The Center for Biological Diversity's report concluded that of the 1,437 native bee species for which there were sufficient data to evaluate, about 749 were declining. Furthermore, 347 of the species, which play a vital role in plant pollination, are imperiled and at risk of extinction, the study found. "It's a quiet but staggering crisis unfolding right under our noses that illuminates the unacceptably high cost of our careless addiction to pesticides and monoculture farming," its author, Kelsey Kopec, said in a statement