A 1.5-acre cemetery in upstate New York holds a bee population comparable in number to more than 200 honeybee hives, because roughly 5.5 million solitary mining bees nest beneath its lawns — each fema

Key Points:

• Cornell entomologists discovered one of the largest known aggregations of ground-nesting bees, estimated at 5.56 million Andrena regularis, beneath a small-town cemetery in Ithaca, New York.
• These solitary mining bees nest in dense aggregations due to the cemetery's undisturbed, well-drained sandy loam soil, which has remained untouched for over 150 years, providing ideal conditions for their lifecycle.
• The cemetery's proximity to Cornell’s apple orchards suggests it serves as a critical source of early-season pollinators, with A. regularis emerging in sync with apple blossoms.
• The study highlights the importance of wild solitary bees, which are often overlooked compared to managed honeybees, emphasizing that undisturbed green spaces like cemeteries are vital pollinator habitats in urbanized landscapes.
• Researchers caution that while the bee population is comparable in number to bees in over 200 honeybee hives, this does not equate to equivalent pollination output, underscoring the unique ecological role of solitary bees.