A national study led by University of Vermont researchers found that the country's population of wild bees has declined 23 percent over the past seven years.
The Times Argus reports the study is the first to map wild bee populations across the lower 48 states. It focused on 139 U.S. counties with high volumes of crop production.
The report concluded that 39 percent of the target regions feature a "threatening mismatch" between the demand for pollination and the decline of wild bees.
Insu Koh of UVM's Gund Institute for Ecological Economics headed the research team. It consisted of scientists from Franklin and Marshall College, University of California at Davis and Michigan State University.
Koh says the diversity of Vermont's natural habitats has protected the state from the same decline.
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