City-Living Bees Benefit Most from Specific Types of Urban ‘Greening’
Published:02 Aug.2021 Source:Ohio State University
Converting vacant urban lots into greenspaces can reduce blight and improve neighborhoods, and new research shows that certain types of such post-industrial reclamation efforts offer the added bonus of benefiting bees.
Ohio State University researchers studying ways to encourage biodiversity in vacant urban lots found that experimental plots surrounded by 15 or more connected acres of greenspace and flowering prairies containing native plants created conditions most conducive to the conservation of native bees and predatory wasps. These insects are important for pollination and insect pest control, two ecosystem services that benefit both rural farmland and the growing urban agricultural industry. Estimates suggest Cleveland, Ohio, where the research was conducted, is home to over 200 community farms and gardens.