Bees Under Threat From Urbanisation

Residential gardens are a poor substitute for native bushland and increasing urbanisation is a growing threat when it comes to bees, Curtin University research has found.

Published in Urban Ecosystems, the research looked at bee visits to flowers, which form pollination networks across different native bushland and home garden habitats.

Lead author of Urban Ecosystems, Forrest Foundation Scholar Kit Prendergast, from Curtin’s School of Molecular and Life Sciences, said the findings highlight the need to prevent destruction of remaining bushland and preserve native vegetation, in order to protect sustainable bee communities and their pollination services.

Jeff Bullen chats to Kit Prendergast how the research was conducted, the interactions and effects of introduced bees on native species, and what we can do to improve the situation.

on the record bees 22-2-21