Urban buzz: quantifying and enhancing the resources available to pollinators in urban landscapes

城市生态学是当前备受关注的一个研究领域。布里斯托尔大学最近的研究表明，城市可以成为传粉媒介非常好的栖息地，比周围的乡村包含更多的蜜蜂种类。城市花园为大量传粉昆虫提供饲料，虽然通常不可能增加花园的数量，但可以提高它们的质量，为传粉昆虫提供食物资源。目前，许多花园都有大面积的草坪、装饰和坚固的立地物，而且花园里的花很少为传粉者提供饲料。对城市传粉者项目的持续分析意味着我们可以预测栖息地管理对城市传粉者群落稳健性的影响，这一指标经常被引用为保护项目的关键目标。这个博士项目的目的是增加城市生境对传粉者的价值，从而增加城市传粉者群落的稳健性。在世界范围内，城市地区正在增加，至少对于传粉者来说，它们可以提供良好的栖息地，相对来说不受农村存在的威胁。作为CASE的合作伙伴，我们将与皇家园艺学会合作，该项目有三个目标：(1)量化英国花园提供的花蜜和花粉，(2)增加城市高度城市化中心区的花蜜和花粉数量，(3)使用大规模的实地实验来增加复制城市街道花园的花蜜和花粉数量。

Urban ecology is a research area of considerable current interest. Recent work from the University of Bristol has shown that cities can be remarkably good habitats for pollinators, containing more bee species than the surrounding countryside. Urban gardens provide forage for large numbers of pollinators and while it is usually not possible to increase the quantity of gardens, it is possible to increase their quality with respect to food resources for pollinators. Currently many gardens have large areas of lawn, decking and hard standing, and contain flowers which provide little forage for pollinators. Ongoing analysis of the Urban Pollinators project means that we can predict the effect of habitat management on the robustness of the urban pollinator communities, a metric often cited as a key target in conservation projects.The aim of this PhD project is to increase the value of urban habitats to pollinators, thereby increasing the robustness of urban pollinator communities. Urban areas are increasing worldwide and for pollinators at least, they can provide excellent habitat which is relatively free from the threats that exist in the countryside. We will work with the Royal Horticultural Society as a CASE partner and there are three objectives to the project: (1) To quantify nectar and pollen provided by UK gardens, (2) to increase the amount of nectar and pollen in the highly urbanized central zone of a city and (3) to use a large scale field experiment to increase the amount of nectar and pollen in gardens in replicate urban streets.