User:Mossymew/Insect hotel

Environmental Impacts
Insect hotels are generally thought to be a positive force in restoring or maintaining wild pollinator populations, especially native bees, many of which are endangered due to various factors such as competition with introduced bees like the western honey bee. Insect hotels are especially thought to be a valuable resource to insects that have had their primary natural habitat destroyed. For example, Anthidium palliventre, which once called the sand dunes formerly in the San Francisco area home, which have mostly been paved over for urban development. Such insects are often forced to find alternative housing, such as in city parks, typically with less success. Over half of North America's native wild bees face similar struggles, and the actual number is possibly more due to insufficient data on certain species. Bee hotels are sometimes constructed whether by private actors such as well-meaning homeowners and gardeners, or by government-led conservation projects to attempt to remedy this issue and provide habitat to stabilize struggling native bee populations.

Some recent research suggests, however, that bee hotels in particular might do more harm than good in certain situations. In a 2020 study, urban bee hotels in the city of Marseille, France, were found to be primarily habited by an exotic bee species, M. structuralis, whose presence correlated with lower native bee numbers in the area. A separate study in 2015 reported that bee hotels might be directly becoming habitat for introduced bees and native bee natural enemies such as predatory and parasitic wasps, rather than habitat for endangered native bees, as well as potentially being sources of insect disease spreading and further putting native bees at risk. Special attention must be taken when setting up insect hotels, such as through the diameter of holes being drilled into wood, as this is a key factor in which insects are attracted to the hotel, and variation in radius of just 0.1 cm can make the difference between providing habitat for native bees with more specialized, sensitive habitat needs, and the more generalist, adaptable introduced bees they compete with. An alternative solution entirely might be more beneficial for conservation, however, as most wild solitary bees tend to nest underground and aren't very attracted to bee hotels.