Ecology of Urban Bees: A Review of Current Knowledge and Directions for Future Study

Abstract

Urban bee ecology is an emerging field that holds promise for advancing knowledge of bee community dynamics and promoting bee conservation. Published studies of bee communities in urban and suburban habitats are fewer than those documenting bees in agricultural and wildland settings. As land lost to urbanization is predicted to increase in coming years the necessity of studying urban bee populations is growing. We reviewed 59 publications on urban bee ecology with the following goals, to assess current knowledge, to highlight areas in need of further research, and to suggest applications of study findings to bee conservation. Identified trends in urban areas included the following, negative correlation between bee species richness and urban development, increase in abundance of cavity-nesters in urban habitats, and scarcity of floral specialists. Future directions for studying urban bee ecology include incorporation of landscape-scale assessments, conducting manipulative experiments and actively designing urban bee habitats.

Buzzing on top: Linking wild bee diversity, abundance and traits with green roof qualities

“…It was difficult to determine whether ground nesting or above-ground nesting was the most typical nesting trait, but the latter were more abundant. Above-ground nesting wild bee species are typical of urban areas (reviewed in Hernandez et al 2009), because the high density of vertical structures offers many potential nesting sites (Cane 2005). Further, we reported aboveground nesting wild bees in higher diversity (43.3% of species) compared to ground level habitats in Vienna, comprising 20 to 32% of above-ground nesting species (Hölzler 2004;Pachinger 2008;Zettel et al 2013).…”

Bumblebees in the city: abundance, species richness and diversity in two urban habitats

“…Several studies have shown that bumblebees can colonize urban areas with a relatively small cover of green space (e.g. Tommasi et al 2004;Matteson et al 2008;Hernandez et al 2009;Matteson and Langellotto 2010). This makes bumblebees especially valuable as providers of ecosystem services in an urban context.…”

Wild bees along an urban gradient: winners and losers

“…Urban environments are mosaics of habitats that are regularly disturbed and communities need to be dynamic to adapt to disturbances imposed by human activities (Sattler et al 2010). However, little is still known about the effects of urbanization on the richness and composition of bee communities (Cane 2005a;Hernandez et al 2009). Moreover, further research needs to be made on trait variation in relation to urbanization.…”