Planetary Health NewsStrengthening community and restoring the health of our planet.
Australia’s native bees struggled after the Black Summer fires – but a world-first solution brought them buzzing back
Photo: Kit Prendergast (@bee.babette_performer)
After a devastating bushfire, efforts to help nature recover typically focus on vertebrates and plants. Yet extreme fires can threaten insects, too.
After the Black Summer fires of 2019–20, I embarked on world-first research into whether “bee hotels” – a type of artificial nesting structure – could help native bees recolonise an area.
I installed 1,000 bee hotels in the Jarrah forests of Western Australia, parts of which burned during the Black Summer fires.
After months of monitoring, I concluded – with great excitement and relief – that the project was a success. Native bees were using the structures to lay eggs and raise young. The work shows pollinators such as bees can be aided after fires, to help bring damaged landscapes back to life.
WA’s Jarrah Forest was affected by the Black Summer fires. Photo: Kit Prendergast
Native bees typically nest in holes in trees that occur naturally when beetles bore through wood. When fire destroys trees, bees can be left without a place to nest and reproduce. This prevents them from recolonising habitats after fire.
Under climate change, bushfires in Australia are becoming more frequent and severe. Wood-nesting bees are especially vulnerable to bushfires. For example, fires are recognised as a major threat to the glittering green carpenter bee (Xylocopa aerata), which creates its own holes in wood to nest in.
The worsening fires take place at a time when global populations of wild pollinators, such as bees, are in steady decline. This problem has been well-publicised, although the plight of Australia’s native bees has received less attention.
My research tested whether bee hotels could help our native bees bounce back after fire.
What the research found
The Jarrah Forest of southwest Western Australia is a biodiversity hotspot. The 1,000 bee hotels were installed across five sites in the northern part of the forest, where bushfires burned during the summer of 2019–20.
One type of bee hotel used by the researcher. Photo: Kit Prendergast
Bee hotels replicate the holes in wood that native bees nest in. In August 2021, I installed bee hotels of two types: wooden blocks with 15 holes drilled in them, and bunches of about 50 bamboo stems bundled together. I monitored them from September 2021 to March 2022.
At the end of the period I concluded – with great excitement and relief – that the project was a success. Across all bee hotels at the five sites, 832 cavities were occupied by native bees.
Assuming four cells per cavity for each offspring, this meant more than 3,300 native bees would likely emerge in the next generation.
Uptake by bees was initially slow. This was to be expected, because the main group of species that used bee hotels – from the Megachile genus – tend to not be active in the region until late spring.
I found the nests were also used by bees of the genus Hylaeus, as well as tiny Exoneura bees. Other inhabitants included wasps, spiders, ants and crickets.
I also surveyed three burnt sites where bee hotels were not installed. There, I recorded the numbers of native bees foraging on flowers, and compared it to the sites with bee hotels. More native bees were present at the latter sites, which reinforced my findings.
Importantly, the research allowed natural recolonisation. It did not involve installing bee hotels at unburnt sites, then moving them to burnt areas once they were occupied. This could have been disastrous.
A bee at the entrance of the bee hotel. Photo: Kit Prendergast
Aside from depleting one population, it may have meant native bees were moved to an area where there were not enough flowers, or were forced to compete with existing bee populations.
The research also showed European honey bees could pose a problem for native bees in fire-damaged landscapes. At sites with a higher density of honey bees, fewer native bees were foraging and fewer nests were occupied in the bee hotels.
This supports previous findings by myself and others that honey bees can negativelyaffect native bees. It adds further evidence that honey bees should not be permitted in sensitive habitats, such as bushland following fire or in national parks.
Empowering bee-saving efforts
My research provides proof that bee hotels can aid in the recovery of cavity-nesting native bees after fires.
This work fills a major gap. While there has been much attention on the recovery of furry animals and plants after fires, there has been far less investment into the recovery of plant pollinators.
Yesterday the community gathered to celebrate Sister Jacinta Shailer`s 98th Birthday! Earlier this year at the Planetary Health Centre she urged us all to join a revolution centred in the transformative power of love, by joining heroic communities that foster compassion, justice, care of the needy, creative imagining, ways of life-giving thinking, ways of contemplating the wonders of our world in the small and the large, the weird and the wonderful. Watch an excerpt of her speech here or read our full story published earlier this year in Katoomba Area Local News (link in profile): https://www.katoombalocalnews.com/create-heroic-communities/
Council is calling on the community to contribute to the development of a Community Climate Risk Assessment and Adaptation Plan (CCRAA). There will be a Community Climate Risk and Adaptation Workshop on Saturday 30 August, from 10am to 1pm at Springwood Sports Club, followed by lunch.
You can also contribute by completing the online survey before 29 August.
Your knowledge and experience are critical in helping identify local risks, priorities and practical solutions. Many in our community are already taking action, and these stories, along with diverse perspectives, will help shape a more resilient future for the Blue Mountains.
