Bees in the city
Sep. 17th, 2013 11:47 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
randy_byersVia the University of Wasington News and Information Office (hello, ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
wrdnrd), here's an interesting squib in the Guardian about a study of urban bees being conducted by researchers at the University of Washington. The study, which uses local gardeners ("citizen scientists") to gather data, is called the Urban Pollination Project.
What I found most interesting about all this is this claim by the Guardian: "The aim of the project is to understand which bumble bee and solitary bees are pollinating the city and to make conclusions about what bees need to survive in urban environments. This is important because with the growth of intensive agriculture production, the countryside is becoming less bee-friendly, so cities, with their community gardens and allotments and street trees and parks have the potential to become bee havens." I can't actually find anything on the UPP site that articulates this goal, but the idea of cities as bee havens is immediately appealing to me.
wrdnrd), here's an interesting squib in the Guardian about a study of urban bees being conducted by researchers at the University of Washington. The study, which uses local gardeners ("citizen scientists") to gather data, is called the Urban Pollination Project. What I found most interesting about all this is this claim by the Guardian: "The aim of the project is to understand which bumble bee and solitary bees are pollinating the city and to make conclusions about what bees need to survive in urban environments. This is important because with the growth of intensive agriculture production, the countryside is becoming less bee-friendly, so cities, with their community gardens and allotments and street trees and parks have the potential to become bee havens." I can't actually find anything on the UPP site that articulates this goal, but the idea of cities as bee havens is immediately appealing to me.
