Join the Wild Pollinator Count from 15th to the 22nd November!
Australia has lots of wild insect pollinators that are often
overlooked. European honey bees get a lot of attention because they are
an adaptable, generalist forager, which means they are happy to visit
almost any flower, in most climate zones. They are also a social
species, so their hives are easy to domesticate and manage.
However, many native insects also contribute to pollination in crops
and gardens all around the country. We still need to do a lot of
research to identify all our insect pollinator species, understand their
ecology and how they are affected by human activities. So far, we know
that Australia has around 2,000 native bee species, all of which are
important pollinators. We also know there are a couple of thousand
butterfly, wasp, fly, moth, beetle, thrips and ant species, some of
which are documented pollinators. Unfortunately, we don’t have a lot of
information on the ecology of many of these insects, what flowers they
pollinate, or where they are found.
The Wild Pollinator Count gives you an opportunity to contribute to wild insect pollinator conservation in Australia. We invite you to count wild pollinators in your local environment and help us build a database on wild pollinator activity.
You can join in by watching any flowering plant for just ten minutes sometime in our count week.
- You don’t need to be an insect expert.
- You don’t need fancy gear.
- You may be surprised by what you see!
[images & text sourced from Wild Pollinator Count. Please visit their website for further details]
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