Scientists from Cornell University have discovered a significant bee population under a New York cemetery, estimated to be at least 5.5 million. The discovery was made in a 1.5-acre section of East Lawn Cemetery, which is home to an estimated 80 percent of the world's flowering plants. The research team used "emergence traps" to capture bees and other insects as they emerged from the ground, which led them to extrapolate their emergence ratios and then multiply them into the estimated population of three to eight million. This discovery provides a rare glimpse into the role of ground-nesting bees like Andrena regularis in natural ecosystems. Cemeteries are known as being biodiversity havens due to their importance for local flora and fauna and the religious significance of these sites helps preserve them for future generations.