5.5 Million Bees Were Living Under This New York Cemetery All Along

A walk through the cemetery became a scientific revelation when Cornell University researcher Rachel Fordyce noticed something unusual during her spring 2022 commute through East Lawn Cemetery in Ithaca. Bees were everywhere—so many that she grabbed a sample to show her supervisor, professor of entomology Bryan Danforth. What followed was the discovery of one of the world’s largest bee aggregations ever documented: roughly 5.5 million solitary bees of the species Andrena regularis, commonly known as the regular mining bee, thriving across just 1.5 acres of undisturbed sandy soil.

The scale of this colony is staggering. To put it in perspective, 5.5 million solitary bees equals the pollinating power of more than 200 honeybee hives, and the population alone exceeds Manhattan’s human population by more than threefold. What’s even more remarkable is that these bees have likely called the cemetery home for over a century—historical records show Andrena regularis has been present since at least the early 1900s.

Researchers used emergence traps—small mesh tents that funnel emerging insects into collection jars—to study the colony between March 30th and May 16th, 2023. Over that period, they collected 3,251 insects representing 16 species across 10 trap locations. Andrena regularis dominated the samples, allowing researchers to estimate the total population through density calculations. According to Steve Hoge, lead author of the study published April 13th in the journal Apidologie, this discovery ranks among the largest bee aggregations documented in scientific literature.

The findings underscore why these solitary ground-nesting bees matter far beyond the cemetery gates. Andrena regularis are crucial pollinators for valuable agricultural crops, including apples—one of New York’s signature commodities. Yet they remain poorly understood, and their importance has often been overshadowed by the more famous honeybee. Bryan Danforth emphasized the urgency of protecting these nest sites, warning that paving over a cemetery like this could eliminate 5.5 million important pollinators in an instant.

The discovery also validates what scientists have long suspected: cemeteries can serve as vital refuges for biodiversity. The peaceful, undisturbed landscape and freedom from pesticides create ideal conditions for wildlife to thrive. Cornell Orchards, located just a third of a mile away, likely supports the population with abundant spring flowers, while the cemetery’s abundant sandy soil provides the perfect nesting substrate. Keven Morse, superintendent of East Lawn Cemetery for 46 years with his family, has observed deer, geese, hawks, foxes, and coyotes on the grounds—but he never fully grasped the scale of the bee colony until the research revealed it. This finding is a reminder that sometimes the most extraordinary discoveries are hiding in plain sight, waiting for someone to stop and pay attention.