- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
The United Nations designated May 20 as World Bee Day to raise awareness of the importance of pollinators, the threats they face and their contribution to sustainable development, according to its website.
It originated in 2018 when the government of Slovenia proposed that the United Nations declare May 20 as World Bee Day.
Why May 20? That was the day Anton Janša (1734-1773), a pioneer of modern apiculture, was born. "Janša came from a family of beekeepers in Slovenia, where beekeeping is an important agricultural activity with a long-standing tradition," relates Apimondia.
Today, however, let's pay tribute to the bumble bees. The late Robbin Thorp (1933-2019), UC Davis distinguished emeritus professor, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology, used to point out there's only one bumble bee genus--Bombus--and that more than 250 species belong to this genus. California has 27 species of Bombus, according to Thorp in his 1983 published research, "Bumble Bees and Cuckoo Bumble Bees of California," written with colleagues Donald Horning Jr. and Lorry Dunning.
In his retirement, Thorp co-authored two books Bumble Bees of North America: An Identification Guide (Princeton University, 2014) and California Bees and Blooms: A Guide for Gardeners and Naturalists (Heyday, 2014).
Thorp, a member of the UC Davis entomology faculty for 30 years (1964-1994), continued his research, teaching and public service until his death in 2019 at age 85.
Franklin's bumble bee, Bombus franklini--a bee that he monitored for decades until his death in 2019--is now protected as an endangered species under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). It is feared extinct. Thorp, the last known person to see Franklin's bumble bee in its native habitat, spotted it in 2006 near Mt. Ashland. The bee inhabits--or did--a 13,300-square-mile area confined to five counties--Siskiyou and Trinity counties in California; and Jackson, Douglas and Josephine counties in Oregon. Its range may be the smallest range of any bumble bee species in North America, or even the world, he mused.
Today scientists are worried about the declining bumble bee population, a decline attributed to climate change, habitat loss, and pesticides. Bumble bees are especially known for their "buzz pollination" of such plants as tomatoes, peppers and cranberries. They help pollinate crops worth an estimated $3 billion in the United States alone.
"Due to threats including habitat loss, pesticide use and disease, sightings of the bee have declined by 89%, and it's disappeared completely from eight states. The decline of this once-common native bee is alarming and heartbreaking — and a harbinger of massive biodiversity loss across the country."--Center for Biological Diversity.
The dominant bumble bee species in California is the yellow-faced bumble bee, Bombus vosnesenskii. The Western bumble bee, B. occidentalis, used to be quite common. "It's one of four bumble bee species cleared by the state's Third Appellate District Court of Appeal for inclusion on California's endangered species list," according to a UC Riverside news story, published in July 2022.
Access the California Bumble Bee Atlas website to see how you can help. Meanwhile, how many species of bumble bees have you seen and photographed in California? Here are some of them.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
Look closely at a patch of California golden poppies and you may see a sweat bee (genus Halictus) collecting gold pollen. The pollen basket is on the hind legs but you'll see "gold" also dusting the head and abdomen.
Native bee, commonly known as "halictid bee." Native plant. In fact, the California golden poppy, Eschscholzia californica, is the state flower.
And the rumor that it's "protected" and you'll get arrested if you pick a poppy along a roadside is inaccurate.
The California Department of Fish and Wildlife sets the record straight on its website: "It is often believed that there are laws prohibiting the cutting or damaging of the California poppy because it is the state flower. While there is no law protecting the California poppy specifically, California Penal Code Section 384a(opens in new tab) requires written landowner permission to remove and sell plant material from land that a person does not own, and removing or damaging plants from property that a person does not own without permission may constitute trespass and/or petty theft. However, these laws do not prevent the collection of California poppies on private land by the landowner. California poppies are a beautiful and easy-to-grow addition to your garden, and although you may choose to pick them from your property, they last much longer in the ground!"
Want to learn more about native bees? California has some 1600 species of wild or non-managed bees. Be sure to read California Bees & Blooms: A Guide for Gardeners and Naturalists. It's the work of University of California authors, all with UC Berkeley connections: Gordon Frankie, now professor emeritus, UC Berkeley; Robbin Thorp (1933-2019), UC Davis distinguished emeritus professor who received his doctorate in entomology from UC Berkeley; photographer Rollin Coville, who holds a doctorate in entomology from UC Berkeley, and Barbara Ertter, curator at the UC Berkeley-based University Herbarium and Jepson Herbarium.
The Bohart Museum of Entomology is hosting an open house on bees, both wild and managed, from 1 to 4 p.m., Sunday, May 19 in Room 1124, Academic Surge Building, 455 Crocker Lane. It's free and family free.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
Robbin Thorp (1933-2019), distinguished emeritus professor, Department of Entomology and Nematology.
