Regina researcher Cory Sheffield finds more than just bees pollinate crops

For years science has emphasized the need for a healthy honey bee population in order for our flowers and crops to grow. But new research co-authored by the Royal Saskatchewan Museum's Cory Sheffield found that bees aren't the only pollinators important to growth of crops around the world.

According to research co-authored by Sheffield, non-bee insects such as beetles, moths, butterflies, wasps, antsand flies evenbirds and bats have now beenshown to play a roleinpollination.

"We found it depended on the crop situation you were talking about," Sheffield told CBC Radio'sThe Afternoon Edition'. "But overall between 25 to 50 per cent of the pollination that we're finding globally in crop situations could be the result of these non-bee insects."

In recent years there's been even more push to look at things outside honey bees.- Cory Sheffield, researcher

Non-bee insects such as beetles, moths, butterflies, wasps, antsand flies evenbirds and bats have now beenshown to play a role.

The original idea to study non-bee pollinators came to Sheffield and his co-authors on a bus ride in Italy while the groups were at a pollination conference.

"We were actually talking about these non-bee insects ... we know they are important flower visitors, but it's never actually been looked at in terms of their contributions or global contributions to crop pollination," he said.

And with warningsabout a shrinking honey bee population, the new information is timely.

"In recent years there's been even more push to look at things outside honey bees. Honey bees are our main crop pollinator, wedo know from many crop situations including in Canada, that these non-honey bees are doing a lot of the pollination services."

Sheffield's research, which was published in the prestigious Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences,focused on 39 field studies from five continents to directly measure crop pollination not done by bees to compare it with the work

As for if this is a gamechanger for pollination and bee conservation, Sheffield's research suggestsnon-bee insects could be the insurance the world needs as it faces declining bee populations.