- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
Its population is declining and he feared it might become extinct. B. occidentalis, sometimes called the "white-bottomed bee" due to its distinctive white markings on its abdomen, is known for pollinating blackberries, cherries, apples and blueberries.
Fast forward to today and the UC Davis research on how climate change is "rapidly restructuring North American bumble bee communities."
Newly published research from the laboratory of Professor Neal Williams, a pollination ecologist in the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology (and close friend and colleague of Thorp), indicates a substantial shift in bumble bee communities.
The analytical paper, “Warming Summer Temperatures Are Rapidly Restructuring North American Bumble Bee Communities” --authored by ecologist Jeremy Hemberger, a former postdoctoral fellow in the Williams lab, and Professor Williams--appears in Ecology Letters.
“This is one of the first papers to show really substantial shifts in community composition in bumble bees due to climate, but also in insects more broadly,” said Hemberger, now a postdoctoral researcher at his alma mater, the University of Wisconsin, Madison. “We're also able to partition the effect we found to being driven by a loss of cold-adapted species, and a rapid rise in warm-adapted species across North America, but alarmingly we see that, above 50° parallel north, even warm-adapted species are declining.”
The 50th parallel north is a circle of latitude that is 50 degrees north of the Earth's equatorial plane. It crosses Europe, Asia, the Pacific Ocean, North America and the Atlantic Ocean. At this latitude, the sun is visible for 16 hours and 22 minutes during the summer solstice, and 8 hours, 4 minutes during the winter solstice, according to Wikipedia.
“Though additional confirmation is needed, our results suggest that northern bumble bee communities may be in crisis, with significant species turnover and declines in abundance that may threaten the persistence of populations in the coming decades,” they wrote.
“Overall, our work provides strong evidence of the pervasive impacts a warming planet has for insect biodiversity, particularly for historically cool-adapted species,” they related. “It also identifies regions of concern where anthropogenic climate warming is rapidly restructuring the communities of an ecologically important group of insects.”
They used along-term dataset of North American bumble bee species occurrences to determine whether the community temperature index (CTI), a measure of the balance of warm- and cool-adapted species in a community, has increased given warming temperatures. The database of 781,280 records from 1805 to 2020 was derived from a variety of sources, including natural history collections, research studies, and citizen science programs. To match the temporal range of available climate data, they used bumble bee records collected between 1960 and 2018.
“Over the last 29 years across the continent, bumble bee communities increasingly consist of fewer cool-adapted and more warm-adapted species with resultant increases in the community temperature index, a measure of the balance of warm- and cool-adapted species,” they wrote. “Changes are most pronounced at mid- to high latitudes and high elevations in the American Rockies, Intermountain West and central Mexico.”
Their project, launched in 2020 and completed in 2023, focused on 59 species. All California bumble bees were included in the analysis. The authors noted that the long-term, rising summer temperatures are “particularly alarming” to the Western bumble bee, Bombus occidentalis; the two-formed bumble bee, B. bifarius of Western North America; and the forest bumble bee, B. sylvicola, a high-altitude specialist native to North America and widely distributed in Canada.
B. occidentalis is one of the cool-adapted species that is declining. The yellow-faced bumble bee, B. vosnesenskii, native to the West Coast, is one of the "biggest winners” per the analysis.
Read the paper at https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/ele.14492.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
You can learn more about native bee and their importance when pollination ecologist Neal Williams, professor, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology and a 2015-2020 Chancellor's Fellow, present a talk on "Pollination, the Importance of Native Bees and How to Promote Them" at the California Honey Festival on Saturday, May 6.
The annual event, free and family friendly, takes place from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., in downtown Woodland.
"Pollination by insects, mostly bees, is critical to human wellbeing," Professor Williams said. "An astonishing 75 percent of food crops benefit to some extent from pollination, most of it provided by managed and wild bees. When thinking about pollination of crops, most of us consider honey bees–and they are a critical part of crop pollination. However, native bees also play an important role and in some cases are better pollinators of crops than honey bees. In the presentation, I will provide an overview of the diversity, life history and biology of native bees. I will then discuss how we can use an understanding of bee biology to help sustain and promote diverse communities of wild bees."
Williams' research interests include pollination ecology, bee biology with emphasis on foraging behavior, ecology and evolution of trophic specialization and plant-pollinator interactions, landscape change and community dynamics, ecosystem services and conservation
The California Honey Festival, launched in 2017 to celebrate the importance of bees and to promote honey and honey bees and their products, last year drew a crowd of 40,000.
Amina Harris, director of the UC Davis Honey and Pollination Center, Robert Mondavi Institute, and a co-founder of the festival, announced the list of speakers who will deliver 20 to 30-minute talks on the UC Davis Speakers' Stage, located just west of First Street.