Leal, professor of biochemistry in the Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology and former professor and chair of the Department of Entomology, said Thorp "epitomizes how emeriti contribute to UC Davis."
Thorp, a 30-year member of the entomology faculty, and a tireless advocate of pollinator species protection and conservation, retired in 1994, but he continued working until several weeks before his death on June 7, 2019, at age 85. In 2014, he co-authored two books: Bumble Bees of North America: An Identification Guide (Princeton University,) and California Bees and Blooms: A Guide for Gardeners and Naturalists (Heyday). He published more than 50 percent of his papers following his retirement."
“Robbin's scientific achievements during his retirement rival the typical career productivity of many other academic scientists,” said Steve Nadler, professor and chair of the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology, at the time of the legendary entomologist's death. “His contributions in support of understanding bee biodiversity and systematics are a true scientific legacy.”
The video tribute is online at
https://youtu.be/s6fxdg2XZPA?si=u0SG1UvUG34zQxmV.
It includes images and accomplishments of many of the emeriti, meant as a small representation of the achievements of all. (See news story)
In his message, Chancellor May told the new emeriti: "You played a central role in keeping UC Davis at the forefront of excellence. Your continued engagement through teaching, research, volunteering and philanthropy is vital to our continued growth and success. So I encourage you to stay engaged with campus. The UC Davis Emeriti Association is here with resources and support for this newest chapter of your career. Please take advantage of it. Thank you for our dedication to UC Davis and congratulations on reaching this milestone."
Among its many activities, UC Davis Emeriti Association (UCDEA) interviews and records emeriti who have made "significant contributions to the development of the university." (See Video Records Project.)
One of them is Robbin Thorp. (Watch the video here.)
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
Get off my turf!
The native bees known as Melissodes, the longhorned bees, start stirring in the early morning. First, they settle on a leaf or flower to warm up their flight muscles. Once ready to fly, they don't let up until late afternoon.
We look forward to seeing them forage and battle one another in our Mexican sunflower (Tithonia rotundifola) patch, a key part of our Vacaville pollinator garden.
The males are extremely territorial and try to bop other insects off "their" flowers. That includes bumble bees, butterflies and males of their species. Sometimes they aim for a spider or praying mantis on their real estate. Sometimes they lose. Why are the males such bee boppers? To protect their turf, according to the lateRobbinThorp, UC Davis distinguished emeritus professor. They are trying to save the resources for the females per chance to mate with them.
If you have a camera that will allow you to set a fast shutter speed, such as 1/8000 of a second, sometimes you can freeze the action. Otherwise, they are an elongated blur as they whiz by, seemingly faster than the proverbial "speeding bullet."
The book, California Bees and Blooms, a Guide for Gardeners and Naturalists (Heydey 2014), co-authored by University of California scientists, offers a closer look at Melissodes.
California is home to more than "1600 hundred species of undomesticated bees—most of them native—that populate and pollinate our gardens, fields, and urban green spaces," according to the authors (Gordon Frankie, Robbin Thorp (1933-2019), Rollin Coville and Barbara Ertter.) They explored 22 most common genera (and six species of cuckoo bees), describing each one's distinctive behaviors, social structures, flight season, preferred flowers, and enemies.
One of them is the Melissodes agilis that we find in our garden.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
The English lavender drew her in.
And there she was, a yellow-faced bumble bee, Bombus vosnesenskii, foraging in our family's pollinator garden in Vacaville.
She buzzed from blossom to blossom, ignoring the honey bees, syrphid flies and...the photographer.
Ms. Bumble Bee was on a morning mission--to gather as much nectar as quickly as possible and return to her colony.
Sadly, this year bumble bees in our pollinator garden seem to be as "scarce as hen's teeth." (Since hens have no teeth, hens' teeth are so scarce as to be non-existent!)
This Bombus arrived June 4 and we haven't seen any since.
“Bumble bees provide an important ecological service--pollination," native bee expert Robbin Thorp (1933-2019), UC Davis distinguished emeritus professor of entomology, told us. "This service is critical to reproduction of a huge diversity of plants that in turn provide shelter, food (seeds, fruits) to diverse wildlife. The potential cascade of effects from the removal of even one localized pollinator may affect us directly and indirectly.”
In his retirement, Professor Thorp co-authored Bumble Bees of North America: An Identification Guide (Princeton University, 2014) and California Bees and Blooms: A Guide for Gardeners and Naturalists (Heyday, 2014).