Wild pollinator populations are declining all over the world, with increasingly severe climate change fueled wildfires threatening their survival. These intense wildfires are also putting long-term ecosystem health and biodiversity at risk.

Bee hotels are artificial nesting structures that have been specially designed to house cavity-nesting species. Often placed in backyards or gardens, they provide safe havens and nurseries for essential pollinators.

New research led by conservationist Dr. Kit Prendergast, a native bee scientist with University of Southern Queensland (UniSQ), has found that bee hotels can play an essential role in helping native bee populations recover from wildfires.

“While there has been much attention on post-bushfire flora recovery, there has been virtually no investment into the recovery of the pollinators of flora, which are vital for flowering plant restoration and the sustainability of plant populations,” Prendergast said in a press release from UniSQ. “Native bees are often the key pollinators of wildflowers, so finding a practical way to support their recolonisation and recovery after bushfires is crucial.”

The study demonstrates that bee hotels have the ability to support the establishment and recolonization of populations of cavity-nesting bees in the wake of wildfires.

Prendergast and her father Stephen constructed 1,000 bee hotels — half made from wooden blocks drilled with nesting holes, the other half built using PVC piping and bamboo.

The Prendergast team installed the bee hotels at five sites throughout Western Australia’s Jarrah forests — one of many regions that was devastated during the 2019 to 2020 bushfire season.

“Wildfires are increasing in prevalence and intensity under anthropogenic climate change and pose threats to plant-pollinator communities. Much of the Australian landscape is fire-prone, and whilst fire has been part of some habitat types, the extent and nature of recent fires are unprecedented,” the authors of the study wrote.

The Prendergasts conducted surveys over seven months to monitor the activity of native bees, as well as honey bees — their main competitor — at flowering plants close to the bee hotels and three fire-impacted control sites with no hotels.

Read the full article about bee hotels by Cristen Hemingway Jaynes at EcoWatch.