Part 1. TORONTO ENTOMOLOGISTS' ASSOCIATION Several activities: Winter lectures. Annual university student symposium. Awards. Summer field trips. Participation in Fairs and Counts, etc. Possibly strong 'new' interest in Pollination ( H.Andrachuk ) 5 major publications: Ontario Insects (newsjournal). The Ontario Butterfly Atlas. Annual Ontario Lepidoptera Summaries. Ontario Odonata (annual). Checklist of the Butterflies of the Toronto Region (for 140 years)

Part 2. A peep at the labour of the last 11+ years. Dataset and equipment available to other researchers..

4000 cavities documented per year. Various cavity widths hold a variety of differently sized wood-nesting species..

June 15. Agriculturally valuable bee attacks katydid-hunting wasp..

Aug 16. Counterattack fails.

Part 3. On raising public awareness of pollinators. Commercial agriculture is a large scale human activity that can reduce local biodiversity and lead to the transport of exotic species. But can we make any estimate of the likely impact of our own endeavours?

Known impact of bird boxes and food tables Abundance and range of 'desirable' species increased to the satisfaction of bird fanciers. No obvious downside. By-catch often tolerated. Public awareness raised. (J Bruce Falls) Commerce in books, plans, bird houses and feeders. BUT never sale/ purchase/ transport of either native or exotic species.

“By Darwin!”, suppose 'bee boxing' were to become as widespread as birdboxing? 1. Strong likelihood of sale and transportation (subspecies, exotics, mites etc Knox Cellars Native Bees ). 2. Arguable potential for harming several species at a time. 3. Arguable impact on local biodiversity. What advice do we have ready for the public? :- on active care versus neglect? on multiple sizes of cavity for diversity? on selective harvesting to counter succession? on sparing the by-catch of solitary wasps?

How to guide 'raising awareness of pollinators'? Stress local species when promoting gardening with bees (the 'big idea'). Promote the preservation of, and tax relief for, 'waste land' (most bee species are ground nesters). Discourage transport of solitary bees, especially across national/provincial boundaries.

A draft of possible advice to public on 'gardening with bees'? The big idea is to garden with your own local solitary bees and wasps ---because the sale and transport of livestock can spread disease or foreign species. So start out with unused equipment, employ a variety of cavity sizes to promote diversity, and, if numbers start to explode, consider 'pruning selectively' in the winter or early Spring to help maximize the biodiversity of your garden and neighbourhood.

Direct observation; regular cleaning; winter and spring harvests to help maintain biodiversity