Farm406

Anna Jones Crabtree and Doug Crabtree, Vilicus Farms, Havre, MT. When people think of pollinators, they most often think of honey bees, which along with the alfalfa leaf- cutting bee are the two most important pollinators in the world for agriculture. Neither species, however, is native to North America. Though they don't receive as much attention, native bees produced about $3 billion in pollination services for the nation's agricultural output in 2009, with honey bees providing $11.6 billion. And then there's the critical service that native bees provide to native trees, shrubs, and forbs, 85 percent of which rely on pollinating insects to reproduce. All it takes is a visit with research scientist Dr. Casey Delphia on the campus of Montana State University (MSU) to appreciate the diversity of Montana's native bees. The specimen boxes in the lab contain a remarkable assortment of sizes, shapes and colors, from the gargantuan Bombus (bumble bee) species to the tiny Perdita (mining bee), metallic blue and smaller than a grain of rice. What's even more remarkable, Delphia says, is what's not known about wild bees in Montana. To date, scientists have identified about 450 species. "We think there could be around 1,000," she says. "Montana is one of the least-studied states. Colorado has identified 946 species and we expect Montana is home to at least that many." 33 farm406 Photo: Eliza Wiley The lack of knowledge only compounds the difficulty of understanding population trends. "We really don't know if they're declining.," Delphia says. "Since there's never been a historic sampling, we have no baseline data to work with." The growing awareness of pollinators and their habitat needs can only benefit Montana's wild bees, even if the poster species for the public is a domestic honey bee, or a butterfly, which, Delphia points out, is an "incidental pollinator," meaning it plays only a minor role in the pollination business compared to

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