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.

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TORONTO, June 16, 2022 鈥� Everyone knows about honeybees, but there is much less known about the hundreds of wild bee species in Canada, and other pollinators, that are responsible for pollinating the vast majority of crops and flowers.

Pollinator Week, June 20 to 26, is an opportunity to appreciate and learn about wild bees, butterflies and other pollinators that are native to Ontario, and the rest of the country, and are not imported and managed.

More than 80 per cent of flowering plants depend on bees to reproduce, including 130 types of fruits and vegetables, but having an abundance of diverse native plants can go a long way to help feed and provide habitats, from woody stems to earthy burrows, for pollinators as well. Most wild bees, for example, don鈥檛 live in hives. Instead, they build solitary nests in wood or in the ground.

But wild bees are also not doing well. Associate Professor , an expert in wild bee genomics, behaviour and conservation in the Faculty of Science at 91亚色, along with one of her grad students, Phuong Nguyen, has found that the gut microbiomes of city bees may be missing key beneficial bacteria.

鈥淚t鈥檚 alarming, but it also points to the importance of preserving biodiversity even within cities,鈥� says Rehan. 鈥淚t will be important to find out through further research what rural areas have which cities are missing. Is it a lack of a diversity of native plants or something else?鈥�

Among Ontario鈥檚 pollinators, there are 350 species of native bees, plus an additional 500 species across Canada.

Videos: Without music: and with music:

A member of the Centre for Bee Ecology, Evolution, and Conservation at 91亚色, Rehan can discuss:

鈥� Biodiversity conservation and why it is important to pollinators

鈥� How some plants will now bloom too soon or too late for bees that rely on them. The life cycles of many bees are coordinated with the blooming times of certain flowers, but when those plants start blooming at different times in the season, those bees may suffer from a lack of available food

鈥� Population and behavioural genomics, what is it and how scientists are using it to try and better understand bee health

鈥� Climate change and how land use changes can negatively affect bees

PHOTOS: Bumble bee queen (Bombus impatiens) caught by a 91亚色 grad student 鈥� /news/wp-content/uploads/sites/242/2022/06/Bumblebee-in-a-tube-scaled.jpg and /news/wp-content/uploads/sites/242/2022/06/Bumblebee-in-a-tube-2-scaled.jpg

A male mining bee (Andrena) held by a 91亚色 grad student 鈥� /news/wp-content/uploads/sites/242/2022/06/Pollinator-scaled.jpg

A female metallic green sweat bee (Agapostemon virescens), Toronto鈥檚 official bee, on a torchlight flower. Photo by Sandra Rehan 鈥� /news/wp-content/uploads/sites/242/2022/06/Agapostemon-virescens-female-bee-of-Toronto-on-a-torchlight-flower.-Photo-credit-Sandra-Rehan.jpg

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Media Contact:
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