Managed honeybees might be masking a global pollination crisis

(CN) — Wild bees and other natural pollinators are disappearing around the world. But farmers may not have felt the full impact yet, largely because they’re bringing in honeybee hives.

Researchers — in a study published Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences — say that pollination-related crop yield shortfalls fell from roughly 73% before the 1980s to about 26% by the 2010s.