Samuelson Ash E

1. Background We are living in the ‘Urban Age’ [1]: over half the world's human population currently resides in cities [2] and an estimated threefold increase in global urban land cover is predicted between 2000 and 2030 [3]. Although urbanization has been shown to impact negatively upon species abundance and diversity for many taxa [4], some groups successfully exploit anthropogenic habitats [5] and there is evidence to place wild bees among this number.