Bee taxonomist Lincoln Best pulled a wooden box labeled “impressive bees” from the shelves that lined his lab at Oregon State University and carefully removed the cover. Inside, rows of shiny, green-blue bees filled the box’s inner compartments, each one pierced with a pin as if in a museum. They reflected the overhead fluorescent lights like jewels. “Osmia cobaltina,” Best says, plucking an amethyst-colored mason bee from the box. “It’s crazy, right? How can a bee be purple?” Native bees, such as this one, are responsible for pollinating three-quarters of…
