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Habitat Management for Native Bees
Why Native Bees:
Native bees can be found on practically every continent and are vital to many ecosystems. However, for the purposes of this page, we will be focusing only on native pollinators in North America, dispite the fact that native bees across the globe are in danger. Native bees are very diverse, ranging from solitary to asocial, and general to very specific. Solitary bees are characterized by living alone or in small groups.The majority of the 4000 species (Wilson-Rich, 2014) in North America are solitary, excluding the few, such as bumblebees, who are asocial and live in hives. Additionally, there are a few species that specialize to one or a couple native plants. These bees will exclusively pollinate those plants, and more often than not are in co-evolutionary relationships. Due to these interactions, native pollinators are often better at pollinating plants in their own habitat than honey bees or other generalist species can. These interdependences make them essential to the health of their habitat and life around them.
Cob Wall on the UMD campus: a urban habitat for native mason and mining bees. Picture taken by the author of this site
As opposed to honey bees, many native bees also suffer from the plight of obscurity in the eyes of the general public. From a poll done at the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs at a conference on a proposed “Pollinator Health Action Plan”. Of the 972 collected survey results, 50% of the comments referred only to bees without being specific, 11% referred to honeybees, only 2.5% referred to wild, native bees, and the rest did not explicitly mention bees. While the members of the study might only have been mentioning bees as a general umbrella for native and honey bees, there is still surprisingly little that specifically mentioned native bees at a conference for their conservation (Potts et. al., 2016). While this is not a representation of the population as a whole, it still can prove insight into how native bees are overlooked.
Building Habitats:
Climate change and habitat loss are undoubtedly the primary reasons of native bee decline. The creation and maintenance of native habitats is the primary focus of those who advocate for native bee conservation. Major contributors to this problem include urbanization and land-use change. Pollinators' habitats are fractured as a result of urbanization, forcing them to confine their interactions and foraging to a smaller, more homogonous area. Habitat fragmentation, as it is often known, is a main cause of local pollinator and insect loss, and it is most widespread in low-biodiversity suburban regions. The solution can be found in "green spaces," which are areas comprised of native plants specifically designed for pollinators. Green spaces strategically placed between foraging and nesting locations can serve as a rest stop for pollinators where they can rest and mate outside their local habitat.
Large green spaces with many local plants and protected nesting areas are especially vital in cities and dense urban areas. In general, urban areas are poor habitats for bees and are usually populated by generalist species. More often than not, only a few native plants are available for the specialist species that might live in the area, causing them to be driven out. Rooftop gardens are the most common type of green spaces in cities since they are be easy to maintain and protect. Biodiverse lawns and flower gardens are the easiest things to produce in suburban areas and where additional green spaces are needed.
Green roofs in Vancover
DIY mason bee house made with reeds
Climate Change:
Climate change is another threat posed to pollinators. The most significant effect of climate change on bees is the unpredictable and erratic weather and temperatures.For the bees that maintain a colony, some years it might be too cold to survive winter while other years winter gets warm enough to make them think it's spring too early (Wilson-Rich, 2014). For solitary bees that hatch in the spring when it becomes a certain temperature, it is essential for their survival that they come out late enough to be able to mate and forage. When springs come early, they might not survive sudden cold days or fail to find food. For species like bumblebees, they have thick furry bodies that allow them to bear colder weather, so when it gets hotter overall, they might not be able to survive. Extreme weather events can destroy
Native squash bee in pumpkin blossum
Biodiversity and the Agricultural Industry:
Since native bees pollinate more effectively than honey bees, they can be used with honey bees to provide more efficient pollination. This is being tested in Washington with almond farms and mason bees. Mason bees are a solitary bee that tends to live in groups and are one of the easier native bees to manage. Though they are more time-consuming to maintain and more expensive, noticeable increases have been made in pollination rates from mason bees. Additionally, only 1000 mason bees are needed to pollinate the same amount as 30,000 honey bees (Jones 2015). Though there are still improvements to be made, like making it easier to buy mason bees, there have been promising advancements.
However, the lack of biodiversity in commercial farms must be addressed in order to take meaningful advances toward introducing native bees into the agricultural business. As stated on the “Honey Bees” page, modern farming's monoculturalism is detrimental to bee health for both native and honey bees. Crop rotation was common practice before industrialization to equalize the amount of nitrogen in the soil and maintain its fertility. While this is being done today, it is usually limited to smaller, "organic" farms. With the current machines and food demands, it is more profitable for modern farmers to plant the same crop every year (Wilson-Rich, 2014). This, combined with the use of herbicides to kill weeds, leaves little crop for native bees to forage on. Increase in land use from agriculture has also led to the stripping of forests and plants along the outside of plots. In the past, farmers planted hedgerows, or hedge fences, around the border of their property or field. These provided a space for habitats, served as a way point between green spaces, and reduced erosion of the soil. Even just a “10% increase in suitable bee habitats within a landscape can increase the diversity and number of wild bees by 37%” .(Wilson-Rich, 2014).
Challenging Alternative Positions
Opponents of focusing on just native bees argue that honey bees contribute the most to agriculture and our day to day lives so we should focus on conserving them instead. This argument is wrong for many reasons. Firstly being that native bees are a vital part of maintiaining the stability of many habitats. Additionally, native solitary bees are overall in more danger of extinction than honey bees in North America. Honey bees will always be able to survive since they can be managed by humans, while most native bees can not. Right now, a majority of the focus of bee conservation movements, like "Save the Bees", are focused on honey bees. Regardless of whether the focus is on native bees or not, there will always be some attention on honey bees as well.
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