Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Noël, Grégoire
• Van Keymeulen, Violette
• Barbier, Yvan
• Smets, Sylvie
• Van Damme, Olivier
• Colinet, Gilles
• Lokatis, Sophie
• Ruelle, Julien
• Francis, Frédéric

Titel

Nest aggregations of wild bees and apoid wasps in urban pavements: A ‘street life’ to be promoted in urban planning

Ist Teil von

• Insect conservation and diversity, 2024-03, Vol.17 (2), p.396-408

Ort / Verlag

Chichester, UK: John Wiley & Sons, Ltd

Erscheinungsjahr

2024

Link zum Volltext

Quelle

Alma/SFX Local Collection

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• In the last 10 years, the interest in nature‐based solutions and ecosystem services like pollination has increased profoundly and with it the need to gather knowledge about wild bees and apoid wasp community dynamics, especially in urban ecosystems. Research on how the urban environment impacts the conditions of nesting sites is relatively scarce. Recent observations in the Brussels‐Capital Region (BCR; Belgium) show that urban pavements can provide alternative nesting opportunities for ground‐nesting Hymenoptera, such as wild bees and apoid wasps. Here, using a citizen science approach, we investigated the richness of ground‐nesting species living under urban pavements, as well as their preferences for sidewalk characteristics. A total of 22 species belonging to 10 families of wild bees, digger wasps and their associated cleptoparasites were identified at 89 sites in the BCR (Belgium). Sandstone setts or concrete slabs, with an unbound joint size of around 10 mm, were found to be the best suitable urban pavements for the ground‐nesting species. The soil texture under the pavement contained mainly sandy particles. We propose management guidelines to support bee and wasp species nesting under urban pavement in highly urbanised areas. Our observations pave the way for further research in the field of urban ecology and highlight the potential of multifunctional pavement designs that promote not only climate adaptation but also biodiversity. Urban pavement can be an alternative nesting site opportunities for insect pollinators. This study recorded 22 ground‐nesting wild bees and apoid wasps in Brussels (Belgium). Old pavements with sandstone setts or concrete slabs with an unbound joint size of around 1 cm and sandy foundation layers harboured the ground‐nesting species.