Wild bee diversity has declined significantly as agricultural intensification removes nesting habitat and floral resources these pollinators depend on.
Wild bees experience welfare harms from pesticide exposure causing disorientation, learning impairment, and starvation when unable to return to nests. Loss of nesting habitat forces ground-nesters into suboptimal sites vulnerable to flooding and disturbance. Floral resource scarcity means extended foraging periods burning energy reserves. These welfare harms occur to tens of billions of individual bees annually across intensively farmed landscapes. Protecting wild bee welfare also protects the pollination services sustaining food systems.