Pollinating insects, such as bees, seem to prefer richer areas. This may be because gardens in wealthier areas typically have a wider range of flowers.
A team surveyed the distribution of plants and pollinating insects in four cities in the UK: Bristol, Edinburgh, Leeds and Reading. They found that residential, allotments and community gardens supported a greater abundance of pollinators than other types of urban land, such as parks and road verges.
鈥淭his is consistent with the so-called 鈥榣uxury effect鈥� whereby socioeconomic status is often positively correlated with urban biodiversity,鈥澛爓rote the team in their paper. 鈥淚n our case, the effect is driven by the greater quality of floral resources for pollinators in wealthier neighbourhoods.鈥�
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Up to 50 times more bees were found in gardens than in areas with man-made surfaces including car parks and industrial estates. The authors recommend increasing the number of flowers in parks and other public green spaces and providing more allotments in towns and cities to increase the number of pollinating insects.
鈥淏y understanding the impact of each urban land use on pollinators, whether it鈥檚 gardens, allotments, road verges or parks, we can make cities better places for pollinators,鈥� says聽Jane Memmott at the University of Bristol, who runs the Urban Pollinators Project.
Nature Ecology & Evolution
