Native Bees Buzz the Pinnacles

[Peter Rauch]

Check out the full article...  "Good" insects (their biodiversity
and their eco- and management roles) get great press coverage :>) 
Peter

Native Bees Buzz the Pinnacles

    National monument home to 410 species of bees 
    -- more than anywhere in North America

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2000/07/10/MNC1020.DTL

   Glen Martin, Chronicle Staff Writer   Monday, July 10, 2000

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   Terry Griswold, the Utah State and U.S. Department of Agriculture
   entomologist who was ramrodding the study, told Whalon he was
   abandoning all the other sites in the inquiry to concentrate on
   Pinnacles alone.
   
   Because it seems that Pinnacles is unique. It has far more bees than
   any other place in North America, perhaps the world: 410 species at
   the latest count.
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   53 Different Genera
   
   ``It's not just the fact that there are more than 400 species that
   make this place remarkable,'' Whalon said. ``These bees also represent
   53 different genera (a genus is a scientific classification that can
   incorporate many species) -- that tells us we really have stunning
   diversity here.''
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   Health Indicators
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   ``If we see a lot of bees of a certain type around, for example, we
   can assume without extensive fieldwork that we have good stands of
   their required plants,'' he said.
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Excerpts from:   ©2000 San Francisco Chronicle   Page A6