Active management of urban fruit orchard meadows is important for insect diversity

Rada, Patrik; Bogusch, Petr; Pech, Pavel; Pavlíček, Jan; Rom, Jiří; Horák, Jakub

doi:10.1016/j.ecoleng.2022.106833

Cited by 3 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 72 publications

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“…Two specialists of rotten wood (Anthophora furcata and Xylocopa violacea) and the resin specialist Anthidiellum strigatum were only found here. Although, we know of only one other study from urban orchard meadows (Rada et al, 2023), meadow orchards in general (usually located in the surroundings of small villages far from cities) have been found to be important wild bee habitats in other parts of Germany and Europe (Steffan-Dewenter, 2003;Steffan-Dewenter and Leschke, 2003;Schwenninger and Wolf-Schwenninger, 2012;Horak et al, 2013;Saure, 2016).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Holistic wild bee management in urban spaces

Weissmann,

Rader,

Ritz

et al. 2023

Front. Sustain. Cities

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Projects promoting bees in urban areas are initiated in cities around the world but evidence-based conservation concepts at a city-wide scale are scarce. We developed a holistic approach for assessment of bee and flowering plant diversity in a medium-sized city. In addition to standard mapping approaches in bee hotspots, we initiated citizen science projects for participative urban bee research to be able to collect comprehensive bee data across the entire city. We identified 22 hotspots of bee diversity, analyzed connectivity between those hotspots and evaluated the impact of flower patches planted in collaboration with the municipal gardens department as stepping stones for oligolectic bee species throughout the city. Participation by urban citizens in bee identification trainings was high (c. 630 persons) but their subsequent contribution through observation reports was relatively low (1,165 records by 140 observers). However, we identified a total of 139 bee taxa, seven of them only discovered by citizen scientists. Total species richness was higher in extensively managed orchards than in semi-natural and wasteland areas. Half of the stepping stone flower patches were occupied by the target oligolectic bee species in the year of planting. After 3 years, all but two species could be confirmed. We suggest a 5-step concept for bee management in cities: (1) identification of bee hotspots combined with standardized surveys, especially of rare species; (2) training of citizen scientists at two different levels for comprehensive surveys in all parts of the city: (a) half-day introductions to wild bee diversity, ecology and conservation in order to create more awareness and (b) 2-weeks workshops for in-depth training of a small number of dedicated citizen scientists; (3) extensive management of existing habitats and special conservation programs for very rare species; (4) creation of high-value habitats which take into account the varied resource needs of bees within flight ranges of only a few hundred meters; (5) creation of stepping stone habitats as floral and nesting resources, integrating educative and participative aspects.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Holistic wild bee management in urban spaces

Weissmann,

Rader,

Ritz

et al. 2023

Front. Sustain. Cities

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First steps of pollinator-promoting interventions in Eastern European urban areas – positive outcomes, challenges, and recommendations

Süle,

Kovács-Hostyánszki,

Sárospataki

et al. 2023

Urban Ecosyst

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Urbanisation has a strong role in pollinator decline, while properly managed green spaces could promote pollinators – especially bees and butterflies – by providing foraging and nesting habitats in cities. In public spaces, several opportunities exist to help pollinators including rare mowing, flower strip sowing, and bee hotel establishment. However, pollinator-promoting interventions are almost lacking and still understudied in Eastern Europe. We aimed to investigate the impact of rare mowing and annual flower-sowing interventions on pollinators, floral resources, and vegetation attributes in three case studies within Hungary. We compared treatment (extensively mown or sown) and control (intensively mown) site pairs during five sampling occasions within a season. We found positive, but due to the severe drought and management inaccuracies relatively minor effect of both interventions. The extensively mown sites presented higher and greener vegetation with more flowers and pollinators. The sown flower patches provided floral resources and supported the pollinators in the second half of the season, while they were scarcely visited in spring and early summer due to the annual soil scarification and re-sowing. Although the two types of interventions could complement each other during the season, there is room for further improvements. To reach resilient urban ecosystems against climate and environmental changes, we recommend using primarily native and mostly perennial seeds, combining intervention types, planning for the long-term, and avoiding management inaccuracies (e.g. unplanned mowing). Promoting and monitoring plant-pollinators systems may increase the diversity and human well-being in cities, while citizens’ involvement can facilitate these interventions.

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