Poorer neighbourhoods better for bees
9, June, Daily Telegraph
Gardens in poor neighbourhoods are better for bees than those in
richer suburban areas, research has revealed.The findings show suggest
that the tendency to keep up appearances in richer neighbourhoods by
carefully manicuring lawns and maintaining regimented flower beds may
actually be hampering attempts to restore bee populations in the
UK.Researchers at Leeds University found that gardens in poorer
neighbourhoods were visited by twice as many bees as those in richer
areas.
Dr Mark Goddard, who led the research, said: "We need to do more
research to work out exactly why there are double the number of bees in
the less wealthy areas but it could have something to do with the type
of flowers that people grow in wealthy areas."They tend to have bigger
gardens but also use a lot of bedding plants that do not provide much
wealth to pollinators.
"In poorer areas people tend to tolerate some of the more weed-like
plants, particularly clovers and dandelions on their lawns. There are
also more brownfield areas nearby that provide food and nesting
opportunities for bees."Certainly when I interviewed people, there was
more pressure in wealthy areas to keep up appearances by keeping lawns
cut short and maintaining flower beds.
People would knock on doors and say that their hedge was
overgrowing."The research suggests that making small changes to they way
people maintain their gardens could have a large impact on bee
populations.
Numbers of honeybees in the UK have halved in the last 25 years while
bumblebees have fallen by 60 per cent since 1970. Three species have
gone extinct and seven have suffered serious declines.Recent research
has suggested that planting the right kind of flowers in gardens can
help to halt the decline of British bees.
Scientists at the University of Sussex showed there was up to a 100
fold difference in the lure that popular garden plants can
have.Lavenders, borage and lilac sage were all found to be good for
attracting bees while favourite flowers such as geraniums and dahlias
were among the worst. By examining the gardens in six different
neighbourhoods from two suburban areas around Leeds, he found bees were
far more numerous in poorer areas dominated by council houses and
terraced buildings compared to richer areas with large houses with gated
driveways.
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