• HeyJoe@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    6
    ·
    14 hours ago

    This made me curious and it didnt say in the article so I looked it up. I wanted to know how many bees are in an average hive. Stats say between 20 and 80k. If the cemetery has 5 million like the article suggests thats 62.5 hives at 80k a hive.

    • anguo@piefed.ca
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      5
      ·
      6 hours ago

      Just a clarification for anyone reading this comment and not the article, these are solitary bees, no hives.

      • nkat2112@sh.itjust.works
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        3
        ·
        4 hours ago

        Thank you for sharing this. Your comment inspired me to read the article and it does have some interesting references:

        In a study published in Apidologie, researchers at East Lawn Cemetery in Ithaca, New York, uncovered one of the largest known aggregations of ground-nesting solitary bees ever recorded, estimating that an average of about 5.6 million bees emerge from a single section of lawn each spring, with totals ranging from roughly 3.1 to 8 million. Records show the species has been present at the site since the 1930s, raising the possibility that this population has remained active for decades beneath the same patch of ground.

        Also:

        And yet, most of that activity goes unnoticed. These bees do not form hives or swarm like honeybees. They live alone, emerging quietly in early spring, with activity surging as temperatures climb above about 68 degrees Fahrenheit (20 degrees Celsius), before disappearing just as quickly.

        And perhaps very unexpectedly:

        As unusual as it might seem, a cemetery can offer the kind of stability these bees need.

        Places like this are often left undisturbed for decades, creating consistent conditions for ground-nesting species.

        A. regularis is one of the most effective pollinators of apple trees in the region, and studies have shown that individual visits from solitary bees can deposit more pollen than those from managed honeybees. Large populations like this can rival or even exceed the pollination power of entire honeybee colonies.

        Maybe having apple orchards near cemeteries is a good idea, LOL.