While bee importance is widely recognized, public opinion and bee knowledge are largely influenced by the European honeybee, a species not native to North America. New research used an online survey in Toronto to assess residents’ understanding of current actions to support bees and barriers to their conservation. Although there are approximately 20,000 bee species that play essential roles in ecosystem function, the survey showed their remarkable diversity remains unclear to the public. Despite a lack of understanding of species richness, support for bees was universally high. People reported engaging in low-effort conservation actions like avoiding pesticide use and planting wildflowers. Common barriers to conservation actions were lack of knowledge, time and money.
Read more in the article published in Conservation Science and Practice.
