This essential action is rarely seen by nonspecialists and almost never appreciated. Numerous species of small trees, bushes and herbaceous plants, including many wild flowers, are bee pollinated.
Bees also pollinate many cultivated plants.
Native bees are important pollinators that successfully replace feral populations of exotic honeybees lost to mites and diseases. In various crops, such as alfalfa, honeybees are poor pollinators compared to native bees. Only 125 species are recorded for the northern Great Plains region and most lack distributional, flower visitation, or pollen records. Yet, there are probably 500 to 700 species of native bees in South Dakota alone. During this survey more than 40 species were discovered that were not previously recorded from the State.