of pollen that hits the plantt stigma (the tip of the female anatomy) and also sticks to the bee'sfuzzy body. Shethen ferriesthose particles to the r-rext blossorn. calledbuzz pollination, It'.s lundi t w o rl < s e a c lr lr r n. lik N o su r'p lis t ' I lr irnr r lur t ' ltl t' s i l i rr o t.sIl rt' j o l r l s tl first appeared130million yearsago.As for bees, scientistshave identified some 20,000 distinct speciesso far, and about one-fifth ofthose pollinate flowers in the United States.Hummingbirds, butterflies,moths, wasps,and antsare also up to the task. Snailsand slugs smear pollen as they slide over flower clusters.Mosquitoes carry pollen for batchesof orchids, and bats, with diversemuzzlesand tonguesadaptedto tap differently shapedblossoms,move pollen for 360 plants in the Americas alone. Even nonflying mammals do their part: sugarloving opossums,some rain forest monkeys, and lemurs in Madagascar, with nimble hands all that tear open flower stalks and furry coats to which pollen sticks.Most surprising, some lizards, such as geckos and skinks, lap up nectar and pollen and then transport the stuffon their faces and feet as they forage onward. F l o w eri ng pl ants-there are more than 240,000speciesof them-have evolved in step with their pollinators, using sweetscentsand bright colors to lure with the promise of a meal. Flower receptacles, like the animals' transport systems,are wonderfully varied, from tubes and gullets to flaps, brushes,and spurs. Match the right animal and plant parts-long tongue poked into narrow tube, furry facepressedinto sticky brush-and pollen is soon on its way. All that messydiversity,unfortunately, is not well suitedto the monocrops and mega-yields of modern commercial farmers. Bef<rre farms got so big, saysconservationbiolclgistClairc I(rcn rc n o f t hc U rri ve ty oI Oi rl i fi rrtri rr, < cl cy, rsi l ]crl " w c tl i rl rr'llrrrvt'o nl l ul i l l l (' l i rri rl ol s. rt' yw crt' 'll l pol i tl l :rto rrnrl rt' i ,rusr, Il rt.rl i vt' r' s(. n(l s(.l l )(,s. l ol l ,l

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WHAT POLLEN IS WORTH Pollinators, especially bees, make the globalgardengrow. Insectpollinationis worth more than$200 billionworldwioe. Vegetables, fruits,oils,and some nuts, the biggestcontributorsto that total value,are also the mosi vulnerable insectdeclines. to Of less concern: cereals,sugars, roots.and tubers.which self-pollinate relyon wind. or

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sincepeoplebegantrucking them up and down highwaysin the 1950s. Now at leasta hundred commercialcropsin the U.S.rely almost entirely on managedhoneybees, which beekeepers raise and rent out to tend to big farms. And although other species bees-mason bees,for examof ple-are five to ten times more eficient on a perbee basisat pollinating certain fruits, honeybees havebigger colonies(30,000or more beesper hive), forage over longer distances, and tolerate managementand movement better than m-ost insects.They're not picky-they'll spend their time on almost any crop. Itt tricky to calculate what their work is truly worth; some economists put it at more than $200 billion globally a year. Industrial-scalefarming, however, may be wearing down the system. Honeybees have suffered diseasesand parasite infestations for

as long as they've been managed,but in 20A6 came an extreme blow. In the U.S. and other countries, bees in massivenumbers began to disappearover the winter. Beekeepers would lift the lid of a hive to find only the queen and a few stragglers,the worker beesgone. In the U.S.a third to half of all hivescrashed; somebeekeepersreported colony lossesnear 90 percent. The mysterious culprit was named colony collapsedisorder (CCD), and it remains an annual menace-and an enigma. When CCD first hit, many people, from agronomists to the public, assumedthat our slathering of chemicals on agricultural fields was to blame. Indeed, says|effPettis of the USDA Bee Research Laboratorv,"we do find more disease in beesthat have been exposedto pesticides, even at low levelsl'But CCD likelv involves multiole

HONEYBEE HEALTH (CCD), rapiddie-off ln 2O1O, scientists reported possible a causeof colonycollapse disorder the of millions honeybees manycountries pointed a particular of in since2006. Genetic studies to insect virus andfungus worktogether. thosefindings at But havecomeunderdebate, definitive and conclusions "CCDis likely complex "Butthe roleof this pair remain elusive. a interaction," the USDA's Pettis. says Jeff of pathogens stillan openquestion." is Meanwhile, bloodsuckingVarroa (reddotsbelow), the mite also pest implicated CCD, in remains honeybees' mostdevastating worldwide.

