This morning, Toronto's official bee, Agapostemon virescens, was featured in the Toronto Star. The bee first received its unofficial title in the Bees of Toronto book, part of the city's biodiversity series. The book was written and composed by members of our BEEc team (L. Packer, S. Dumesh, S. Colla, and A. Zayed) as well as YorkU past members (S. MacIvor, B. Harpur, and C. Sheffield).

The article covers several important current topics including Toronto's pollinator protection strategy, Pollinate TO, and the upcoming (first-ever) biodiversity strategy in Toronto. This is all exciting news, both for the bees and for the city of Toronto. Conservation in urban areas is often overlooked, but plays a very important and unique role. Protecting and restoring destroyed habitats will benefit species at-risk and also help Canada reach its conservation goals by end of 2020. These initiatives have sparked the interest of many city dwellers, more of whom are now planting pollinator-friendly gardens to help sustain them in an urban landscape.

Read the full article: https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2019/09/17/toronto-now-has-an-official-bee-heres-why-that-matters.html

Pollinate TO: https://www.toronto.ca/services-payments/water-environment/environmental-grants-incentives/pollinateto-community-grants/

Toronto's Biodiversity Strategy: https://www.toronto.ca/explore-enjoy/parks-gardens-beaches/ravines-natural-parklands/biodiversity-in-the-city/