World Bee Day/Week 2024's Journal

To raise awareness of the importance of pollinators, the threats they face and their contribution to sustainable development, the UN designated 20 May as World Bee Day.

Pollinators visit flowers to drink plant nectar and/or eat and/or gather pollen and/or transport pollen as they move about. These actions can result in the fertilization of host plants. Bees in particular do this but so do other invertebrates such as butterflies, moths, beetles, flies, and wasps as well as vertebrates such as birds, bats, and small mammals.

Welcome to those interested to participate in the World Bee Day/Week 2024 bioblitz May 17, 2024 - May 23, 2024 and help raise awareness of this day. Last year during roughly this same time period 36,649 observers posted 151,832 qualifying observations as indicated in the World Bee Day/Week 2023 mockup project. 35766 observations were posted by the top 500 observers in 2023.

Pollinators play a vital role in maintaining biodiversity and the stability of ecosystems by facilitating flowering plant reproduction. Humans rely on the results of pollinator activity for many crops yielding food production including fruits, vegetables, and nuts, but also for the production of non-food products such as fibres, dyes, and medicines derived from plant sources. In contradiction, pollinator's stability is negatively impacted by human activity which lead to loss of habitat such as urbanization, agriculture, and land development. Agrochemicals, including pesticides and herbicides, impact pollinators by poisoning them, reducing forage, weaken immune systems, or disrupt navigation abilities. Changes in temperature, precipitation patterns, and plant phenology can disrupt pollinator and their floral resource synchronization. Human activity can introduce invasive species and their parasites and pathogens that may negatively impact native pollinators through competition and pathology.

Raising public awareness and comprehension regarding the importance of pollinators and the necessary steps for their conservation is vital for successful conservation endeavours.

World Bee Day/Week 2024 Bioblitz Project May 17, 2024 - May 23, 2024, please join.

To raise awareness of the importance of pollinators, the threats they face and their contribution to sustainable development, the UN designated 20 May as World Bee Day.

Many watch fascinated as bees collect pollen, butterflies flutter among flowers, or hummingbirds and sunbirds sip nectar. The graceful movements, vibrant colours, and intricate patterns of pollinators enhance inspiring natural landscapes. Aesthetic appreciation, relaxation, and recreation are evoked as they enrich outdoor spaces such as gardens, parks, and wild habitat.

It is not surprising that these movements, colours, and patterns have inspired the imagination of artists, poets, musicians, and storytellers. Pollinators serve as motifs in tapestries, paintings, sculptures, literature, and folklore. Bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds and sunbirds have symbolic meaning and spiritual significance throughout history for various cultures. Many ancient societies have a long association of bees with fertility, cooperation, and industriousness. Renewal, rebirth, transformation, beauty, and the soul's journey are symbolized by butterflies in diverse cultural traditions. Love, beauty, vitality, energy, and harmony are symbolized in many cultures by hummingbirds and sunbirds. Across cultures and generations greater appreciation, respect, and stewardship of the natural world can be fostered by recognizing and honouring the cultural significance of pollinators.

Being aware of pollinator ecology, behaviour, and biology helps to foster an understanding of the multi-faceted relationships that uphold life with a broader appreciation of the diversity and complexity of nature. Pollinator conservation helps to preserve the wonder and beauty of the natural world by maintaining spaces that promote profound relationships to nature and nurtures the soul.

Bees, butterflies, moths, birds, and bats are some of the pollinators comprising the essential elements of ecosystems worldwide. Their interaction with flowering plants ensure the survival of diverse species and maintains the intricate web of life in terrestrial and non-marine habitats. Pollination facilitation supports genetic diversity of plant populations, which is crucial for the resilience and persistence of ecosystems.

Pollinators serve as mutualistic partners in complex ecological networks with plants.These interactions serve as essential fundamental components to terrestrial ecosystem functioning by regulating wild plant reproduction, maintaining plant diversity, forming habitat and community dynamics, providing food for other wildlife, and by influencing the dispersal of species throughout landscapes.

We can also be thankful to the ground nesters for their role in bioturbation and bringing nitrogen and other elements into the ground.

Pollinators connect different trophic levels within food webs by serving the crucial role between plants and other organisms, including herbivores, predators, and decomposers. Preserving biodiversity, maintaining a balanced ecosystems, and supporting the resilience within natural habitats requires concerted efforts to conserve pollinators.

Please feel free to welcome others, that are in your circle of pollinator observers and identifiers, to this project . The more the merrier.