This remarkable structure can be found in Place des Jardins in Paris and is known as a bee hotel. You may be wondering what bees need a hotel for, when they make their own hives. The truth is that many species of bees are solitary – the do not live in hives but instead construct their own nest. The main reason for this is because in these species every female is fertile and this would not make for comfortable communal living in a hive.
Bee hotels are necessary for a number of different reasons. To begin with bee populations have been on a decline in recent years. Part of the problem is that their natural habitats have been cleared to make way for intensive agriculture. Pesticides have also been instrumental in their decline.
It is often difficult to encourage solitary bees in urban areas because there are so few suitable nesting places for them. So, many people chose to give nature a helping hand by building their own bee hotel, sometimes known as a bug or insect hotel.
A distinct advantage for the humans who build and ‘rent’ out these hotels is that the more insects they attract the greater likelihood that insect pollination of fruit and vegetables will take place on their patch.
We may not know these solitary bees as well as their hive dwelling counterparts but they make up more than 90 percent of the bee population.There are many species which can take advantage of human made hotels. They do not care whether their hotel is fastidiously organized or rather more haphazardly put together.
via holysci-fi
(via impulsivefarmer)
