San Francisco’s Native Bees Do the Job Just Fine

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A tuning fork is used to mimic the frequency at which a wild bee buzz releases pollen from a tomato flower for one of the artificial pollination treatments. Photo by Andrew Potter/Bay Nature

By Michelaina Johnson, Bay Nature

Does San Francisco have a healthy enough native bee population to pollinate the city’s agriculture?

Andrew Potter, a former San Francisco State University graduate student and now an environmental consultant, asked himself that question a few years ago after learning that not enough bees live in “pollinator deserts,” such as California’s Central Valley, to provide adequate pollination service to plants. He wondered if urban San Francisco shared the same challenge.

Read the complete story at Bay Nature. 

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