THE IMPORTANCE OF BEES

  • Bees pollinate over 80% of the world’s food crops (i.e. food we eat and foods we feed to meat animals);
  • Without bees, we would lose most of our food crops;
  • Native bees are known to be better pollinators than the European honey bee, and some are specially equipped to pollinate specific plants;
  • Bees are a good indicator of ecosystem health;
  • Look closely at bees and see how beautiful they are!

Some Locally Common Bees

There are over 200 native bee species in Nova Scotia.  (Honey bees are not native, they are a European import). These busy pollinators are often overlooked in the gardens and fields but their contribution to our food supply and the breeding success of our native wildflowers cannot be underestimated.  The following are some of our most common native bees:

Common name

Latin Name

Preferred plants (bees can’t see red so are more attracted to blues, purples, white, yellow and pink)

Bumble bees

Bombus sp. (13 species in NS)

Generalists, will feed on a wide range of plants.

Small carpenter bees

Ceratina sp.

Generalists, will feed on a wide range of plants.

Long-horned bees

Melissodes sp.

Asteraceae (e.g. asters, daisy like, sunflowers).

Sweat bees

Lasioglossum sp.

Generalists

Leafcutter bees

Megachile sp.

Mostly Asteraceae but also low bush blueberry.

Mason bees

Osmia sp.

Mostly Asteraceae.