Listening test

C)
Not Given 
29.
Environmentalists are very effective at persuading people to be kind to the 
environment. 
A) 
True
B)
False
C)
Not Given 
Part 5 
The hidden lives of solitary bees 
Ian Beavis is a naturalist and blogger with a mission to raise the profile of the many solitary 
bees, whose pollinating services are so important, yet so little recognised, Solitary bees 
inhabit gardens, parks, woodlands, fields and cliffs. In fact they represent 95% of the 
world's bee species. Leading wildlife illustrator Richard Lewington. best known for his 
beautiful paintings of butterflies, says, 'Solitary bees are so useful to gardeners and 
commercially valuable. Yet until recently they barely registered in the public consciousness. 
I wanted to help publicise their vital role in our lives' The problem with solitary bees has 
long been one of identification - with more than 240 species to choose from, and no 
accessible guidebook, where do people start? So Richard Lewington has spent any spare 
time over the past few years working on a new guide to the bees of Great Britain and 
Ireland. This, amazingly, is the first book of its kind to be published for over a century. 

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t.me/Abdusalim_Shavkatov_2 | tel: [phone] 
How do solitary bees live? A female solitary bee constructs a nest and then lays her eggs in 
individual cells, lining or sealing them with various materials depending on the species of 
bee - red mason bees use mud leafcutter bees use sections of leaf The female leaves what 
naturalists call a 'parcel' of pollen and nectar for each other little grubs to feed on When 
the female has laid all her eggs, she dies The emerging grubs eat. grow and develop into 
adults the following year. 
While some bees are plentiful and widespread, others have been designated as rare. Or are 
very local in distribution. In 2013. Ian Beavis came across what has long been known as one 
of Britain's rarest species, the banded mining bee. An impressive species with white hairs 
on its face, the banded mining bee nests in the ground, typically on steep banks. Ian Beavis 
explains that it always chooses bare earth because it doesn't like having to eat through 
plant roots to make its nest Females feed on a variety of plants, but seem particularly fond 
of yellow dandelions that bloom from spring to autumn. 
Another bee that has attracted naturalists' attention is the ivy bee. It was only identified as 
a distinct species in 1993. It is one of a number of bees that have been able to establish 
themselves in Britain due to the recent warmer winters. About the same size as a with 
distinctive orange-yellow banding on its abdomen, it was initially thought to feed on y on 
ivy, but has since been seen visiting other plants. 
The discoveries about ivy bees show how rewarding the study of solitary bees can be but 
it's not the only species whose habits are changing. Ian Beavis believes we can see in 
solitary bees the beginning of social behaviour. He explains that many species make their 
nests close to each other in huge groups, and there are some, like Andrena scotica, where 
several bees use the same entrance without becoming aggressive. It's not difficult to see 
how this behaviour, which could be seen as the foundation of social behaviour, might 
evolve in future into worker bees sharing care of the grubs. Indeed some of Britain's solitary 
bees, Lasioglossum malachurum for example, are already demonstrating this type of social 
behaviour. So will all solitary bees evolve into social insects? Not necessarily. According to 
Ian Beavis, there are advantages to social behaviour but there are also advantages to 
nesting alone. Bees that nest socially are a target for predators, diseases and parasites. 
Pesticides can also pose a threat to solitary bees. At the University of Sussex in England. 
Beth Nicholls is conducting research into the effects of certain pesticides on the red mason 
bee. She explains. 'We know that pesticides harm social bees, but very little research has 
been done into solitary bees.’ Honeybees fly throughout the summer, so they may be 
exposed to different levels of pesticides. But if the shorter flight period of solitary bees - the 
red mason bee only flies from March to May - coincides with peak pesticide levels, that 

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