How Ireland caught the buzz for bees

Analysis: research has found that the Irish public is actively interested in pollinators, especially bees, and engaged in conservation

By Katherine Burns, UCD

The annual World Bee Day puts the internet is abuzz with stories about the world’s best-known pollinator group: bees. Though the media tends to focus on just one bee species, the managed European honey bee, our planet is home to over 20,000 species of bee. In Ireland alone, we have 98 species of native, wild bees, including 21 bumblebee species and 77 solitary bee species.

These pollinators contribute to the pollination of several Irish crops, such as oilseed rape, apples, and strawberries, as well as many wild plants. Unfortunately, about 30% of Irish bee species are in decline, due to climate change and loss of habitat, and need our help to protect and preserve their populations.

In order to develop successful pollinator conservation initiatives, it is important to first understand how the public perceives insect pollinators. By identifying potential knowledge gaps, routes of misinformation, or under-engaged audiences, conservationists can better inform the direction of future research, conservation actions, and education initiatives.

The Shrill Carder Bee (Bombus sylvarum), One of Ireland's rarest bee species. Photo: Katherine Burns

In 2018, Dr Dara Stanley, Dr Úna Fitzpatrick and myself set out to investigate what the public knew and thought about pollinators so we could understand the links between public knowledge of pollinators and the implementation of insect pollinator conservation actions. 600 people took part in a national survey and the results of this study, funded by the Irish Research Council, Eva Crane Trust, and NUI Galway Science Fellowship, were recently published in the Journal for Nature Conservation.

Many of the findings are very encouraging from a pollinator conservation standpoint. We found that the Irish public is already actively interested in pollinators, particularly bees, and engaged in their conservation. The findings of our study suggest that the public is both knowledgeable about the importance of bees to crop and wild plant pollination and are familiar with the identification of common pollinator species, such as honeybees, bumblebees, and wasps. The results also show that the public is already aware that insect pollinators are in decline and that over 90% of survey participants are already taking action to conserve these insects - which is great news for the bees.

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From RTÉ 2fm's Dave Fanning Show, Dr Dara Stanley on why bees are essential for the survival of our ecosystems

While the results were largely positive, we did find room for improvement in future initiatives. For example, participants were able to easily identify pictures of bumblebees and honeybees, but struggled to identify less well-known pollinators such as flies. Participants also indicated that they believed flies are not important to pollination.

Though flies may not be the first insect that comes to mind when we think about pollinators, these insects are also important pollinators of many wild plants and crops. Hoverflies, also known as flower flies, visit over 70% of global food crops, with some species also providing farmers with effective pest control by eating common crop pests, such as aphids.

From RTÉ Jr's Ecolution, a trip to Wicklow to see how one family is trying to help our native pollinators at the Bee Sanctuary of Ireland

Ireland is home to 180 species of hoverfly and 20% of those species are threatened with extinction, which means that they also need our help. Luckily, most of the same actions that help bees, such as reducing mowing frequency and reducing pesticide use, also help hoverflies. If you see them in your garden or in your crop fields, know that they are pollinating your flowers right along with the bees.

This surge of interest in and concern for bees in Ireland should come as no surprise, given that Ireland has emerged as an international leader in pollinator research and conservation over the last two decades. For the past 15 years, the National Biodiversity Data Centre has organised many campaigns to support pollinator monitoring and research. In 2015, Ireland released the All-Ireland Pollinator Plan, one of the first pollinator national conservation initiatives within the European Union, and a new version has just been launched for 2021-2025.

From RTÉ Radio 1's News At One, Prof Jane Stout from Trinity College Dubllin on the new All-Ireland Pollinator Plan

The new version reports even more evidence that Ireland is buzzing about bees. Over two-thirds of county councils across the island, as well as 320 businesses, have agreed to take actions to help insect pollinators in partnership with the Plan. Additionally, 160 local communities have made their towns more pollinator-friendly through the Tidy Towns competition, supported through the local authority heritage and biodiversity officer network. This is great news for the future of Ireland's insect pollinator populations.

Days like World Bee Day are important for raising awareness about the importance of insect pollinators, as well as their decline and need for conservation actions. The most effective conservation actions are ones carried out by informed, enthusiastic participants, which is why it is important to increase public support for subjects of conservation concern like bees. While bees may be getting all the buzz today, it’s important to remember that other pollinators, such as hoverflies, also deserve our attention and appreciation so don’t forget about the flies!

Katherine Burns is a PhD researcher at the Agriculture and Food Science Centre at UCD. She is an Irish Research Council awardee

The views expressed here are those of the author and do not represent or reflect the views of RTÉ

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