Wild bees provide irreplaceable pollination services and their welfare depends on access to diverse forage habitat and protection from pesticide harm.
Wild bee welfare encompasses both individual wellbeing and population viability. Individual bees exposed to sublethal pesticide doses experience impaired navigation that prevents return to their nest, and immune suppression that reduces resistance to parasites. At population level, habitat loss deprives bees of the diverse forage needed for balanced nutrition, and loss of nesting sites reduces reproductive success. Policy interventions that restrict harmful pesticides and require wildflower habitat at landscape scale can address these welfare drivers more effectively than individual garden actions alone.