Urban ecology and honey bees
Urban ecology is a subfield of ecology which deals with the interaction of organisms in an urban or urbanized community and their interaction with that community. Urban ecologists believe in getting the city right and everything else has a chance. It's big. It's basic. If our built environment is well organized and well designed, we can go a long way toward solving transport, energy, biodiversity, agricultural and climate problems.
Over half of the human population lives in cities (set to reach 60% by 2030), and with so many humans living in megacities of epic scale makes urban ecology a topic of intense interest. Cities cover less than 1% of the earth's surface but are responsible for up to 75% of the world's greenhouse gas emissions.
Urban Ecology was founded in 1975 by visionary architects and activists who believed that cities should serve both people and nature. From the beginning, Urban Ecology has used urban planning, ecology, and public participation to help design and build healthier cities. Urban ecologists study the trees, rivers, wildlife and open spaces found in cities to understand the extent of those resources and the way they are affected by pollution, over-development and other pressures.
Analysis of urban settings in the context of ecosystem ecology (looking at the cycling of matter and the flow of energy through the ecosystem) may ultimately help us to design healthier, better managed communities, by understanding what threats the urban environment brings to humans. There is an emphasis on planning communities with an ecological design, by using alternative building materials and methods. This is in order to promote a healthy and bio-diverse urban ecosystem.
Urban Ecology’s mission has always involved local change within a global perspective. In 1990, Urban Ecology hosted the first international EcoCity conference. The event drew more than 800 people from 13 countries and initiated rigorous debates on ecosystems, alternative transportation, environmental justice, and urban design within modern cities.
Healthy urban bee colonies should be an intrinsic part of any urban ecology project. As bees are the great pollinators and are responsible for pollinating 1/3 of our food their presence is necessary for a projects success. Urban bee ecology is an emerging field that holds promise for advancing knowledge of bee community dynamics and promoting bee conservation. Published studies of bee communities in urban and suburban habitats are fewer than those documenting bees in agricultural and wild-land settings. As land lost to urbanization is predicted to increase in coming years the necessity of studying urban bee populations is growing.
