https://phys.org/news/2025-03-wild-bees-diverse-communities.html
'Spring is approaching in the northern hemisphere, and with it come the
perennial considerations about which kinds of flowers to plant and where. These
questions go far beyond mere aesthetics. Flowers are an essential source of
food for birds and insects, including the dozens upon dozens of species of wild
bees found in most cities. For them, what's on the menu is a matter of life or
death.
The relationship between flower species and pollinator populations matters
deeply to urban biodiversity. In a study published in the journal
Ecological
Applications, Concordia researchers have looked at how certain floral
characteristics interplay with urban bee populations.
They found that a diversity of size and shape of the corolla—the tube-like
structure formed by a ring of petals around the flower's center, where nectar
is typically stored—in the urban flower community has a positive relationship
with wild bee biodiversity. The more diverse the urban flower population, the
richer the wild bee population.
"We know that flowers are an important source of nutrition for bees, but not
all flowers are created equal," says the study's corresponding author Carly
Ziter, an associate professor in the Department of Biology in the Faculty of
Arts and Science.
"Having a high diversity of flowers is a key to supporting bee populations, but
our research goes one step further to show a possible mechanism: that having a
diversity of floral species is important because they have different shapes and
sizes.
"This follows the idea of size-matching, where corollas are the right size for
a certain type of bee's proboscis or tongue, allowing it to effectively connect
to the flower's nectar. So, whether a bee has a short or longer proboscis, they
will be able to access the nutrition they need if there are multiple kinds of
flower morphology nearby."'
Via Susan ****
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
