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ees pollinate a third of everything we eat and play a vital role in sustaining the planet's ecosystems. Some 84% of the crops grown for human consumption - around 400 different types of plants - need bees and other insects to pollinate them to increase their yields and quality. These include most fruits and vegetables, many nuts, and plants such as rapeseed and sunflowers that are turned into oil, as well as cocoa beans, coffee and tea. Crops grown as fodder for dairy cows and other livestock are also pollinated by bees. And it's not only food crops that rely on bee pollination, cotton does as well. As a result, annual global crop pollination by bees is estimated to be worth $170bn.

Pollination: it's vital to life on Earth but largely unseen by the human eye. Filmmaker Louie Schwartzberg shows us the intricate world of pollen and pollinators with gorgeous high-speed images from his film "Wings of Life," inspired by the vanishing of one of nature's primary pollinators, the honeybee.

The United States is launching an effort to save some of its busiest workers: honey bees.
President Barack Obama created a task force comprising various agencies to address the issue of rapidly diminishing honey bees and other pollinators.
Honey bees pollinate fruit, nuts and vegetables, and are crucial for the nation's food industry.

And that's why it's not great news that bees haven't been doing so well in recent years. Last year, the United States lost 40 percent of its honeybee population, a devastating loss. No one is exactly sure what's causing the collapse, but climate change, pesticide use, disease, and habitat loss are all suspect. And other countries around the world are having the same difficulties. In Norway, which also noticed declines in bee populations, people are creating a 'bee highway' that gives bees a safe haven in the middle of the country's capital city.

Maddie reveals just how much we depend on bees, and how close we are to facing that reality!