Urbanisation is an expansive process and a majority of insects live in human-modified areas. At the same time, a decrease in pollinator species richness and abundance has recently been observed in Europe, which in turn may have serious ecological and economic consequences. This study investigates the abundance, species richness and functional traits of wild bees in urban city parks in comparison to natural areas. The aim of this research was to assess the potential conservation values of urban green areas for bees. The present study demonstrates that a large and diversified city park may be a favourable habitat for bees, comparable to the natural fauna both in terms of the number and abundance of bee species. However, the study also showed that there were differences in the occurrence of species with different functional traits in the city parks investigated and in the natural landscape.

There is growing concern about declines in pollinator species, and more recently reservations have been expressed about mismatch in plant-pollinator synchrony as a consequence of phenological change caused by rising temperatures. Long-term changes in honeybee Apis mellifera phenology may have major consequences for agriculture, especially the pollinator market, as well as for honey production. To date, these aspects have received only modest attention. In the current study, we examine honeybee and beekeeping activity in southern Poland for the period 1965–2010, supplemented by hive yields from a beekeeper in southern UK in the same period. We show that despite negative reports on honeybee condition, and documented climate change, the studied apiary managed to show a marked increase in honey production over the 46 year study period, as did that from the UK. The proportion of the annual yield originating from the first harvest decreased during the study period and was associated with rising temperatures in summer. Honeybee spring phenology showed strong negative relationships with temperature but no overall change through time because temperatures of key early spring months had not increased significantly. In contrast, increasing yields and an increased number of harvests (and hence a later final harvest and longer season) were detected and were related to rising temperatures in late spring and in summer.

1. The honeybee Apis mellifera is of huge worldwide economic importance in the pollination of crops for human consumption. In recent years, honeybee populations have declined under pressure from diseases and pests. Climate change is increasingly being viewed as an additional threat to honeybees and yet only limited research has been carried out in this area.2. This paper reports the advance of the first cleansing flight ('spring cleaning') of the honeybee in Poznań, Poland, i.e. flights to excrete faeces, over a month in the period 1985-2009. The timing of this flight is advanced not only by higher late winter/spring temperatures but also by higher temperatures in the previous summer and autumn.3. This earlier activity gives hope that the reported earlier flowering of many native and cultivated species will not cause a pollination synchrony crisis.

-The global loss of bee diversity and abundance is a central issue in conservation biology. There is increasing evidence that cities may play an important role in bee conservation, although urbanization may also have negative impacts. Here, we investigate individual body size variation and wing asymmetry (based on 11 traits) in the solitary bee Anthophora plumipes along a rural-urban gradient in Poland. The body size of captured individuals did not show any changes along the gradient. Directional asymmetry was present, since differences between sides in 10 out of 11 traits deviated significantly from zero, with the right-side wing traits being generally larger. In contrast to our expectations, the forewing was more asymmetric in rural than in suburban and urban areas. Similarly, the absolute asymmetry of 11 wing traits (i.e. pooling differences but ignoring direction) was also significantly greater in rural than in suburban and urban landscapes. Since asymmetry may be attributed to environmental pollution and food shortages, we conclude that the urban landscape provides bees with habitats of higher quality and thus should be considered as an important habitat for bee conservation.hymenoptera / Apoidea / bees / city / directional asymmetry

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