It’s World Bee Day today (May 20)! I made a little infographic as practice.
Plant native flowers! Lawns are lame! Wasps are just as important!
This is so gorgeous! Pollinator ecology is such a fascinating area; I wish I knew more about it! In particular there’s a lot of really cool research about patterns of pollinator specificity and which plants are pollinated by specialists vs. generalists, like in this somewhat math-y but generally very readable paper. Understanding native pollinators is super important for ecosystem stability as whole!
Beyond that though, I think there’s a lot to be said for appreciating this kind of biodiversity just for its own sake, as something that enriches our experience of nature. Going from thinking of bees as just honeybees to the enormously diverse and mysterious group they really are is such a great way to feel how big and interconnected and beautiful the world is!
