- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
"Got 'em!"
That's the message we've all been waiting for.
Several of us bumble bee enthusiasts--Robbin Thorp, distinguished emeritus professor of entomology at UC Davis, photographers Allan Jones and Gary Zamzow of Davis, and yours truly--have been searching for the first bumble bee of the year since...well...Jan. 1.
We've been hanging out near manzanita bushes, knowing that this is usually the place to find newly emerged bumble bees this time of year.
So today, Jones won. He headed over to "two beautiful manzanitas" near the off-ramps at Russell and Route 113, Davis, and spotted both the yellow-faced bumble bee, Bombus vosnesenskii, and the three-banded bumble bee, Bombus melanopygus. He captured these images (below) at noon.
"I believe they are also at Hutchinson and 113, but I did not need to go that far," Jones mentioned. "The bees seemed very wary and were high overhead so I was only able to get record shots."
Good job, Allan! You nailed it!
And just in time for Valentine's Day.
Note: If you want to learn more about bumble bees, check out Bumble Bees of North America: An Identification Guide (Princeton University Press) and California Bees and Blooms: A Guide for Gardeners and Naturalists (Heyday) both co-authored by Robbin Thorp and other scientists.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
The article: "Neonicotinoid Ppesticide Exposure Impairs Crop Pollination Services Provided by Bumblebees."
Seeking his expertise, journalists are contacting Thorp, distinguished emeritus professor of entomology at the University of California, Davis, who maintains an office at the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility, and also works at the Bohart Museum of Entomology.
The research, by a team of six UK colleagues, indicates that neonics are hindering the pollination services of bumble bees. Corresponding author is Nigel E. Raine of the School of Biological Science, Royal Holloway University of London and his team wrote in the abstract:
"Recent concern over global pollinator declines has led to considerable research on the effects of pesticides on bees. Although pesticides are typically not encountered at lethal levels in the field, there is growing evidence indicating that exposure to field-realistic levels can have sublethal effects on bees, affecting their foraging behaviour, homing ability and reproductive success Bees are essential for the pollination of a wide variety of crops and the majority of wild flowering plants but until now research on pesticide effects has been limited to direct effects on bees themselves and not on the pollination services they provide. Here we show the first evidence to our knowledge that pesticide exposure can reduce the pollination services bumblebees deliver to apples, a crop of global economic importance. Bumblebee colonies exposed to a neonicotinoid pesticide provided lower visitation rates to apple trees and collected pollen less often. Most importantly, these pesticide-exposed colonies produced apples containing fewer seeds, demonstrating a reduced delivery of pollination services. Our results also indicate that reduced pollination service delivery is not due to pesticide-induced changes in individual bee behaviour, but most likely due to effects at the colony level. These findings show that pesticide exposure can impair the ability of bees to provide pollination services, with important implications for both the sustained delivery of stable crop yields and the functioning of natural ecosystems."
The researchers studied Thiamethoxam, one of the neonics.
Thorp, who was not involved in the research, is a global expert on bumble bees, as well as other bees. He co-authored Bumble Bees of North America: an Identification Guide (Princeton University) published in 2014, and California Bees and Blooms: A Guide for Gardeners and Naturalists (Heyday), also published in 2014.
Thorp was quoted today in the well-researched Washington Post piece, "New Research Reignites Concerns that Pesticides Are Harming Bees," written by freelance journalist Chelsea Harvey, who specializes in environmental health and policy.
“Most of the studies in the past have focused on direct effects on the bees, both the adults and the larvae,” Thorp told Harvey. "These can include effects on bee mortality or reproduction...“This study now clearly demonstrates that in addition to effects on the bees, both direct effects and sublethal indirect effects, that these effects are influencing their ability to pollinate plants. And they used apple as an example of this, as an important crop.”
The topic is quite controversial, but the importance of pollination is not. Inadequate pollination can lead to unfavorable effects on agricultural crop production. For example, bumble bees may not forage on the apple blossoms as much or as long. That could lead to poor fruit quality and decreased apple production.
Why are bumble bees important? “They're extremely important in pollination of our native ecosystems, and many of them…are important contributors to crop pollination," Thorp told the Washington Post.
Bumble bees are known for their specialized pollination of tomatoes and watermelon, but they also pollinate many other agricultural crops.
Thorp points out that with the decline of the honey bee population, the work of other pollinators is becoming increasingly crucial.
Thorp anticipates that the study will open doors for more research involving neonics and wild bees. "Even if the study can't be generalized to all bees or all crops, it raises more questions in the ongoing debate over pesticide use in the U.S.," Harvey pointed out in her news article.
“I think it's kind of a wake-up call to growers that they ought to be paying more attention to what they're putting on their crops,” Thorp told Harvey. “Because it's coming right out of their pocket as well if they're damaging the ability of pollinators that they rely on to pollinate their crops.”
Thorp has long been part of the mission to save the declining bumble bee population. He works closely on bumble bee conservation with Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation, headquartered in Portland, Ore.
The Xerces Society emphasizes the importance of bumble bees on it website. ""Bumble bees are important pollinators of wild flowering plants and crops. They are generalist foragers, and thus do not depend on any one flower type. However, some plants rely on bumble bees to achieve pollination. Loss of bumble bees can have far ranging ecological impacts due to their role as pollinators. In Britain and the Netherlands, where multiple pollinator species have gone extinct, there is evidence of a decline in the abundance of insect pollinated plants."
"Bumble bees are able to fly in cooler temperatures and lower light levels than many other bees, which makes them excellent crop pollinators," according to Xerces. "They also perform a behavior called 'buzz pollination,' in which the bee grabs the pollen producing structure of the flower in her jaws and vibrates her wing muscles. This causes vibrations that dislodge pollen from the flower. Some plants, including tomatoes, peppers, and cranberries, benefit from buzz pollination."
