91亚色 bee scientists are available to explain the best ways to help protect bees
and other pollinators facing increased threats

TORONTO, May 15, 2025 鈥� As tariffs continue to threaten Canada鈥檚 food supply chain, it鈥檚 more important than ever to protect Ontario鈥檚 pollinators this World Bee Day, May 20. 91亚色 experts are available to discuss how people can help protect pollinator habitats.

The theme this year is Bee inspired by nature to nourish us all. According to the United Nations, pollinators contribute directly to food security and are needed to pollinate some 75 per cent of food crops worldwide.

In the Greater Toronto Area, there are more than 350 native bee species with about 1,000 across the country 鈥� many of which are wild bees, compared to managed honeybees - which depend on natural and diverse green areas, as well as floral gardens to sustain their populations.

鈥淲ild native bees and other pollinators are often overlooked as honeybees often steal the spotlight, but native bees are incredibly important and are facing increasing threats from changing land use, pesticides and disease,鈥� says 91亚色 Research Chair in Behavioural Genetics , director of 91亚色鈥檚 Centre for Bee Ecology, Evolution, and Conservation (BEEC).

鈥淭here are many ways people and communities can help support our wild bees by planting native plants and flowers which bloom at different times during the season and being careful not to destroy wild bee habitats during spring clean-up,鈥� says Rehan.

Every year, BEEc and the Faculty of Environmental and Urban Change (EUC) hosts a Garden Party for bees, where volunteers prune, weed, mulch and revitalize the University鈥檚 native plant garden, while being careful not to disrupt ground-nesting bee habits.

A way to celebrate and support bees and other pollinators, sponsored in part by World Wildlife Fund Canada, the will take place on Tuesday, May 20, from 2 to 5 p.m. Media are invited. 

Examples of bee species that visit the EUC Native Plant Garden include Toronto's official bee 鈥� the green metallic sweat bee Agapostemon virescens 鈥� as well as tiny, smooth, black solitary bees that can be mistaken for flies or ants, and fuzzy bumblebees, whose queens are easily seen this time of year. 

鈥淥ne of the main goals of the garden party is to get as many people involved and learning about native plantings, especially native plants to help our local native pollinators,鈥� says Katherine Chau, BEEc coordinator and 91亚色 Postdoctoral Fellow in the Rehan bee lab.

BEEc鈥檚 bee researchers can help better understand bees, the risks to their health, habitats, behaviour, genetics and diseases, and what people can do to help.    

Have some buzzworthy questions? Just ask the experts listed below. 

, BEEc as well as the , is an expert in wild bee genomics, behaviour and conservation and a professor in the Faculty of Science, can talk about: 

鈥� Loss of plant-pollinator networks and how some plants will now bloom too soon or too late for bees that rely on them 

鈥� Are the gut microbiomes of city bees missing key beneficial bacteria? 

鈥� Biodiversity conservation and why it鈥檚 important 

鈥� How maternal care of bee offspring has expanded the social life of bees 

鈥� Population and behavioural genomics 

鈥� Climate change, land use change and the effects on bees 

Gordon Fitch of the , and an assistant professor in the Faculty of Science, can discuss:

鈥� How environmental stressors, like urbanization, agriculture, and disease, shape interactions between bees and the plants they pollinate

• How disease affects wild bees; why pathogens are both an essential part of healthy ecosystems and a potential threat to wild bees.

• How bees cope with disease, and the 鈥渕edicine鈥� that plants can provide them

鈥� How urbanization and agricultural land management impact the ability of wild bees to move about their environment.

鈥� The role of parasites in shaping bee foraging preferences and the effects of the built environment on bee-parasite interactions

鈥� Nectar robbery and its effect on pollination 鈥� when some pollinators, including certain bumblebees, carpenter bees and fruit bats, access nectar through a bite hole in a flower, which does not facilitate pollination as the pollinator avoids the pollen

The post Bee good on Word Bee Day - plant bee-autiful pollinator flowers and gardens appeared first on News@91亚色.

During Pollinator Week, 91亚色 bee experts recommend solutions and strategies to help save wild bees across the country

TORONTO, June, 22, 2023 鈥� Canada鈥檚 wild pollinators are in decline and without a national pollinator plan, many species could be heading for extinction, like the endangered rusty-patched bumblebee or the , say researchers at 91亚色.

