#pollinator conservation

[hope-for-the-planet]

"Great Day" For Bumblebees As Californian Court Rules That They Are Fish

It takes a bit of backstory to explain why this is good news.

Some endangered species laws were written before invertebrate conservation (insects, molluscs, etc.) was taken into consideration, so the language of the laws does not explicitly include these groups of animals. For example, the California Endangered Species Act states that endangered species can be mammals, birds, amphibians, reptiles, or fish.

Historically, aquatic invertebrates (lobster, clams, etc.) were included under the umbrella of “fish”, but courts have now ruled that terrestrial invertebrates can also be lumped into the “fish” category and therefore protected under the California Endangered Species Act.

Thanks to this ruling, threatened species of native bumblebee will now be able to receive legal protection.

[nerdyqueerandjewish]

Container Gardening With Keystones

CONTAINER GARDENING WITH KEYSTONES Why Container Garden with Keystone Plants? No Yard? No Problem! – you can still be an important part of r

If you want to support local insect populations but can't garden or landscape - here is a list of keystone (especially important to the food web) species that can be grown in containers for each eco-region in the US. This would work well for folks who live in apartments with balconies or who can put out hanging baskets or window boxes.

[confused-bumblebee]

Unpopular opinion?

Honeybees shouldn’t be the focus of pollinator conservation. Take it from an entomology student, honeybees often times actually hurt native pollinator populations.

Some facts about honeybees and their ecology in the US:

In case you don’t know, the most common honeybee species in the Unites States is actually an introduced species from Western Europe. It’s not a native species.

Honeybees are vast in population, and often out-compete other native pollinators for resources, such as food and shelter.

Honeybees actually really suck at pollination in comparison to native pollinators. Like really. It’s been shown to be detrimental to local plant reproduction to rely on honeybees for pollination.

Honeybees out-compete birds for nesting spots.

Honeybees were brought to the United States to be used as an agricultural tool, not to help native species of plants or pollinators.

I’m not saying honeybees aren’t important in their own right. But what I AM saying is that conservation efforts need to be more focused on native pollinator populations which have been declining for decades now. Honeybees aren’t providing substantial ecosystem services, and, in general, aren’t even a part of the natural ecosystem. They’re an introduced species that’s forcing out native species of pollinators. So before you jump on the “Save the honeybees” train, stop and think about how much you really know about pollinator ecology in the United States.

[alicemccombs]

World Bee Day: New momentum for pollinator conservation

World Bee Day: New momentum for pollinator conservation

[marvly-marvelous]

Altering your mowing approach and allowing flora to blossom will produce enough nectar for 10 times the number of pollinators