Pollinator Conservation: Gardens
Pollinators require two essential components in their habitat:
somewhere to nest and flowers from which to gather nectar and pollen.
Native plants are undoubtedly the best source of food for pollinators,
because plants and their pollinators have coevolved. Many varieties of
garden plants are also good for these important insects.
In many landscapes, flowers have been pushed to the margins,
surviving on roadsides and field edges, as well as in wild areas and
gardens. Providing patches of flowers is one thing we can do to improve
the environment for pollinators. Creating foraging habitat not only
helps the bees, butterflies and flies that pollinate these plants, but
also results in beautiful, appealing landscapes.
Three things you can do to enhance pollinators in your garden are:
- provide a range of native flowering plants that bloom throughout the growing season
- create nest sites for native bees (see our fact sheet for instructions)
- avoid using pesticides
Read More Pollinator Gardens full article
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Bee decline linked to falling biodiversity |
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Wednesday, 20 January 2010 The decline of honeybees seen in many countries may be caused by reduced plant diversity, research suggests. 
By Richard Black Environment correspondent, BBC News website Bees fed pollen from a range of plants showed signs of having a healthier immune system than those eating pollen from a single type, scientists found. Writing in the journal Biology Letters, the French team says that bees need a fully functional immune system in order to sterilise food for the colony. The most spectacular losses have been seen in the US where entire colonies have been wiped out, leading to the term colony collapse disorder. Read More.... |
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Co-op bans eight pesticides after worldwide beehive collapse |
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First UK supermarket chain – and Britain's biggest farmer – to prohibit chemicals implicated in the death of over one-third of British bees 
By Alison Benjamin guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 28 January 2009 11.40 GMT The Co-op today became the first UK supermarket to ban the use of a group of pesticides implicated in billions of honeybee deaths worldwide. Laboratory tests suggest that one of the banned chemicals, imidacloprid, can impede honeybees' sophisticated communication and navigation systems. It has been banned in France for a decade as a seed dressing on sunflowers. Italy, Slovenia and Germany banned neonicotinoids last year after the loss of millions of honeybees. And the European Parliament voted earlier this month for tougher controls on bee-toxic chemicals. Read More... |
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Saving Earth From the Ground Up |
Saving Earth From the Ground UpBiologist Edward O. Wilson Warns of a Bleak World Without BugsBy Adrian Higgins
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, June 30, 2007; Page C01
"It's a bad thing when any species is at risk," Wilson said of [colony collapse disorder]. "But in a sense it's the Katrina of entomology." It has brought a public awareness to the plight of pollinators, which Wilson calls "the heart of the biosphere." |
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San Francisco Urban Beekeepers |
S.F. Beekeepers Reap a Sweet Reward
This is a great article on the growing number of San Francisco urban beekeepers
Meredith May, Chronicle Staff Writer
Monday, October 8, 2007 "You wouldn't know that there are so many hives in the city, because beekeepers like to stay under the radar," said Bryon Waibel, as he maneuvered a wagon of hives around a cluster of homeless men sleeping on a South of Market sidewalk one recent morning. |
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