Bees driven off farm land due to changes in their natural environments are finding refuge in the 'posh' urban gardens of the middle classes.
Private green areas inside towns and cities, as well as communal spaces like allotments and parks, have become safe spaces for the pollinating insects.
That's down to the diversity of attractive species on offer, including lavender, dandelions, brambles and buttercups, researchers say.
Bees' natural habitats are being threatened by the use of pesticides and man-made changes to the range of plant species found in the environment.
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Bees driven off farm land due to changes in their natural environments are finding refuge in green spaces inside towns and cities. This image shows the hairy-footed flower bee, scientific name Anthophora plumipes
In the future, cities could become important for all insects, which face threats such as pest control on agricultural land, an international team of researchers found.
Results from their four-year study found allotments and urban gardens are the best environment for bees.
Professor Graham Stone, of the University of Edinburgh's School of Biological Sciences, said: 'Pollinating insects are vital to supporting plant life, and urban spaces can play a key role in providing environments.
'The more flowers we plant at home, the better it is for bees, butterflies and other insects.'
The study is the first of its kind in looking at the pollination of bees across an entire city.
It identified urban allotments and household gardens as the best spaces for pollinating insects and suggests that these spaces are made more available to allow insects to thrive.
The type city gardens that attract pollinating insects the most include those with lavender, borage, dandelions, thistles, brambles and buttercups, species that gardeners can keep in mind when planting green spaces.
City gardens have become safe spaces for bees whose natural habitats are being threatened by the use of pesticides and man-made changes to flora, scientists have revealed. This image shows a bumble bee from the species Jan Bombus terrestris lucorum
Owners of garden spaces have been encouraged to mow their lawns less than usual to attract bees.
The study also recommended that public greenspaces should be managed so they benefit pollinators.
Parks, road verges and other greenspaces make up around a third of cities but have fewer pollinator visits and resources for pollinators than other land uses.
Gardens make up a quarter to a third of the area of UK cities and better garden management in new developments and existing gardens is likely to benefit pollinator conservation.
City planners and local councils should increase the number of allotments and other community gardens in towns and cities, experts say.
Allotments are good for pollinators as well as people and increasing their area even by a small amount could have a large positive effect on pollinators.
The full findings were published in the journal Nature Ecology and Evolution today.
WHAT IS THE HONEYBEE CRISIS?
Honeybees, both domestic and wild, are responsible for around 80 per cent of worldwide pollination, according to Greenpeace.
But bee colony collapses across the globe are threatening their vital work.
Bees are dying from a combination of pesticides, habitat destruction, drought, nutrition deficit, global warming and air pollution among other factors.
The global bee crisis can potentially be solved if dangerous pesticides are eliminated, wild habitats are preserved and ecological agriculture is restored, according to Greenpeace (file photo)
Greenpeace has reported: 'The bottom line is that we know humans are largely responsible for the two most prominent causes: Pesticides and habitat loss.'
This is important for a number of reasons, chief among them the amount of work bees put into our food production.
Vegetables, nuts and fruits are pollinated by bees. Of the top human food crops, a whopping 70 of 100 are pollinated by the creatures, which account for as much as 90 per cent of global nutrition.
Greenpeace has suggested the following solutions to the problem:
- The preservation of wild habitats in order to protect pollinator health
- The restoration of ecological agriculture
- The elimination of the world's most dangerous pesticides
https://hienalouca.com/2019/01/14/city-gardens-have-become-havens-for-bees-driven-off-farm-land-by-pesticides-and-lack-of-flowers/
Main photo article Bees driven off farm land due to changes in their natural environments are finding refuge in the ‘posh’ urban gardens of the middle classes.
Private green areas inside towns and cities, as well as communal spaces like allotments and parks, have become safe spaces for the pollinating ...
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Emily Ratajkowski is a showman, on and off the stage. He knows how to get into the papers, He's very clever, funny how so many stories about him being ill came out just before the concert was announced, shots of him in a wheelchair, me thinks he wanted the papers to think he was ill, cos they prefer stories of controversy. Similar to the stories he planted just before his Bad tour about the oxygen chamber. Worked a treat lol. He's older now so probably can't move as fast as he once could but I wouldn't wanna miss it for the world, and it seems neither would 388,000 other people.
Dianne Reeves US News HienaLouca
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