European Bee Garden opens at UPWr

The UN estimates that bees pollinate as many as 71 of the 100 plant species that provide us with 90 percent of the world's food, meaning that bees play a huge role in the ecosystem. If these pollinating insects were to disappear, it would mean a global disaster, and not only from an environmental perspective. Research on bees and their products has been carried out at the University of Environmental and Life Sciences for many years, and our scientists are among the leading national experts on the habits and health problems of bees. The university already had a training and demonstration apiary at the Research and Education Station in Swojczyce in 2016, which is used in both teaching and research, with 20 bee colonies living in twenty hives – one per hive.

On Wednesday the university opened a second apiary, installing wooden beehives on the grounds of the UPWr Faculty of Biology and Animal Science on Kożuchowska Street at the Biskupin Campus.

– We have created the perfect conditions for eight bee colonies. We have planted a flower meadow in front of the apiary providing the bees with plenty of food, and there is a mini park close by, ensuring shade to avoid the risk of them getting too hot. And, in addition, students from the APIS Beekeepers' Student Science Club shall be able to look after them – says Dr. Paweł Migdał, supervisor of the students' science club. They are joined by Krzysztof Latarowski from the Department of Human Nutrition, who will help them look after the apiary.

The apiary was created as part of the European Bee Garden project, which perfectly fits in with the university's strategies and the EU's biodiversity strategy.

– The European Parliament has for years been active in the protection of bees and pollinating insects – and not without reason. Pollinating insects are crucial to agricultural activity in the European Union – says Leszek Gaś, Director of the European Parliament Office in Wrocław, adding that in order to halt the dynamic decline in the number of bees observed in recent years, the European Union is working to regulate its policy on the use of plant protection products - including the successive struggle to limit the use of pesticides by farmers, which kill not only pests that destroy crops, but also pollinating insects.

Education from an early age

Additionally, a 'Bee Corner' nature trail will be set up in the university's apiary in the coming days, funded by the European Commission as part of the Erasmus+ programme from the international teaching project 'BeeGen: Beekeepers Generation Bridging'.  The designs of the teaching boards were developed by students of the APIS students' society, and the nature trail will serve both students and local walkers.

– We also organised a series of hands-on workshops for 140 primary school pupils in Lower Silesia in order to reach a younger audience with a campaign about the role of bees in the ecosystem. We hope to have not only spiked their interest about the world of insects in our youngest participants, but also to have made them more sensitive to nature – says Prof. Barbara Król from the UPWr, adding that during the workshop children built hotels for pollinating insects, some of which remained in their schools, while 14 were installed in the European Bee Garden.

Each workshop was conducted by UPWr students Anna Tomańska and Anita Skorus under the substantive and organisational supervision of the Faculty of Biology and Animal Science – represented by Prof. Barbara Król and Dr. Paweł Migdał.

The European Bee Garden project, together with accompanying initiatives (the design and establishment of a database of melliferous plants around the apiary, the organisation of workshops for primary school children, inspections and maintenance of beehives, and staging the  conferences), is carried out by students of animal science, biology and veterinary medicine, under the supervision of UPWr employees – beekeeping specialists: Prof. Adam Roman, Prof. Paweł Chorbiński and Dr. Paweł Migdał, plant specialist – Dr. Sylwia Wierzcholska, while the whole project is coordinated by Prof. Barbara Król.

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