Wild Bees
Wild Bees in Switzerland
Wild bees are a family group within the stinging insects, which also includes ants and various wasp families. In contrast to these, bees live a strictly vegetarian life: they feed themselves with nectar and their offspring with a mixture of nectar and protein-rich pollen.
You can find more information here.
There are currently 626 known species of wild bees in Switzerland. Of these
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59 species are ‘extinct’
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24 species are ‘threatened with extinction’
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84 species are ‘critically endangered’
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112 species are ‘endangered’
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58 species with the status ‘potentially endangered’ are marked for the early warning list
Only 278 species are currently not considered endangered. 9 species were not assessed due to insufficient data, 8 species are not relevant (e.g. neozoa).
Further information on the endangerment situation of wild bees
How important are Wild Bees
Most pollinators such as butterflies, wasps, beetles and grasshoppers only feed on nectar and pollen. They linger on flowers until they have had their fill. Wild bees, on the other hand, collect additional plant resources to raise their brood. Their frequency of flower visits - and thus their pollination performance - is therefore much higher than that of all other flower visitors.
Further information on the pollination performance of wild bees
Wild bees are also a species-rich family group (for comparison: only around 240 butterflies have been recorded in Switzerland). Their sometimes high degree of specialisation in terms of food and nesting sites makes wild bees the most important indicator when assessing the health of terrestrial ecosystems.
Wild bees are therefore very important on several levels (food security, preservation of plant biodiversity, nature conservation).
What do Wild Bees need
Whether a habitat is suitable for a wild bee species depends on three resources.
They need within an affordable flying distance
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A suitable nesting site
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Sufficient pollen and nectar from the host plant(s)
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Occasionally building material for nest construction
It is therefore clearly not enough to put up insect hotels. Instead, suitable nesting structures and pollen and nectar sources must be created to support a diverse wild bee fauna.
How we help Wild Bees
Basically, we help by creating botanically diverse, all year-round flowering and richly structured locations. Promoting wild bees can start in a very small space; at a minimum, even having flowerpots in front of the windows are more than nothing. However, green roofs, natural gardens, renaturalised parks, ecologically designed and sustainably managed communal areas and company premises are much more effective. And, of course, avoiding artificial fertilisers, insecticides and pesticides.
Agriculture has the greatest possible leverage: a return to a less cleared, heterogeneous agricultural landscape that offers niches for wild plants and animals is the most achievable in terms of area covered. However, there is also enormous potential for promoting wild bees in woodland, vineyards, along watercourses, in material extraction areas, on railway sites and in nature reserves.
Wild Bee Links
Atlas of Swiss wild bees (German and French only
Published by: CSCF / info fauna
Bienenfachstelle Kanton Zürich
Kanton Zürich, Amt für Landwirtschaft und Natur
IG Wilde Biene
The only Swiss wild bee conservation organisation