Influence of the reduction of urban lawn mowing on wild bee diversity (Hymenoptera, Apoidea)

Wastian, Laura; Unterweger, Philipp; Betz, Oliver

doi:10.3897/jhr.49.7929

Cited by 64 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 15 publications

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“…Regarding the vegetation of the sites, the restoration treatments increased plant species richness by adding a considerable pool of native dry-grassland species (Fischer, von der Lippe & Kowarik, 2013) and resulted in an increased floral diversity (Senße, 2013). This is in line with a study that revealed the positive effect of increased floral diversity for bumblebee and hoverfly abundances in amenity grassland (Blackmore & Goulson, 2014) and findings of Wastian, Unterweger & Betz (2016). Whereas Hanley, Awbi & Franco (2014) showed for urban gardens that bumblebees have no dietary preference for native or non-native plants, there is also evidence from highly disturbed sites (roadverges), where restoration of the native vegetation especially resulted in increased bee richness (Hopwood, 2008).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 87%

Disentangling urban habitat and matrix effects on wild bee species

Fischer

Eichfeld

Kowarik

et al. 2016

PeerJ

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In face of a dramatic decline of wild bee species in many rural landscapes, potential conservation functions of urban areas gain importance. Yet effects of urbanization on pollinators, and in particular on wild bees, remain ambiguous and not comprehensively understood. This is especially true for amenity grassland and extensively managed wastelands within large-scale residential housing areas. Using Berlin as a study region, we aimed to investigate (a) if these greenspaces are accepted by wild bee assemblages as foraging habitats; (b) how assemblage structure of bees and individual bee species are affected by different habitat (e.g., management, flower density) and urban matrix variables (e.g., isolation, urbanization); and (c) to what extent grassland restoration can promote bees in urban environments. In summer 2012, we collected 62 bee species belonging to more than 20% of the taxa known for Berlin. Urbanization significantly affected species composition of bees; 18 species were affiliated to different levels of urbanization. Most bee species were not affected by any of the environmental variables tested, and urbanization had a negative effect only for one bee species. Further, we determined that restoration of diverse grasslands positively affected bee species richnesss in urban environments. We conclude that differently structured and managed greenspaces in large-scale housing areas can provide additional foraging habitats and refuges for pollinators. This supports approaches towards a biodiversity friendly management within urban regions and may be of particular importance given that anthropogenic pressure is increasing in many rural landscapes.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 87%

Disentangling urban habitat and matrix effects on wild bee species

Fischer

Eichfeld

Kowarik

et al. 2016

PeerJ

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“…This initiative has been dubbed ''No Mow May'' and led researchers to follow up with an ''Every Flower Counts'' community initiative to document which flowers were common to their blooming lawns. Additionally, previous work has shown that reducing mowing intensity will have positive impacts on urban bee abundance and diversity (Lerman et al, 2018, Wastian et al 2016 but it remains unclear how generalizable these results are. Other initiatives that promote the creation of bee habitat in urban landscapes include the ''Lawns to Legumes'' project Minnesota (https://bwsr.state.mn.us/l2l) and the Xerces Society's and National Pollinator Network's ''Million Pollinator Garden Project'' (http://millionpollinatorgardens.org/).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

No Mow May lawns have higher pollinator richness and abundances: An engaged community provides floral resources for pollinators

Toro

Ribbons

2020

PeerJ

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No Mow May is a community science initiative popularized in recent years that encourages property owners to limit their lawn mowing practices during the month of May. The goal of No Mow May is to provide early season foraging resources for pollinators that emerge in the spring, especially in urban landscapes when few floral resources are available. We worked with the city council of Appleton, Wisconsin, USA. to allow No Mow May to take place in May 2020. Four hundred and thirty-five property owners registered for No Mow May in Appleton. We measured floral and bee richness and abundance in the yards of a subset of homes (N = 20) located near regularly mowed urban parks (N = 15) at the end of the month. We found that homes that participated in No Mow May had more diverse and abundant flora than regularly mowed green spaces throughout the city. No Mow May homes had three times higher bee richness and five times higher bee abundances than frequently mowed greenspaces. Using generalized linear models, we found that the best predictor of bee richness was the size of the designated unmowed area, and the best predictors of bee abundances were the size of the unmowed area as well as floral richness. While our findings cannot conclusively attribute increases in bee abundances and richness to the No Mow May efforts, our data does show that bee pollinators make use of no mow spaces as key floral resources during early spring in the upper midwestern United States. A post-No Mow May survey revealed that the participants were keen to increase native floral resources in their yards, increase native bee nesting habitat, reduce mowing intensities, and limit herbicide, pesticide, and fertilizer applications to their lawns. The No Mow May initiative educated an engaged community on best practices to improve the conservation of urban pollinators in future years.

