![lightscape croton lightscape croton](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/ABKlyQ-mZgI/maxresdefault.jpg)
![lightscape croton lightscape croton](https://media-cdn.tripadvisor.com/media/photo-s/07/ef/a1/ab/the-yard-in-front-of.jpg)
The pollen is held on the special branched hairs by an electrostatic charge that is created when the bee beats its wings.
LIGHTSCAPE CROTON PATCH
Most bees have a patch of stiff hairs under their abdomen or along their hind legs, called a scopa, into which they push grains of pollen to bring back to their nest. The program uses citizen scientists to track the activity of New York City’s native bees, with an eye toward conserving bee habitat and improving urban plant pollination.īees gather nectar, pollen, and sometimes floral oils or other aromatic compounds for sustenance and as food stores for their offspring. Looking at bees and flowers is the work of the Great Pollinator Project, a collaboration between the American Museum of Natural History’s Center for Biodiversity and Conservation and the New York City Department of Parks’s Greenbelt Native Plant Center. So if you look closely at your own garden or the green spaces around you, you are likely to spot a diversity of these busy buzzers. In a four-year study of bees in New York City community gardens (see Resources, below), researchers identified 54 species.
![lightscape croton lightscape croton](https://fortmyerslandscapes.com/images/plants/palms/Queen-Palm.jpg)
About 430 bee species have been identified in New York State over 200 in New York City. And they represent just one of close to 20,000 identified bee species, 4,000 of which are native to North America. In fact honey bees, Apis melliflora, are relative newcomers to North America, brought here (like so many other immigrants) to support agriculture.