scholarly journals Where Is the UK’s Pollinator Biodiversity? The Importance of Urban Areas for Flower-Visiting Insects

2016 ◽  
pp. 149-172 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Urban Areas ◽  
Flower Visiting

Pollinator gardens more than triple in visitation rate and diversity of flower-visiting insects than other ornamental plantings in Kingston, Ontario

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marika Vogelzang
Keyword(s):  
Urban Areas ◽  
Unit Area ◽  
The Other ◽  
Individual Plant ◽  
University Campus ◽  
Pollinator Visitation ◽  
Visitation Rate ◽  
Queen's University ◽  
Flower Visiting ◽  
Pollinator Populations

In this study I determined the effectiveness of pollinator gardens by testing if visitation rate and diversity of flower-visiting insects is higher in pollinator gardens compared to other ornamental plantings. I observed pollinator visitation for individual plant taxa, per unit area, in three different pollinator gardens, eight ornamental gardens and eight ornamental planters on the Queen’s University campus in Kingston, Ontario, Canada. Visitation was about 4- times higher in pollinator gardens compared to the other two ornamental garden types and visitor richness (the number of types of pollinators) in pollinator gardens was about 6- times higher compared to ornamental gardens, and about 3- times higher compared toornamental planters. The results of this study conclude that the planting of pollinator gardens is an effective way of supporting pollinator populations in urban areas.

scholarly journals Recover and They’ll Come: Flower Visiting Bees Benefit from the Continuous of Micro-Environments Set by Regenerating Forest Fragments

Sociobiology ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 68 (1) ◽  
pp. 5861
Author(s):  
Ana Isabel Sobreiro ◽  
Lucas Lopes da Silveira Peres ◽  
Jessica Amaral Henrique ◽  
Rosilda Mara Mussury ◽  
Valter Vieira Alves-Junior
Keyword(s):  
Urban Areas ◽  
Environmental Changes ◽  
Climatic Conditions ◽  
Agricultural Activity ◽  
Forest Fragments ◽  
Forest Types ◽  
Continuous Forest ◽  
Flower Visiting ◽  
Bee Communities ◽  
Forest Habitats

Forest habitats are important sources of food and nesting resources for pollinators, primarily in urban areas and landscapes with intense agricultural activity. The forest fragmentation and environmental changes occurring in these green refuges are known to impose survival challenges to pollinating bees, leading to species loss. However, it is not well known how the species of bees that visit flowers are distributed in forest micro-environments. To fill this gap, we sampled flower visiting bees in a continuous forest matrix with micro-environments of two forest types (mature and regenerating forest). We examined how the local environmental changes and climatic conditions affect the composition and uniformity of bee communities in the different micro-environments. Our results indicated that both abundance and richness were similar between forest types studied here, however climatic conditions and plant flowering patterns affect the composition of bees. Thus, our results demonstrated that the continuous micro-environments can favor floral visits and the reintegration of bee communities, and still, that this strategy can be used to minimize the impacts of environmental changes at local scales.

scholarly journals Quantifying the attractiveness of garden flowers for pollinators

2019 ◽  
Vol 23 (5-6) ◽  
pp. 803-817 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rosi Rollings ◽  
Dave Goulson
Keyword(s):  
Urban Areas ◽  
Native Species ◽  
Early Spring ◽  
Solitary Bees ◽  
Insect Communities ◽  
Insect Visitation ◽  
Pollinating Insects ◽  
Flower Visiting ◽  
Myosotis Arvensis ◽  
A Site

