THE FLOWERING CRISIS

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Farmers have long known that some native insects are effective pollinators; native species are largely responsible for pollinating such cash crops as blueberries, cranberries and squash and partly responsible for almost a score of other crops--among them apples, almonds and cherries. With the honeybee in crisis, entomologists and farmers are actively encouraging native species, belatedly realizing that in some cases they are better pollinators than the honeybees they replace.

The alkali bee, for example, is a favorite of alfalfa farmers. It is far more expert than the honeybee at opening the grass's intricate flower to extract pollen, which tends merely to steal nectar without pollinating. Tomato farmers, meanwhile, are turning to bumblebees, which happily pollinate within the confines of huge greenhouses without trying, as the honeybees do, to escape. The rising star of the native pollinators, though, is the blue orchard bee, a handsome metallic-blue creature that can pollinate an apple orchard with an efficiency that would shame even the hardworking honeybee.

If the honeybee doesn't make a speedy comeback, its plight still serves as a valuable warning. "We can no longer afford to risk the security of our food supply on the services of just one insect," says Pollinators' other author, Buchmann, an entomology professor at the University of Arizona. "We are fortunate to have plenty of new pollination partners to choose from." As portfolio managers know, the value of diversity may not be obvious in the short run, but it is the wisest policy over the long haul.