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“…The results of this study in combination with the authors' previous results (Ade et al 2012, Hiller and Betz 2014, Kricke et al 2014, Wastian et al 2016, Unterweger et al 2017b) suggest an adapted management regime under additional considerations of sink and source dynamics (e.g. Pulliam 1988, Howe et al 1991, Watkinson and Sutherland 1995 and metapopulation models (e.g.…”

Section: Adapted Mowing Concept To Stabilise and Expand Insect Populasupporting

confidence: 70%

“…The studies of these previous experimental setups (Ade et al 2012, Hiller and Betz 2014, Kricke et al 2014, Wastian et al 2016, Unterweger et al 2017b) underline the ecological value of management reduction for insect biodiversity. These studies have revealed significantly higher numbers of species and individuals on meadows cut twice a year in combination with the removal of the biomass compared with lawns cut monthly.…”

Section: Adapted Mowing Concept To Stabilise and Expand Insect Populamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…once to twice a year) to raise and stabilise both insect species diversity and biomass during the growing season. In the research area in Tübingen (south Germany), the above-mentioned studies of Ade et al (2012), Hiller and Betz (2014), Kricke et al (2014), Wastian et al (2016), Unterweger et al (2017b) that were performed in the framework of the Initiative Bunte Wiese (i.e. "The colourful meadow initiative") and of Unterweger andBraun (2015, 2017), , Unterweger (2017) form the baseline and provide the motivation of this current study.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Insect hibernation on urban green land: a winter-adapted mowing regime as a management tool for insect conservation

Unterweger¹,

Klammer²,

Unger³

et al. 2018

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Citation: Unterweger PA, Klammer J, Unger M, Betz O (2018) Insect hibernation on urban green land: a winter-adapted mowing regime as a management tool for insect conservation. BioRisk 13: 1-29. https://doi.org/10.3897/biorisk.13.22316 AbstractInsect conservation is challenging on various ecological scales. One largely neglected aspect is the quality of undisturbed hibernation sites. This study aims to fill a lack of knowledge concerning insect hibernation on uncut meadows persisting in urban green spaces during the winter season in a middle-sized town in south Germany. During two years of sampling, 13,511 insect specimens of the orders Heteroptera, Hymenoptera, Coleoptera and Diptera were caught from their winter stands. The specimens were assigned to 120 families and 140 taxonomic species were determined from the orders Heteroptera, Coleoptera and Diptera and 324 morphotypes from the orders Hymenoptera, Coleoptera and Diptera. The data indicate the importance of winter fallows for insect hibernation. Unmown meadows offer additional plant structures in winter (flower heads, stems, tufts and leaves) that are absent from mown ones. This increased structural diversity results in both higher species diversity and numbers of insect individuals during spring emergence. The results of this study thus emphasise the value of unmown structures for insect conservation and suggest a mosaic-like cutting maintenance of meadows, way-and river-sides and other green infrastructure in both the urban area and the open landscape.

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Influence of the reduction of urban lawn mowing on wild bee diversity (Hymenoptera, Apoidea)

Cited by 64 publications

References 15 publications

Disentangling urban habitat and matrix effects on wild bee species

Disentangling urban habitat and matrix effects on wild bee species

No Mow May lawns have higher pollinator richness and abundances: An engaged community provides floral resources for pollinators

Insect hibernation on urban green land: a winter-adapted mowing regime as a management tool for insect conservation

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