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stressors. Poor nutrition and chemicalexposure, managing the landscapefor their bene{it would for instance,might pummel a bee'.s immunities mean more buzzin the orchards in early spring. before a virus finishesthe insect off. Even in the busiest cities, pollinators can be Itt hard to teaseapart factors and outcomes, coddled with a little creativity. Recent studies Pettissays.New studiesrevealthat fungicidesshow that bees off the farm have a healthier not previouslythought toxic to bees-can inter- and more varied diet than those making the fere with microbes that break down pollen in commercial-crop rounds. Rooftop beehivesin the insects'guts, affectingnutrient absorption New York City help urban gardensand Central and thus long-term health and longevity. Some Park foliage flourish. And ecologists are now findings pointed to viral and fungal pathogens transforming part of what was once a 2,200working together (seebox, left). "I only wish we acre landfill on Staten Isiand into a flowering had a singleagentcausingall the declinesl'pettis meadow to give nativepollinators a sugarboost. says."That would make our work much easier." It's a fairly simple calculation. If theres habitat, As managedbeestake a hit, so too do wild they will come. pollinators,whosework pollinating U.S.crops is Fortunately too, "there are far more generalworth about three billion dollars annualiy. Some ist plants than specialistplants, so there'sa lot notable bumbiebee speciesare rarely seenany- of redundancy in pollinationl'Buchmann says. more, with othersbecoming increasinglyscarce. "Even if one pollinator winks out, there are often But few of the scoresof native pollinators, Iess pretty good surrogatesleft to do the jobi' The key visible and lessvalued than the big-money hon- to keeping our gardensgrowing strong,he says, eybees, have been monitored long term. is letting that diversity thrive. What to do? Give pollinators more of what Take away that variety, and we'll lose more they need and lessof what they dont, and ease than honey. Many flowering plants would disapthe burden on managed bees by letting native pear,and with them apples,peaches, pears,and animals do their part, say scientists. Reduced a host of other crops. Without pollinators thered reliance on chemicals in agriculture is part of the be no raspberries,blueberries,or even milk on solution, saysBuchmann, sinceall animals need your cereal(cows feed on bee-pollinatedalfalfa their immune systemsin top shape to combat and clover). No coffeeor chocolate.No canola, p a th o gens t heir env i ro n me n t. in a biofuel crop. No lnore summer watermelon or Meanwhile, habitat loss and alteration, he says, Halloween pumpkins. U.S.almond growers,who are even more of a menaceto poliinators than provide 80 percent of the world's crop, employ a pathogens.Claire Kremen encouragesfarmers third or more of the country's comrnercial beeto cultivate the flora surrounding farmland to hives during the growing season-a bee extravahelp solve habitat problems. "You can't move ganza that's been called the largest pollination the farml' she says,"but you can diversify what event on the planet. That too would frzz\e. grows in its vicinity: along roads,evenin tractor "We wouldn't starvej'saysKremen. But withyardsi' Planting hedgerowsand patchesof native out the birds and the bees (and the bats and flowers that bloom at different times and seed- the butterflies), what we eat, and even what ing fields with multiple plant speciesrather than we wear-pollinators, after all, give us some monocrops "not only is better for native pol- of our cotton and flax-would be limited to linators, but it'sjust better agriculturel' she says. crops whose pollen travelsby other means."In Pesticide-free wildflower havens,adds Buch- a sensej'she says,"our lives would be dictated mann, would also bolster popuiations of useful by the wind." I insectssuch asblue orchard bees-an extremely e ffe cti v e pollinat or of a l mo n d s i n C a l i l o rn i a . lenniferS.Hollandis a seniorwriter for the Native bumblebees in Wisconsin aren't as fin- magazine. Mark W.Mofrtt, afrequent contributor, icky about cold, wet weather as honeybees,so is the author o;fAdventures Among Ants.
PO LLT N AT O R S 125