Just 2 Percent Of Bees Do 80 Percent of Their Work In Pollinating Crops, Study

Just two percent of wild bee species do almost 80 percent of their work in pollinating corps, according to a new study.

The international report, based on 90 studies in five continents, said governments should also conserve the apparently less valuable bees as they might play a bigger role in the event of environmental shocks, such as from climate change, Reuters noted.

The study also outlined simple measures for farmers to attract star insects to safeguard food production.

"There are a few who really make a lot of money, like (Cristiano) Ronaldo and (Lionel) Messi, then another large group who can make a living from football. And then there's 99.9 percent who just play for fun," said lead author David Kleijn, of Wageningen University and Research Centre in the Netherlands.

The study added that just two percent of species, usually the most common such as bumblebees or solitary bees, did almost 80 percent of the work by wild bees in pollinating crops such as potatoes, beans or apples.

"It should be helpful to farmers to know that the simple and cheap measures can give them what they need for pollination," said Pat Wilmer of Scotland's University of St Andrews, who was not among the authors.

"This study shows us that wild bees provide enormous economic benefits but reaffirms that the justification for protecting species cannot always be economic," said a co-author, Taylor Ricketts of the University of Vermont. "We still have to agree that protecting biodiversity is the right thing to do."

The study was published in the journal Nature Communications.