Abstract There is great interest in planting urban areas to benefit pollinating insects, with the potential that urban areas and gardens could act as an extensive network of pollinator-friendly habitats. However, there are a great many different plant cultivars available to the gardener, and a paucity of evidence-based advice as to which plants are truly most attractive to flower-visiting insects. Here, we report insect visitation to metre square plots of 111 different ornamental plant cultivars at a site in central UK. Data were collected over 5 years, and comprise over 9000 insect observations, which were identified to species (for honeybees and bumblebees) or as ‘solitary bees’, Syrphidae, Lepidoptera and ‘others’. Unlike some previous studies, we found no difference in numbers of insects attracted to native or non-native species, or according to whether plants were annuals, biennials or perennials, but we did find that native plants attracted a significantly higher diversity of flower-visiting insects. Overall, the most-visited plants were Calamintha nepeta, Helenium autumnale and Geranium rozanne. However, patterns of visitation were quite different for every insect taxa examined. For example, different species of short-tongued bumblebees showed little overlap in their most-preferred plant cultivars. Interestingly, very similar plant cultivars often attracted different insect communities; for example, 72% of visitors to Aster novi belgii were honeybees or bumblebees, while the related Anthemis tinctoria, which also has daisy-like flowers, did not attract a single honeybee or bumblebee but was popular with solitary bees, hoverflies, and ‘other’ pollinators. Some plant cultivars such as Eryngium planum and Myosotis arvensis were attractive to a broad range of insects, while others attracted only a few species but sometimes in large numbers, such as Veronicastrum virginicum and Helenium autumnale which were both visited predominantly by honey bees. It is clear that we do not yet fully understand what factors drive insect flower preferences. Recommendations are made as to which flower cultivars could be combined to provide forage for a diversity of pollinator groups over the season from early spring to autumn, though it must be born in mind that some plants are likely to perform differently when grown in different environmental conditions.

scholarly journals Most ornamental plants on sale in garden centres are unattractive to flower-visiting insects

PeerJ ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
pp. e3066 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mihail Garbuzov ◽  
Karin Alton ◽  
Francis L.W. Ratnieks
Keyword(s):  
Consumer Choice ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Plant Cover ◽  
Ornamental Plants ◽  
Absolute Number ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Flower Visiting ◽  
One Year ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The Right

Background Gardeners and park managers seeking to support biodiversity in urban areas often plant ornamentals attractive to flower-visiting insects. There is a huge diversity of garden plant varieties, and some recommendations are available as to which are attractive to insects. However, these are largely not based on rigorous empirical data. An important factor in consumer choice is the range of varieties available for purchase. In the UK, garden centres are a key link in the supply chain between growers and private gardens. This study is the first to determine the proportions of flowering ornamentals being sold that are attractive to flower-visiting insects. Methods We surveyed six garden centres in Sussex, UK, each over two days in 2015, by making 12 counts of insects visiting patches of each ornamental plant on display for sale that was in bloom. To provide a consistent baseline among different locations, we brought with us and surveyed marjoram (Origanum vulgare) plants in pots, which are known to be attractive to a wide range of flower-visiting insects. The attractiveness of plant varieties to insects was then expressed in two ways: the absolute number and relative to that on marjoram (‘marjoram score’), both per unit area of plant cover. In addition, we noted whether each variety was recommended as pollinator-friendly either via a symbol on the label, or by being included in the Royal Horticultural Society’s ‘Perfect for Pollinators’ list. Furthermore, we compared the attractiveness of plants that are typically grown for more than one year versus only one year. Results We surveyed 59–74 plant varieties in bloom across the six garden centres. In each garden centre, the distributions of variety attractiveness were highly skewed to the right, with most varieties being relatively unattractive, and few varieties highly attractive to flower-visiting insects. The median attractiveness of varieties with a recommendation was 4.2× higher than that of varieties without. But, due to the large variation there was a substantial number of both poor varieties that had a recommendation and good varieties that did not. Median attractiveness of multi-year plants was 1.6× that of single-year plants, with a similar overlap in distributions. Discussion Our study demonstrates the practicality of carrying out plant surveys in garden centres. Garden centres display large numbers of varieties for sale, most of which are in bloom. Furthermore, data gathered in garden centres appear to correlate well with data gathered in two previous studies in Sussex for plants established in gardens. Although it is unclear whether the varieties being sold in garden centres are a fair representation of varieties that are actually grown by gardeners, our results suggest that there might be considerable scope for making parks and gardens considerably more insect-friendly through judicious variety choices.

