Urban beekeeper works with a rooftop hive at Westfield Century City shopping center

Master beekeeper Nicole Palladino is keeping the rooftop at the Westfield Century City shopping center buzzing with activity, as about 30,000 bees work to make honey.

Palladino said as a conservation biologist, she became worried about the fate of the tiny, but mighty workers decades ago, so she's going to new heights and spaces to help keep them safe and thriving.

"They pollinate 70% of our food supply, and so over the years practices like pesticide use and people killing the bees have really taken a toll," she said.

Bees have also left cityscapes because it's harder to find safe hive sites, and research shows that hives on rooftops and in community gardens increase the yield and size of city fruits, vegetables, and flowers.

So, Palladino is working with the international company Alvéole, which creates urban beehives. In the Los Angeles area. Dozens are now tucked atop grocery stores, medical plazas, and malls.

"If we start to create these green belts in urbanized areas, we give the city a place to breathe," Palladino said.

She also runs a bee rescue, Bee Catchers, Inc., which transplants bees and hives. She says they work with everyone from Caltrans and LA Metro to homeowners who discover buzzing surprises. She said the shopping center's rooftop hive is a rescue that was moved.

"They can end up in the wall of your home, your rooftop, in your fence," Palladino said of the hives.

While most partnering companies want to support urban bees, they can also receive sustainability credits. Once a year, Westfield Century City receives a small-batch harvest to share with shoppers.

Bees pollinate within a five-mile radius, so Palladino says the pollens collected in each area are unique, leaving urban honey infused with its own distinctive flavor.

Palladino hopes more creative exposures to bees will also encourage others to protect their vital colonies.

"They are the masters of pollinating. Without them, I think we'd be in real trouble," she said.