Although the focus is usually on managed honey bees, unlike wild pollinators, they are not native to Canada, not adapted to this country鈥檚 weather or plants and not at-risk of extinction, says the researchers. Wild pollinators are essential to Canada鈥檚 economy, food security and ecosystems, but about 30 species, including eight bee species, are listed under Canada鈥檚 Species at Risk Act. In the United States alone, non-managed wild pollinators are estimated to provide more than US$3 billion worth in crop pollination.

Because of the urgency, and the multiple and widespread nature of the threats to wild pollinators, Associate Professor of 91亚色鈥檚 Native Pollinator Research Lab in the Faculty of Environmental and Urban Change and Postdoctoral Fellow Rachel Nalepa, tapped into the extensive knowledge of pollinator and conservation experts to develop solutions for wild pollinator conservation in Canada, along with a national pollinator framework with a clear set of actions.

鈥淪wift action is needed to protect wild pollinators, which will also benefit the agricultural sector, the environment and build climate change resiliency,鈥� says Colla.

The study, , levers, which involved a series of expert surveys, was published today in the journal FACETS and is accompanied by their pollinator framework 鈥� .

鈥淲e鈥檝e seen many other countries develop and implement pollinator protection policies, including our neighbours to the south, the US, which have incorporated pollinator protection into their farm bill and that has a lot of resources to go into creating habitat and other kinds of protections for at-risk bees,鈥� says Colla. Belgium, Spain, Norway, the Netherlands, France, Mexico, Ireland, Colombia, and Nigeria, and at least 24 other countries, have all adopted national strategies, plans or initiatives.

The researchers鈥� pollinator framework is a tool to create Canada-wide pollinator policy based on the best available science and expertise, while also highlighting important knowledge gaps, areas for future research. It is based on their study, which generated 83 expert recommended solutions to some of the main threats 鈥� habitat loss, pesticides, parasites, non-native species and disease. It also outlines which recommendations are most feasible and which could be implemented immediately.

鈥淭he federal government is needed to help standardize and coordinate some national efforts, to set targets and to monitor progress towards those targets and also to provide financial resources and other support to provinces,鈥� says Nalepa.

The goal is to preserve the diversity of Canada鈥檚 about 850 wild bee species and other pollinators, to mitigate issues arising from climate change, such as changing precipitation patterns, drought and shifts to their normal ranges, as well as to ensure resources are available for them to thrive, and crops and wildflowers are pollinated.

The use of pesticides is a big threat and there is a need for better risk assessments, a reduction on their reliance for agriculture, but the study鈥檚 experts also point to a lack of knowledge about how combinations of pesticides affect wild pollinators.

鈥淚n addition, experts wanted to see more financial supports and guidance for agricultural communities as they strive to reduce their pesticide use and also to help growers increase their market access to seeds that haven鈥檛 been treated with pesticides,鈥� says Nalepa.

To improve habitat, the framework suggests the creation of corridors to connect habitats and ensure pollinators can move easily between them to forage, overwinter and breed. This could be done by having native plants along roads, train tracks and hydro lines. Habitat could also be created or improved at large industrial sites 鈥� landfills, aggregate operations and brownfield areas.

The experts also suggest better tracking, management and disease screening for managed pollinators to help prevent the spread of disease to wild bees or vice versa.

鈥淎lthough there are some things in the framework that will benefit managed pollinators, really, it鈥檚 focussed on conserving wild pollinator species,鈥� says Colla. 鈥淲hat we鈥檝e seen in the scientific literature is that in many cases even when you have honey bees in the system, native bees are doing a lot of the work, or they are more effective and more efficient at pollination.鈥�

In addition, there are some crops that require , where bumble bees create vibrations to dislodge trapped pollen. 鈥淥ur wild bees and our native plant species have over thousands and thousands of years, and we don鈥檛 quite know what will happen to these plants when or if bee species or a handful of them go extinct,鈥� she says.

The take home message, says Nalepa, is that 鈥渢he , and even though experts stress the need for sustained efforts and systemic changes, there are also actions that we can take that are immediately implementable with just minor tweaks to the programing and legislation that we already have.鈥�

Even without a coordinated, national plan, there are things people can do now, such as minimizing garden clean-up because pollinators often live under leaves, thatched grass and in hollow plant stems, and participating in community science programs like .

Another by Colla and a different team looked at how managed honey bee hives in Toronto negatively impacted some wild bee species.

The post National pollinator strategy needed to save Canada's wild bees, say 91亚色 researchers appeared first on News@91亚色.

TORONTO, May 12, 2023 鈥� With pollinators, like bees, pollinating 87 of 115 leading food crops around the globe, protecting them from further decline is important for humans and ecosystems alike. On World Bee Day, May 20, people鈥檚 bee-haviour can go a long way towards providing food and creating and preserving bee habitats. 

