The attached from the BBC is yet another indication that mono-culture farming may play an important part in the poor health and death of bees. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-10998318 Margaret
The article said farmland bees had a narrower range of pollens, and that that was "a very useful piece of information in terms of being able to quantify the problem that bees are up against in intensive agriculture systems". That article didn't really say anything about bee health, except that it was their intent to assess it. It didn't mention whether the city bees were healthier or whether it's the farmland bees that are dying out. Maybe they cut the paragraphs that would put it all together.
This essentially restates the results of a 30 year old study in "Landscape Architecture", May 1979 entitled "Ecology and Management of Disturbed Urban Land" , in which the respective diversity and productivity of rural, suburban and rural zones were assessed, and applies it to bees. Plant diversity was highest in 'natural ecosystem' (presumable meaning: 'apparently unaltered'), abandoned croplands, and....drumroll...established suburbs (15-50 years old). The study didn't mention bees, but focussed on birds. Again, perhaps contrary to common belief, suburbs had the highest number of birds ber 247 acres, and amongst the highest numbers of bird species.