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
You will if you attend the Spring Festival hosted at the Loma Vista Farm, part of the Vallejo City Unified School District, on Saturday, May 16. Offering free admission, the festival will take place from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at 150 Rainier Ave., Vallejo.
The bumble bee nest? It's the home of a colony of yellow-faced bumble bees, Bombus vosnesenskii, a native bee species commonly found on the west coast of North America, from Baja California to Canada.
Rita LeRoy discovered the entomological prize. She's the "Farm Keeper"--that's her official title--at the Loma Vista Farm. "I've worked for the Vallejo school district at Loma Vista Farm for 25 years," she related. "I teach students about nature and nutrition through hands on farm lessons involving cooking, gardening, insect appreciation, and animal care."
The nest is currently roped off, just waiting for two-legged folks to admire and appreciate it. It's a marvel of nature, for sure.
More on the Loma Vista Farm? Founded in 1974, it's a 5-acre outdoor classroom that provides hands-on educational activities involving plants and animals for children of all ages and abilities, according to its website. "We seek to increase students' knowledge of nature and nutrition while enhancing academic learning, ecoliteracy, and psychosocial development."
The farm offers field trips, after-school opportunities through 4-H, community service and volunteer opportunities, garden-based workshops for adults, and job training for college students, developmentally disabled young adults, and disadvantaged youth.
We first visited the Loma Vista Farm back in the 1980s as part of a 4-H activity. It was--and is--a delightful place to be. (And bees think so, too!)
Loma Vista Farm is open to the public Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. during the school year. It is closed on holidays and follows the Vallejo school district calendar.
And the Spring Festival? It's an opportunity for friends and families to visit the farm and participate in crafts and activities. Activities include educational information booths, animal adventures, train rides and greenhouse tours. Download flier.
In the meantime, check out the red pollen load of Bombus vosnesenskii (at left). We saw the bumble bee foraging on vetch last weekend at the Hastings Preserve, Carmel, a biological field station operated by the University of California. The Hastings Preserve was the site of a BugShot macro photography workshop taught by acclaimed insect photographers Alex Wild, John Abbott and Thomas Shahan.
And for more information on bumble bees, be sure to read the book, Bumble Bees of North America: An Identification Guide (Princeton Press), co-authored by one of our own, Robbin Thorp, native pollinator specialist and distinguished emeritus professor of entomology at UC Davis. Lead author is Paul H. Williams, and co-authors are Leif Richardson and Sheila Colla.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
With your camera!
If you're into pollinators, plants and photography, and want to share your work nationally, here's a new project for you.
To generate some buzz for pollinators, the Center for Food Safety (CFS) is partnering with the Wild Bee Gardens app to sponsor a national photography contest.
Bay Area native bee enthusiast Celeste Ets-Hokin, who launched the Wild Bee Gardens app (with identification assistance from consultants, including native pollinator specialist Robbin Thorp, distinguished emeritus professor of entomology at the University of California, Davis), alerted us to the contest.
It is "designed to raise awareness about the dazzling diversity of North America's native bees and other pollinators," she said, "and to engage residents from coast to coast in the vital and rewarding business of creating a continental tapestry of wild bee gardens,"
The winning photographs will be published in the Wild Bee Gardens app, and also promoted on the CFS website, Facebook and Twitter pages.
CFS, headquartered in Washington, D.C., with branch offices in San Francisco, Honolulu and Portland (Ore.) describes itself as "a national non-profit public interest and environmental advocacy organization working to protect human health and the environment by curbing the use of harmful food production technologies and by promoting organic and other forms of sustainable agriculture. CFS also educates consumers concerning the definition of organic food and products."
Judges will choose numerous winners, and each will receive a free Wild Bee Gardens app to keep, or give as a gift, "so that you can share your enthusiasm for wild bees and their gardens with your friends and families," Ets-Hokin said. Winners also will receive a pollinator swag bag from CFS.
Want to learn more about the submission guidelines and selection criteria? Access http://centerforfoodsafety-wildbees.tumblr.com . The deadline to submit photos is April 17.
If you can't identify the pollinator, not to worry. After the judges select the winners, Thorp will identify the bees. He's a co-author of California Bees and Blooms: A Guide for Gardeners and Naturalists (Heyday), along with colleagues Gordon Frankie, Rollin Coville and Barbara Ertter. Thorp also co-authored Bumble Bees of North America: an Identification Guide (Princeton University Press).
Speaking of bumble bees, they seem to be quite scarce this year. We saw our first black-tailed bumble bee (Bombus melanopygus) of the season on March 15 on Spanish lavender in Vacaville.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
For me, it's zero, zilch, nada.
They're out there, though. Talent insect photographer Allan Jones of Davis, shared some of his images that he captured this year.
Bumble bees, however, are declining throughout the world, and it would be "a frightening thought" if bumble bees were to go from declining to extinct, said native pollinator specialist Robbin Thorp, distinguished emeritus professor of entomology at the University of California, Davis.
He and fellow bumble bee authority Sheila Colla of Eastern Canada are the co-coordinators of the North American (United States and Canada) Bumble Bee Species Conservation Workgroup for the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
Thorp and Colla are featured in a newly released Radio-Canada video on declining bumble bees.
The six-minute version was broadcast last weekend. You'll hear the news reporter speaking French and Thorp and Colla speaking English as they talk about the declining bee population:
Bee breeder-geneticist Michael "Kim" Fondrk of UC Davis, now retired, is featured in a segment on honey bee instrumental insemination:
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0ByTaUv9eMDXLR0RQRWVXUnFWU2M/edit
A one-hour show, also broadcast last weekend, and more about honey bees, is at