We encourage you to attend and share the event with your networks to help ensure every voice is heard.
Places are limited for the workshop, so register early here (link in profile): https://climateriskworkshop.eventbrite.com.au Complete the survey here (link in profile): https://yoursay.bmcc.nsw.gov.au/community-climate-risk-and-adaptation-plan-community-survey
The development of this plan is being funded by the NSW Government’s Western Sydney Infrastructure Grant Program.
This video captures the most moving speech at the Peace Symposium: that by journalist and teacher Harumi Hayakawa, who described the true horror and tragedy of nuclear weapons. She went on to describe how, after the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the people of both cities dedicated themselves to peace building from the grassroots. Small yet courageous actions by these individuals have reached and changed countless lives in the world. After her presentation, Harumi taught families at the Community Peace Picnic how to fold paper cranes.
At the Peace Symposium, Rotarian Jennifer Scott AM outlined how Rotarians around the world are taking action for peace: from providing mental health first aid in our local community to working for social and environmental justice on a global scale. You can watch an excerpt from her presentation in this video.
In his opening speech for the Peace Symposium Dharug man Chris Tobin shared a Dreamtime story about the Waratah, which emerged from a bloody conflict as a symbol of reconciliation.
@mark_greenhill_oam, Mayor of the City of Blue Mountains, welcomed participants to the Forum: Ban the Bomb, Sign the Treaty at the Blue Mountains Peace Symposium. As a signatory of Mayors for Peace he spoke of the urgency to act to prevent nuclear war and to end the genocide in Gaza.
The Peace Symposium was organised to coincide with the 80th anniversary of the bombing of Nagasaki and Hiroshima.
You can watch our full playlist of videos for Making Peace on our YouTube channel (link in profile): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kODwpPinQx4&list=PLBu_QF9Pp5hPoaLWW0ZLHhwS6hPd-x-Rl
View Ecopella`s rousing anthem `You`re Needed Now!` They performed it at the Blue Mountains Peace Symposium on the eve of the March for Humanity and the 80th anniversary of the bombing of Nagasaki and Hiroshima. Contact them if you`re interested in joining the choir which has branches around Eastern NSW.
If you`d like to hear the other presentations at the Symposium visit the Planetary Health YouTube channel (link in profile)
Renowned Permaculture teacher and Katoomba resident Rowe Morrow has been a Quaker for 40 years. She spoke at the Blue Mountains Peace Symposium about the extraordinary work Quakers have done, and are doing, for Peace, and the strategies they`ve developed: from working to abolish slavery, to being instrumental in starting Oxfam and Amnesty International, to training communities in non-violent communication and conflict resolution, conscientious objection, direct action, divestment strategies and more. You can listen to her discuss these in her presentation here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kODwpPinQx4&t=5s
This week President Trump gave an order for two nuclear submarines to proceed towards Russia. This act was the starting point of Robert Tickner`s talk at the Forum: Ban the Bomb, Sign the Treaty in the Blue Mountains Peace Symposium yesterday.
This week marks the 80th anniversary of the bombing of Nagasaki and Hiroshima and, as ICAN Ambassador, Robert Tickner helped launch ICAN`s Week of Action for Abolition at the Symposium. You can listen to his full talk in the video below or view it on YouTube via link in profile:
Despite the very challenging weather for the Peace Symposium yesterday we also enjoyed an indoor `Community Picnic` with delicious food, origami crane and badge making workshops, a book stall by RoseyRavelston books, and wonderful performances by Ecopella and the Bearded Ladies Community Choir. The venue was dotted with historical posters reflecting a long history of the Blue Mountains taking a stand against war and nuclear weapons and we were thrilled to hear during the Symposium that the Supreme Court had authorised the March for Humanity today.
A huge thank you to the @bm_peace_collective, the speakers, very engaged participants, performers, volunteers and staff who helped make the inaugural Blue Mountains Peace Symposium such a success yesterday! We heard from CEO Dr Rosemary Dillon, Dharug man Chris Tobin, journalist and teacher Harumi Hayakawa, Rotarian Jennifer Scott, Quaker Rowe Morrow, artist Matilda Emmerich, Peace Collective members Bruce Cornwall and Catherine Dobbie, Mayor Mark Greenhill, MC Nick Franklin, ICAN Ambassador Robert Tickner, Indonesian ambassador Siswo Pramono, Federal Member Susan Templeman MP and members of the audience. If you`d like to get involved and receive information about future events you can subscribe to receive our newsletter via the Planetary Health website here (link in profile): https://www.bluemountainsplanetaryhealth.com.au/
Protected areas such as national parks, nature reserves and Indigenous lands are the foundation of biodiversity conservation. However, climate change is threatening their effectiveness in safeguarding wildlife, ecosystem services and livelihoods.