scholarly journals Where is the UK's pollinator biodiversity? The importance of urban areas for flower-visiting insects

2015 ◽  
Vol 282 (1803) ◽  
pp. 20142849 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katherine C. R. Baldock ◽  
Mark A. Goddard ◽  
Damien M. Hicks ◽  
William E. Kunin ◽  
Nadine Mitschunas ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Species Richness ◽  
Plant Species ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Nature Reserves ◽  
Flower Visitation ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Landscape Types ◽  
Flower Visiting ◽  
Urban Sites ◽  
Number Of Plant Species

Insect pollinators provide a crucial ecosystem service, but are under threat. Urban areas could be important for pollinators, though their value relative to other habitats is poorly known. We compared pollinator communities using quantified flower-visitation networks in 36 sites (each 1 km 2 ) in three landscapes: urban, farmland and nature reserves. Overall, flower-visitor abundance and species richness did not differ significantly between the three landscape types. Bee abundance did not differ between landscapes, but bee species richness was higher in urban areas than farmland. Hoverfly abundance was higher in farmland and nature reserves than urban sites, but species richness did not differ significantly. While urban pollinator assemblages were more homogeneous across space than those in farmland or nature reserves, there was no significant difference in the numbers of rarer species between the three landscapes. Network-level specialization was higher in farmland than urban sites. Relative to other habitats, urban visitors foraged from a greater number of plant species (higher generality) but also visited a lower proportion of available plant species (higher specialization), both possibly driven by higher urban plant richness. Urban areas are growing, and improving their value for pollinators should be part of any national strategy to conserve and restore pollinators.

Management of minor ailments in primary schoolchildren in rural and urban areas

1996 ◽  
Vol 22 (3) ◽  
pp. 167-174
Author(s):  
J A Cantrill ◽  
B Johannesson ◽  
M Nicholson ◽  
P R Noyce
Keyword(s):  
Urban Areas ◽  
Rural And Urban Areas ◽  
Rural And Urban ◽  
Primary Schoolchildren ◽  
Minor Ailments

Cannabis use in Switzerland: The role of attribution of drug use to friends, urbanization and repression 1The study was supported by the Swiss Federal Office of Public Health (Bundesamt für Gesundheit BAG) Grant 316.96.5980.

2001 ◽  
Vol 60 (2) ◽  
pp. 99-107 ◽  
Author(s):  
Holger Schmid
Keyword(s):  
Drug Use ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Hierarchical Linear Model ◽  
Cannabis Use ◽  
School Aged Children ◽  
Structural Variables ◽  
Hbsc Study ◽  
Nationally Representative ◽  
Highly Correlated ◽  
Individual Use

Cannabis use does not show homogeneous patterns in a country. In particular, urbanization appears to influence prevalence rates, with higher rates in urban areas. A hierarchical linear model (HLM) was employed to analyze these structural influences on individuals in Switzerland. Data for this analysis were taken from the Switzerland survey of Health Behavior in School-Aged Children (HBSC) Study, the most recent survey to assess drug use in a nationally representative sample of 3473 15-year-olds. A total of 1487 male and 1620 female students indicated their cannabis use and their attributions of drug use to friends. As second level variables we included address density in the 26 Swiss Cantons as an indicator of urbanization and officially recorded offences of cannabis use in the Cantons as an indicator of repressive policy. Attribution of drug use to friends is highly correlated with cannabis use. The correlation is even more pronounced in urban Cantons. However, no association between recorded offences and cannabis use was found. The results suggest that structural variables influence individuals. Living in an urban area effects the attribution of drug use to friends. On the other hand repressive policy does not affect individual use.

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