Can we influence the survival of pollinators in urban environment?

Abstract

Enabling the pollinators to survive in cities can aid in their conservation on the global level. This is of crucial importance in regions under rapid urbanization, one of the main causes of pollinator decline. Cities represent quite unwelcoming environment for the pollinators having not enough surfaces with nectar sources for their nutrition and survival. However, cities hold untapped potential as pollinator reserves, mainly in a form of urban gardens. The study is conducted with an aim to test wheather seting up an ecocrate network in the cities can have the benefits for bees in terms of securing the nectar sources. In order to track the occurence of bees in the city environment we set up an experiment consisted of 10 eco-crates placed in different locations in Novi Sad, the second largest city in Serbia. Eco-crates were made of plants for human use (thyme, rosmary, borage, sedum, lavender, yarrow) which are also pollinator attractants. They were regularly monitored for one month period, assessing the frequency-of-visitation counts and diversity of pollinators. Results could help in promoting urban gardening and including pollinator areas in urban planning strategies.