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The first of its kind study that maps the wild bees across the U.S has revealed that the bee population is declining at a rapid pace that can threaten about 1/3^rd world's crops. The declining rates of bees can destabilize the crop production of the country and increase the costs for farmers, reported the study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences on Monday, as reported by University of Vermont News.

According to the researchers, the estimated will bee population declined between 2008 and 2013 is almost a quarter in the entire United States. The reason attributed to this rapid decline is that their natural habitat has been transformed into a farmland. The research also pointed out that there are 139 counties that are weak spots including regions of California's Central Valley, Mississippi River Valley and the Midwest Corn Belt. These counties are responsible for growing crops that depend on pollinators such as almonds, squashes, blueberries, watermelons, peaches, apples, and pumpkins. Other reasons cited for the bee population decline of 4,000 wild bees was pesticides and diseases, said Al Jazeera.

The team of seven researchers organized by lead author Insu Koh, Gund Institute for Ecological Economics, University of Vermont studied bee habitation, land cover data and specialist knowledge to map U.S. bee trends and population. "If losses of these crucial pollinators continue, the new nationwide assessment indicates that farmers will face increasing costs - and that the problem may even destabilize the nation's crop production," notes the study, the findings of which were published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. "Until this study, we didn't have a national mapped picture about the status of wild bees and their impacts on pollination," says Koh, a researcher at UVM's Gund Institute for Ecological Economics, as reported by University of California.