Insect-friendly flowering plant mixtures for private gardens: how attractive are these to polli[...]

Art des Angebots: Masterarbeit

Background

Beneficial insects provide ecosystem services such as pollination and agricultural pest control, with a proven economic value. The loss and fragmentation of natural habitats caused by agricultural intensification and urbanization have been correlated with a widespread insect decline which affects beneficial insects too. Flowering plants in urban gardens have the potential to counteract this negative trend. The provision of foraging resources and nesting sites is essential for sustaining the abundance and diversity of beneficial insects. Although a single garden may be too small to be ecologically relevant, together, urban gardens can be relevant as food source and in providing refuge for insects in urban areas, as it has been demonstrated for wild bees.

This research project has been commissioned by one of Switzerland's largest retail and wholesale company. The company aims at introducing on the market new flower...