The ‘Bee Man’ is Helping Native Bees One Hotel at a Time

Bees do a lot more than just make honey. In fact, many kinds do not make honey at all. And yet, regardless of whether they produce sweet nectar, bees are a huge and vital part of any ecosystem, according to the University of Melbourne’s Pursuit. 

Without the intense work of pollination that these flying insects carry out, the world would look very different. Now, a young man from Australia, known as “The Bee Man” is fighting to save these wonderful pollinators.

From Nature Documentaries to Bee Hotels
Clancy Lester, 23, a master’s student in biology, has loved nature documentaries since he was very young. This love of nature has led him to take a lead role in trying to save the more than 2,000 native Australian bee-species. 

 

 

 

 

 

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According to ABC News, since Europeans settled Australia in 1788, more than 9,000 insects and invertebrates have gone extinct. Unfortunately, with the advent of pesticides, this trend has only accelerated over the past 30 to 40 years. 

The effects are already being felt. As part of his research, Lester joined theYolŋu First Nations, a people indigenous to Australia concerned about the declines in their traditional honey harvests. What he learned there compelled him to create a website that teaches people how to create their own bee hotels. 

What is a Bee Hotel?
Not all bees live in hives. In fact, many of them are solitary animals, and they need places to shelter and lay their eggs. With a decline in habitat, humans can step in by creating structures with multiple “rooms” to serve as a temporary home for numerous species of bees. These are called bee hotels.

Lester, told Pursuit, that cavity nesting bees prefer materials such as hollow bamboo reeds, or pieces of eucalyptus wood with three to ten centimeter diameter holes drilled in them. Ground nesting bees, however, prefer mixtures of sand and clay built into earth blocks to nest in. Some cities are using bee bricks to provide homes. But, no matter the type of bee, they all require morning sun, and food resources such as flowers nearby. 

Besides building homes for native bees, Clancy suggests using grassy natural spots around cities to help boost insect biodiversity. "Seeing how much of these areas we have everywhere, we could transform them into pollinated gardens and create habitats linking different parks and reserves," he said.

The effects of climate change are already here. It is incumbent on humanity to start taking the task of mitigating those effects seriously. Though that seems daunting, Lester’s work as the Bee Man shows that even small acts can make a huge difference. For a person, a bee hotel could be just a wood project of a few minutes, but for a bee it could be the continuation of a species. 

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