91亚色鈥檚 Centre for Bee Ecology, Evolution and Conservation (BEEc) and its bee researchers can help better understand bees, the risks to their health and what people can do to help.  

"Bees are one of the most important groups of pollinators in the world, yet most people are unaware that we have at least 350 species in the GTA alone,鈥� says BEEc Co-ordinator Victoria MacPhail, who received her PhD at 91亚色 and can talk about bees and how to grow a pollinator garden. 

Although most people think of honeybees when they think of bees, there are more than 850 wild bees in Canada and 20,000 worldwide who do much of the pollinating. 

To help celebrate bees, BEEc and the Faculty of Environmental & Urban Change (EUC) are hosting a , sponsored in part by World Wildlife Fund Canada, to help revitalize 91亚色鈥檚 Native Plant Garden on Tuesday, May 16, from 2:30 to 5 p.m. Media are invited to the event. 

鈥淭he EUC Native Plant Garden is an oasis for bees on our campus, providing food, shelter, and nesting sites throughout the year,鈥� says MacPhail. 鈥淎t BEEc, we have a wealth of free resources and are happy to chat with people about what they can do to help pollinators 鈥� from planting native flowers to advocating for increased protections.鈥� 

The community can learn more about the highly diverse bee species indigenous to Toronto and Southern Ontario at large, as well as the local flora that they depend on for sustenance. As a part of this hands-on learning experience, guests will be able to contribute to the University鈥檚 floral biodiversity by helping to remove invasive species that are less conducive to the health of local pollinators and planting new native species in the EUC native garden. 

Examples of bee species that visit the garden range from tiny, smooth, black solitary bees that are only a few millimeters long and can be mistaken for flies or ants, to large, fuzzy bumblebees that can be up to a couple centimeters in size, and whose queens are easily seen this time of year. 

鈥淭oronto's official bee, the green metallic sweat bee, Agapostemon virescens, has already been seen nesting in the garden, and we are confident that the upcoming garden party will help to improve the habitat for it and many other wildlife species,鈥� says MacPhail. 

In other bee news, a to help endow a fund for EUC graduate students studying bees will take place May 17 in Markham, followed by a on May 18 with a particular focus on bee diversity and why, and how, 91亚色 has one of the world's best collections of bee specimens on the planet. 

Have some buzzworthy questions? Just ask the experts listed below. 

, an expert in wild bee genomics, behaviour and conservation and an associate professor in the Faculty of Science, can talk about: 

鈥� Loss of plant-pollinator networks and how some plants will now bloom too soon or too late for bees that rely on them 

鈥� Are the gut microbiomes of city bees missing key beneficial bacteria? 

鈥� Biodiversity conservation and why it鈥檚 important 

鈥� How maternal care of bee offspring has expanded the social life of bees 

鈥� Population and behavioural genomics 

鈥� Climate change, land use change and the effects on bees 

Amro Zayed, an associate professor and expert in honeybee biology and genomics in the Faculty of Science, can talk about the following: 

鈥� How bee genes can determine how bees behave, including how good they are at keeping their hive clean and how well they can survive cold winters 

鈥� Did western honeybees originate in Asia and why is that important to know? 

鈥� How the urban environment can help or hinder bees 鈥� think concrete versus green spaces, trees and gardens 

鈥� What鈥檚 stressing bumblebees? How scientists are using a conservation genomic approach and next generation sequencing to look inside for pathogens and pesticides 

鈥� Why are African hybrid honeybees (known as killer honeybees) highly defensive and aggressive? 

鈥� Bee health diagnostic tools, what they do and what鈥檚 being developed 

 
Sheila Colla (via Zoom) of the Faculty of Environmental and Urban Change, co-author of the recent book, and , can discuss the following: 

鈥� What to plant on balconies, in yards and community gardens across Ontario (See ) 

鈥� How bee diversity is important for climate resiliency 

鈥� Connection between native plants and native pollinators 

鈥� Importance of citizen science 鈥� how people can help scientists keep track of bees and their habitats 

鈥� What happened to the Rusty-patched bumblebee and why it鈥檚 a tale of what could happen to other bees 

鈥� Other bees on the endangered list 

鈥� Beyond honeybees and bumble bees. What are sweat bees, carpenter bees and mining bees, and what role do they play? 

The post Bee-worthy tips and a garden party for World Bee Day appeared first on News@91亚色.