A rare San Francisco leaf-cutter bee has been spotted in Marin County, California — the first sighting of the insect since 1980, the Sacramento Bee reported.
A conservation group called Tamalpais Bee Lab set out specifically to find the elusive bee and accomplished their mission. Tamalpais Bee Lab is a branch of One Tam, a partnership among the National Park Service, California State Parks, Marin Water, Marin County Parks, and the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy.
"This is hopeful news in a time when we are hearing a lot about trouble for insects, especially pollinators," Sara Leon Guerrero, a program manager with the conservancy who manages the lab and was the one to spot the bee, said in a release.
Bee populations, in particular, have been struggling lately as a result of human-caused pollution, overheating, and changing climates. Extreme weather events have threatened bees worldwide, while new research indicates that pesticide usage may be harming bees even more than previously thought.
All of that is bad news not just for bees but for everyone. Bees are crucial pollinators that keep ecosystems healthy and thriving. Without them, we risk losing a lot of plant life, including important crops essential for maintaining food supplies.
Luckily, we can all do our part to help keep bees around by planting native plants in our gardens. Native plants support local pollinators, which in turn support the entire ecosystem.
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As for the San Francisco leaf-cutter bee, California officials see the sighting as a positive sign of overall ecosystem health. "If a species turns up after 50 years, it gives us hope that others are still out there, too," Hillary Sardiñas of the California Department of Fish and Wildlife said in a release.
Other rare species recently spotted in the wild include a northwestern pond turtle, also in the Bay Area, and a Canada lynx sighted in Vermont.
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