City-living bees benefit most from specific types of urban ‘greening’
Study suggests native bees, wasps thrive in large green spaces, flowering prairies
Science Daily
Ohio State University
July 29, 2021
Excerpt:
Converting vacant urban lots into greenspaces can reduce blight and improve neighborhoods, and new research shows that certain types of such post-industrial reclamation efforts offer the added bonus of benefiting bees.
Ohio State University researchers studying ways to encourage biodiversity in vacant urban lots found that experimental plots surrounded by 15 or more connected acres of greenspace and flowering prairies containing native plants created conditions most conducive to the conservation of native bees and predatory wasps.
These insects are important for pollination and insect pest control, two ecosystem services that benefit both rural farmland and the growing urban agricultural industry. Estimates suggest Cleveland, Ohio, where the research was conducted, is home to over 200 community farms and gardens.
“Both urban and rural farms require pollinators for efficient crop productivity because bee visitations can enhance crop quality and quantity,” said Katie Turo, first author of the study and recent PhD graduate from Ohio State’s Department of Entomology.