In the face of global declines of insect pollinators, research finds surprising species diversity and abundance of bees living in cities. Cities are human-dominated landscapes or as Tansley wrote in 1935, anthropogenic ecosystems. Humans have unwittingly cultivated urban spaces in ways that provide habitat and forage for bees. Thus, urban residents constitute important habitat managers. With 83% of US citizens living in sub/urban areas and their residential lawns and gardens making up 25-60% of US urban greenspaces, the human dimensions of residential lawn management warrant attention. This project explores social mechanisms behind patterns of urban land-uses driving bee habitat. Through in-depth engagement with urban stakeholders adjacent to 15 long-term native bee sampling sites in St. Louis, MO, USA, we ask: What are the social and cultural drivers of insect pollinator abundance and species richness? For those urban land-managers, what drives decision making regarding practices that promote pollinator habitat?
Results/Conclusions
Using voices from 85 stakeholder interviews among those urban residents, renters, or homeowners who report planting for bees, many claim doing so because they believe this is one global sustainability problem they can “do something” about. Such notions of self-efficacy—the belief that one can produce a desired effect by their actions—in the face of a global environmental problem are explored. We evidence this self-efficacy and discuss implications for public communication, urban ecology research, and policy.