When a bee moves to the city, can humans "be good with neighbors"?

Speaking of bees, do you think of the beehive on the roadside or field? When the beekeeper comes, the bee will appear. In fact, there are many wild bees around us. The most common is social bee, also called oriental bee. The bees mentioned in this article refer to the bee.

Bee with honey on the willow tree in the city (picture source: authors self -photographed)

Some people like bees, because bees can spread powder to plants, maintain ecological balance, and can also make honey for human consumption. Some people hate the bees and feel that the bees are very painful. Many people have "intimate contact" with bees every year, and bees come to their home wardrobes to build nests, bee colonies fly to the quilt or "gathering" under the eaves.

Why do bees prefer humans' settlements? How can people and bees avoid conflicts and achieve harmony with each other?

Bee colony gathers on the flower pot (Picture Source: Feya)

The bee colony gathers on the tree (picture source: authors self -photographed)

The "Flower World" in the city is the cafeteria of the bee

You may think that the natural environment of the city is not as good as the countryside, and there is no bee, but according to the author's preliminary investigation, cities are more likely to see Chinese bees than villages in the plain area. In addition to farmland or farmland in the plain area, high -standard farmland transformations flattened small farmland into large farmland. The fields with wild plants in the past almost disappeared. Coupled with the widespread use of pesticides, there are almost no wild plants in fields, fields, and roads.

Modern buildings have almost no longer use traditional wood, and villagers no longer grow trees. The transformation of the new countryside is to clean up the bushes and weeds in front of the house. The variety of plant types in the plain areas have greatly reduced the diversity of plant species. The penetration of the monotonous plant in the farmland is very concentrated. It cannot provide bee sources for bees throughout the year, so there are very few wild bees.

Village landscapes in the plain area (picture source: authors self -photographed)

On the other hand, the type of plant is very rich, and the flowering period is scattered in spring, summer, autumn and winter. Taking the community where the author lives as an example, there are 85 cultivation plants and 45 wild plants. Yangchun Lake Park next to Wuhan High -speed Railway Station may not be rich in the eyes of natural enthusiasts, but in fact 318 plants grow.

The types of green space in the residential area are richer (picture source: authors self -photographed)

The flowers of Wuhan City are constantly flowing all year round. When the rocks and roses bloom in spring, many bees can be seen on the flowers. From May to November is the flowering period of white car shafts. Many lawns are planted with white cars, which can continue to provide a lot of food for bees. Even in winter, a large number of contributions, octagonal golden plates and wax plums in the city can provide sufficient nectar and pollen for bees. Therefore, compared to rural areas, the bee foods in the city are more sufficient.

Urban Greenland has abundant flowering plants (picture source: authors self -photographed)

The city is large, and the bee's home is everywhere

In the wild environment, bees are generally built in tree caves, stone caves or caves. According to the research of Professor Thomas D. Sili at the professor of neurological and biological behavior at the University of Cornell University in the 1970s, the study of Italian bee living in North America. The cave, the area of ​​the cave is not greater than 12.5 square centimeters, and the entrance is best facing south.

According to this standard, there may be more places in cities that are suitable for bee nests to make you incredible! The first is the tree hole. Many university campuses. There are very thick trees on both sides of the old communities and roads. These trees usually have enough tree holes to be bees to build nests. In particular, it is easier to hang on Suzuki, structured trees, locust trees, willow trees. If garden workers are blocked by large tree holes, it is even better, because it cannot be blocked, and the smaller entrance is more suitable for bees.

Tree holes are the most commonly used nests in nature in nature (picture source: authors self -photographed)

The space under the well cover under the city is also the basement of bees like. Although it is a bit humid, the space is large enough and the entrance is small enough. In addition, the walls of many buildings are hollow. Once there is a gap to allow bees to fly in, it will become the nest building of bees. Due to the settlement of the backfilling soil, it will cause empty holes under the floor of many buildings on the first floor of the building, and some green spaces will collapse out of the cave. These may live in bees. However, in the countryside, there are not so many nest buildings that are "manufactured" by humans.

The wall hole and the well are also the nests that bees like (picture source: authors self -photographed)

Will bees be raised, do we still protect them?

The urban population is dense, and there will be frequent passing by in almost every place, which will inevitably encounter bees. In the city, people and nature are severely fragmented. Many people do not know how to coexist with bees. When they see bees, they are hit by one. Once the bees' nests or bee colonies are found, people often help the relevant departments to eliminate it.

In the countryside, traditional culture guards the harmony between people and bees. The customs of Zhejiang, Fujian, Guangdong and other places believe that bees to build nests can bring blessings and wealth, and they often do not drive, and even make traditional bees as the "villas" of bees.

Bees are of great significance to maintaining ecological balance. From the perspective of human development, bees in cities are essential. The bee passes the plant for plants and promotes the strong plant. There are many fruit -seeking plants in the urban landscape. As a result, it has the highest ornamental value, such as Luan Shu, Tie Dongqing, and Fire Teoplast.

Fruit plant fire spiny (picture source: authors self -photographed)

Commonly viewed fruits and plants in the city (picture source: Author self -photographed)

Some wild plants cannot conclude seeds due to lack of bee flour, and it is difficult to reproduce naturally. Seeds and fruits are important food sources of animals such as birds. If there are no birds, there will be no birds in the city, and the living environment will become uninteresting. Therefore, even for human beings, it is necessary to protect bees in the city.

How to resolve the conflict between people and bees?

Protecting bees cannot only rely on popular science, but also need to fundamentally resolve conflicts between people and bees. Although more people can understand the bees and reduce the risk of being injured by bees through popular science, they cannot pull the distance between the honeycomb nest and humans, cannot reduce contact, and the conflict between humans and bees has not decreased. Properties, gardens, etc. usually block tree holes and wall holes to prevent bees from staying, but the blocking method is not scientific.

The average thickness of the bee bee's chest is 4.45 mm. As long as the inlet diameter is not less than 5 mm, the bee can enter and exit at will. For a hole in the bathroom exhaust pipe, the width of the gap can be installed with a width of not more than 4 mm. For tree holes, due to the continuous growth of the trees, the tree body is constantly changing, and the blocking materials themselves will shrink or aging, which is difficult to ensure that the blocking is strict.

Compared with blocking the cave entrance, it is more important to fill the internal space, so that the cavity inside the tree hole is reduced, and it will no longer be suitable for building nests. Use dry grass, foam glue, foam plate, and inflatable plastic bags. Blocking the entrance and reducing the space in the cave can destroy the appropriate nest site, forcing bees to find other places to find nests.

On the other hand, the artificial nest box that is suitable for bee -built in the position of the crowd is equivalent to building a house for bees and guiding bees to build nests in these positions.

Produced: Popular Science China

Author: He Rui Rui

Producer: China Science Popularization Expo

Recommended unit: Wuhan Botanical Research Park of the Chinese Academy of Sciences

references

[1] [Midea] Thomas D. Sili. Bee's Democracy: How to make decisions in the group [M]. Liu Guowei translated. Beijing: CITIC Publishing House, 2019.

[2] T. D. Seeley and R. A. MORSE. The Nest of the Honey Bee (APIS MELLIFERA L.) [J]. LNSECTES SOCIAUX, 1976, (23): 495-512.

[3] Cui Zhuzhu. The wild bee crisis that was ignored after the defense of the Chinese bee [n]. Southern Weekend, 2019-5-23 (B14).

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