RMIT researchers call on Melburnians to plant the right plants and create the right homes for native pollinators.
They say we’ll get better tomato crops, more flowers and boost urban biodiversity.
Link for footage from Botanic Gardens and images of native bees
As Melbourne’s gardens burst into life after a wet spring, native insects are out looking for flowers and pollen. City gardeners rely on bees, butterflies and other insects to pollinate their plants, which is how flowering plants reproduce and grow fruit or seeds.
But city gardens often don’t have the right types of food and homes for these helpful native bees and flies, with knock-on effects for our gardens and for biodiversity. Urban ecologist Katherine Berthon from RMIT University found that only 43% of flowers in the Melbourne city gardens she studied were being used by bees and other pollinating insects.
“Native bees, wasps, butterflies and other insects need food and shelter to make a life for themselves in the city but, just like us, they have preferences,” says Katherine, a PhD researcher with the Interdisciplinary Conservation Science Research Group (ICON Science) at RMIT.
“Some are really picky while others are more open-minded, so we have to provide the right flower buffet and nesting materials to encourage them to move in.”
Katherine’s research looks at urban gardens across the City of Melbourne, including the Royal Botanical Gardens and the Australian Native Garden in Royal Park, to see which plants are preferred by the native bees and honeybees, hover flies and butterflies, ants and wasps which call the city home.
Some of the most insect-friendly gardens are next to a park in South Melbourne off busy Moray St: the BEE Gardens, part of The Heart Gardening Project, a community initiative led by Emma Cutting.
“We’ve turned this space from a barren pollinator dead zone into a space that buzzes, wriggles and flourishes with all sorts of critters, like bees, birds, dragonflies and even lizards,” says Emma. “Native bees are absolutely vital to urban areas – they pollinate not only our native flora but also our veggies.”
These gardens are part of the Melbourne Pollinator Corridor, which will be an 8km community-led wildlife corridor linking the Royal Botanic Gardens to Westgate Park, welcoming native bees and other pollinating insects to travel through these urban and industrial areas.
For home gardeners, the key is to plant flowers with a variety of shapes and colours, and to work with neighbours to create your own bee-friendly neighbourhood. Native insects prefer native flowers, especially local ones: native blue bells, daisies, and even trees like eucalypts are favourites.
“From the perspective of a little insect that doesn’t travel very far, an urban garden can be like a whole city,” says Katherine. “Even small garden spaces can offer really important homes and habitat, but good connections between gardens will really help our native insects thrive.”
Katherine Berthon was a part of Fresh Science 2021, a program supporting early career researchers to bring their work to the public.
For further info
- Katherine Berthon, RMIT University, katherine.berthon@rmit.edu.au, 0425 223187
- Tamzin Byrne, Science in Public, tamzin@scienceinpublic.com.au, 0432 474248
Resources for media
Dropbox folder here, with:
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/qsdz99y20yz4s3l/AACqDmeJLQwP3Yvfv9v1pBzQa?dl=0
- Footage of insects filmed in the Royal Botanical Gardens, one of the research sites in the study.
- Photos of native bees and other insects which help in pollination (ants, wasps, flies, butterflies).
- Attribution for images: Katherine Berthon or Emma Cutting
- Attribution for video: Florence Buckland
Supporters
The RMIT University research was conducted in Melbourne and Munich, Germany, in partnership with the City of Melbourne, the Centre of Australian National Biodiversity Research (CSIRO) and the Technical University of Munich and funded by the Australian Research Council and the German Department of Education “Green Talents” Program.
About ICON Science at RMIT University
https://www.theheartgardeningproject.org.au/about
The Interdisciplinary Conservation Science Research Group (ICON Science) is a team of researchers working to better understand and manage the interactions between society and our natural environment. We believe conserving biodiversity demands a multidisciplinary approach that reconciles ecological, social and economic dimensions.
ICON Science examines these different drivers of change, often with a focus on urban and semi-rural environments. Our aim is to address the gap between conservation theory and real world practice in complex planning environments.
About the Heart Gardening Project
https://www.theheartgardeningproject.org.au/about
The Heart Gardening Project is a community initiative bringing humans and nature together joyfully through street gardening.
Through the creation of wildlife corridors on public land for humans and nature to come together, we aim to give people who want to create positive environmental change a way to do it successfully and quickly. We aim to combine these individual efforts to increase biodiversity and improve mental health in our urban areas, making a positive and joyful difference to our world.
Our main focus is the Melbourne Pollinator Corridor, an 8km community-driven wildlife corridor that will link two large green patches that run along the Birrarung (Yarra River): Westgate Park and the Royal Botanic Gardens.
The Heart Gardening Project respectfully acknowledges the Traditional Owners of the lands that we garden upon, the Bunurong Boonwurrung and Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung peoples of the Kulin Nation. We pay our respects to their Elders, both past and present. We acknowledge and uphold their continuing relationship to this land, aim to treat nature like close family and continue to learn about First Nations culture.
The Melbourne Pollinator Corridor Handbook: to help gardeners plant pollinator-friendly gardens, Emma Cutting has written this easy-to-use introduction to native bees, gardening for native bees and street gardening.
https://www.theheartgardeningproject.org.au/shop/p/melbourne-pollinator-corridor-handbook