Activities per year
Abstract
Wild insect pollinators are essential to cultivated and natural ecosystems globally. Today, many pollinator species are declining. One reason is a general lack of flowering habitats at landscape scales. However, urban areas, including private gardens, may provide flowers, and constitute beneficial habitats for pollinators. Here, we evaluate the ecological outcomes of a citizen science campaign run by the Swedish Society for Nature Conservation (SSNC) (called “Operation: Save the bees”), encouraging citizens to incorporate interventions beneficial to wild pollinators (garden meadows, flower plantings, and bee hotels) in their gardens. Data on insect observations and flowering plants were collected through online questionnaires at the end of the growing season. In total, we received 3,758 responses for the three interventions. We found that participants were more likely to observe many pollinators (as opposed to few or none) in more species rich garden meadows, and in larger and older plantings. The surrounding environment also affected pollinator abundance: fewer pollinators were observed in plantings in dense urban areas. Direct counts of pollinators during 10-min surveys correlated strongly to the simplistic abundance assessment (none, few, or many insects seen over the summer season). Bee hotel occupancy was positively related to local flower availability and bee hotel age. Smaller nest holes (<10 mm) were more occupied than larger holes (11–15 mm) and hotels in rural gardens and natural/semi-natural sites were more occupied than those in urban gardens. This study demonstrates that flower-rich private gardens provide integral habitat for wild pollinators and that citizen science programs can provide a tool for implementing and evaluating conservation practices. However, longer lasting commitment resulting in older interventions are preferable and should be encouraged in future campaigns.
Original language | English |
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Article number | 1099100 |
Number of pages | 13 |
Journal | Frontiers in Sustainable Cities |
Volume | 4 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 2023 Jan 11 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:AP was funded by Formas (Grant no. 2019-01524). VH was partly funded by the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union's Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme (Grant Agreement no. 819374).
Publisher Copyright:
Copyright © 2023 Persson, Hederström, Ljungkvist, Nilsson and Kendall.
Subject classification (UKÄ)
- Ecology (including Biodiversity Conservation)
Free keywords
- bee hotel
- flower plantings
- garden meadow
- pollinator conservation
- urban green space (UGS)
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Dive into the research topics of 'Citizen science initiatives increase pollinator activity in private gardens and green spaces'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.Activities
- 4 Media participation
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Allotment areas are important for biodiversity
Persson, A. (Interviewee)
2023 Aug 6Activity: Other › Media participation
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Ja, dina insatser för att stötta bina har effekt, visar studie
Persson, A. (Interviewee)
2023 Jun 8Activity: Other › Media participation
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Många blommor små – lokala trädgårdsinitiativ hjälper bina
Persson, A. (Interviewee)
2023 Jan 30Activity: Other › Media participation