Cavity-nest boxes for solitary bees: a century of design and research

A variety of solitary bee species that naturally nest in wood and plant stems aboveground also readily accept nest boxes, which are human-made devices that aggregate these nesting conditions. Nest boxes are sheltered bundles of hollow plant stems, bamboo or reeds, and holes drilled into wood or cavities made of other materials such as glass or polystyrene. In this paper, I examine the best practises in nest box material selection and construction, and the use of nest boxes to address four basic objectives related to our understanding of bee biology and enhancement of pollination services. A variety of materials and cavity dimensions are included in nest boxes that are used to monitor local bee diversity or to address fundamental questions in community ecology and environmental change. Others examine bee biology, physiology and behaviour that use nest boxes to obtain bees for further experimentation. The majority of studies use nest boxes in agricultural landscapes and in alternative pollinator management; these studies improve nest box design for target bee species to augment their numbers. Continued design and data sharing, as well as the refinement of nest box construction and deployment for specific objectives, will ensure they remain useful tools for bee science, conservation and alternative pollinator management.