Wild Bee Habitat: Supporting Native Pollinators at Home

Individual gardens and landholdings can support significant native bee populations through habitat creation that provides nesting sites and diverse floral resources.

Key Facts

70 percent of native bee species nest in the ground requiring undisturbed bare or sparsely vegetated soil
Cavity-nesting bees use hollow stems, wood cavities, and artificial bee hotels for nesting
Urban and suburban gardens collectively represent enormous potential habitat if managed for native bees
A single hedgerow can support dozens of native bee species through nesting and foraging resources
Pesticide-free garden management removes a primary threat to bees using those areas
Native plant species provide pollen and nectar resources matched to native bee nutritional needs

Welfare Considerations

Wild bee welfare at the individual level involves finding adequate food and nesting resources throughout the brief active season. Bees that cannot find sufficient pollen and nectar face nutritional stress affecting reproductive success and individual survival. Bees exposed to pesticides may die acutely or experience sublethal effects on navigation and reproduction. The leverage that individual land management choices have over wild bee welfare makes this one of the most personally actionable areas of animal welfare improvement. A single organic garden managed for native bees provides welfare benefits to thousands of individual bees over a season through food access, nesting opportunities, and absence of pesticide exposure.

What You Can Do

Create bare ground or leave undisturbed soil patches for ground-nesting native bees
Plant native flowering species that provide season-long pollen and nectar resources
Eliminate pesticide use in garden areas used by bees
Leave hollow stems and wood cavities as nesting habitat rather than removing all garden debris