Semi-natural habitat consistently enhances wild bee flower-visitation to crops in the USA

Pollination by wild bees is critical to sustain agricultural production, yet their ongoing declines threaten crop yields and food security. This study investigates how agricultural land, semi-natural habitat (SNH), and urban land affect wild bee visitation to pollinator-dependent crops across the USA. Using data from 41 studies and 560 sites from the CropPol database, we examined how bumblebees and solitary bees respond to agriculture, SNH and urban land across multiple spatial scales. We found that SNH consistently increased wild bee visitation, with solitary bees responding most strongly at smaller spatial scales (500 m) and bumblebees at larger scales (2000 m). These effects were consistent across three major crops and two production regions, highlighting the importance of SNH in supporting pollination services in USA agriculture. By disentangling the effects of different land uses, our findings demonstrate that conserving SNH is critical for securing pollination services and advancing sustainable food systems.