Bee diversity on urban rooftop food gardens
Green infrastructure on rooftops in urban areas can enhance important ecosystem services. In addition to mitigating water runoff and regulating building temperatures, green roofs can provide food and nesting resources for wildlife. Rooftop gardens can also be utilized to cultivate food crops, giving...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2023-02-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Sustainable Cities |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/frsc.2023.1100470/full |
| _version_ | 1811173256857649152 |
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| author | Jordyn K. Riehn Nina S. Fogel Jordan N. Hathaway Jordan N. Hathaway Gerardo R. Camilo |
| author_facet | Jordyn K. Riehn Nina S. Fogel Jordan N. Hathaway Jordan N. Hathaway Gerardo R. Camilo |
| author_sort | Jordyn K. Riehn |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Green infrastructure on rooftops in urban areas can enhance important ecosystem services. In addition to mitigating water runoff and regulating building temperatures, green roofs can provide food and nesting resources for wildlife. Rooftop gardens can also be utilized to cultivate food crops, giving them the potential to attenuate instances of food insecurity which are commonplace in many urban areas. Given that many crops depend on bee pollination, it is imperative to characterize the rooftop bee community. Therefore, we sampled three urban food roofs near downtown St. Louis, MO during the 2017 and 2018 growing seasons. We found 38 bee species utilizing the rooftop farms. We then compared the rooftop bee communities to those of two nearby ground-level community gardens. The roofs had lower abundances of Bombus species than the ground-level sites while non-native cavity nesters in the genus Megachile were overrepresented. These results indicate that the rooftop bee communities represent a nested subset of the species found at ground level. This has important implications for the management of green roofs for growing crops, as this shift in bee community structure may play a role in determining which crops can be adequately supported with pollination services. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-10T17:44:45Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-d70dcd4a3adf48a5a9da8705f19f159d |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2624-9634 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-10T17:44:45Z |
| publishDate | 2023-02-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Sustainable Cities |
| spelling | doaj.art-d70dcd4a3adf48a5a9da8705f19f159d2023-02-03T05:41:27ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Sustainable Cities2624-96342023-02-01510.3389/frsc.2023.11004701100470Bee diversity on urban rooftop food gardensJordyn K. Riehn0Nina S. Fogel1Jordan N. Hathaway2Jordan N. Hathaway3Gerardo R. Camilo4Department of Biology, Saint Louis University, St. Louis, MO, United StatesDepartment of Biology, Saint Louis University, St. Louis, MO, United StatesDepartment of Biology, Saint Louis University, St. Louis, MO, United StatesDepartment of Biology, University of Missouri–St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, United StatesDepartment of Biology, Saint Louis University, St. Louis, MO, United StatesGreen infrastructure on rooftops in urban areas can enhance important ecosystem services. In addition to mitigating water runoff and regulating building temperatures, green roofs can provide food and nesting resources for wildlife. Rooftop gardens can also be utilized to cultivate food crops, giving them the potential to attenuate instances of food insecurity which are commonplace in many urban areas. Given that many crops depend on bee pollination, it is imperative to characterize the rooftop bee community. Therefore, we sampled three urban food roofs near downtown St. Louis, MO during the 2017 and 2018 growing seasons. We found 38 bee species utilizing the rooftop farms. We then compared the rooftop bee communities to those of two nearby ground-level community gardens. The roofs had lower abundances of Bombus species than the ground-level sites while non-native cavity nesters in the genus Megachile were overrepresented. These results indicate that the rooftop bee communities represent a nested subset of the species found at ground level. This has important implications for the management of green roofs for growing crops, as this shift in bee community structure may play a role in determining which crops can be adequately supported with pollination services.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/frsc.2023.1100470/fullgreen roofsfood securitybiodiversityHill numberspollination services |
| spellingShingle | Jordyn K. Riehn Nina S. Fogel Jordan N. Hathaway Jordan N. Hathaway Gerardo R. Camilo Bee diversity on urban rooftop food gardens Frontiers in Sustainable Cities green roofs food security biodiversity Hill numbers pollination services |
| title | Bee diversity on urban rooftop food gardens |
| title_full | Bee diversity on urban rooftop food gardens |
| title_fullStr | Bee diversity on urban rooftop food gardens |
| title_full_unstemmed | Bee diversity on urban rooftop food gardens |
| title_short | Bee diversity on urban rooftop food gardens |
| title_sort | bee diversity on urban rooftop food gardens |
| topic | green roofs food security biodiversity Hill numbers pollination services |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/frsc.2023.1100470/full |
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