10:30 a.m.: Pollination ecologist and professor Neal Williams, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology, who will discuss "Pollination, the Importance of Native Bees and How to Promote Them"
11 a.m.: Kitty Bolte, GATEways horticulturist, UC Davis Arboretum and Public Garden, "Planting Your Garden to be a Welcoming Space for Pollinators"
12 noon: Amina Harris, director of the UC Davis Honey and Pollination Center, and co-owner of Z Food Specialty and The HIVE, Woodland, "Let's Learn to Taste Honey."
1 p.m.: Wendy Mather, co-program manager of the California Master Beekeeper Program (CAMPB), "So, You Want to Be a Beekeeper?"
1:30 p.m.: Jean-Philippe Marelli, senior director of Integrated Pest Management for Mars Wrigley Confectionery (also a journey level master beekeeper and Melipona beekeeper in Brazil), "Stingless Bees: The Amazing World of Melipona Bees"
2 p.m.: Cooperative Extension apiculturist/associate professor Elina Lastro Niño of Entomology and Nematology, and director of the California Master Beekeeper Program (CAMPB), "What Our Bee Research Is Teaching Us."
2:30 p.m.: Sanmu "Samtso" Caoji, a 2022-23 Hubert Humphrey fellow, and founder of the Shangri-la Gyalthang Academy, and CEO of the Cultural Information Consulting Company, "Empowering Women to Become Beekeepers and Bread Winners for Their Families While Keeping Bees in the Wild"
3 p.m.: Rachel Davis, coordinator of Bee City USA Woodland and chair of Bee Campus USA UC Davis (GATEways Horticulturist for the UC Davis Arboretum and Public Garden), "Woodland Is a Bee City; UC Davis Is a Bee City--What This Means to Our Communities"
UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology communications specialist Kathy Keatley Garvey will provide a background slide show of honey bees and native bees.
The event is both educational and entertaining. Attendees can taste honey, check out the bee observation hives, watch cooking demonstrations and kids' shows, taste mead and other alcoholic drinks (if of age) and learn about bees from beekeepers and bee scientists. Vendors, offering various products and food, will line the streets.
The UC Davis-based California Master Beekeeper Program, founded in 2016 by Niño, provides a program of learning, teaching, research, and public service. They offer comprehensive, science-based information about honey bees and honey bee health. Since 2016, the organization has donated 32,000 hours of volunteer time and served 186,630 individuals in education, outreach and beekeeping mentorship. Read more about their classes and their work on their website.
An after-party will be held from 5 to 9 p.m. at The HIVE Tasting Room and Kitchen, 1221 Harter Ave., Woodland. It will feature pollinator-inspired food, drinks, and dancing to the music of Joy and Madness, an 8-piece soul and funk group. Tickets are $20 and will benefit the California Master Beekeeper Program. "Each ticket includes entry to win a bountiful Yolo County food and drink basket (value $500)," Harris said. More information is on this website.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
Amina Harris, director of the UC Davis Honey and Pollination Center, has organized a fantastic group of speakers for the UC Davis Speakers' Stage at the California Honey Festival, set Saturday, May 6 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. in downtown Woodland. The event is free and family friendly.
Harris, who co-founded the California Honey Festival in 2017, is an expert on all things honey. And she knows her bees. She's the co-owner of Z Food Specialty and The HIVE, Woodland.
Harris founded the Honey and Pollination Center in 2012 and plans to retire at the end of June. Don't expert her to retire, however, from the Apis mellifera world!
The UC Davis Speakers' Stage will be just west of First Street, Harris related. It will be a'buzzing.
One of the speakers is Sanmu "Samtso" Caoji of Tibet, China, a 2022-23 Hubert Humphrey Fellow at UC Davis. She's the founder of the Shangri-la Gyalthang Academy, and CEO of the Cultural Information Consulting Company.
Caoji will speak at 2:30 on "Empowering Women to Become Beekeepers and Bread Winners for Their Families While Keeping Bees in the Wild." Read her biography here.
What's the Humphrey Fellowship? President Jimmy Carter established it in 1978 to honor the late Hubert Humphrey (1911-1978), vice president under the Lyndon Johnson administration. The fellowship program "brings accomplished mid-career professionals from countries with developing and emerging economies to the United States for professional and leadership development," according to UC Davis Global Affairs.
The speakers will deliver 20 to 30-minute talks, starting at 10:30 a.m.
10:30 a.m.: Pollination ecologist and professor Neal Williams, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology, who will discuss "Native Bees and their Conservation"
11 a.m.: Kitty Bolte, GATEways horticulturist, UC Davis Arboretum and Public Garden, "Planting Your Garden to be a Welcoming Space for Pollinators"
12 noon: Amina Harris, director of the UC Davis Honey and Pollination Center, and co-owner of Z Food Specialty and The HIVE, Woodland, "Let's Learn to Taste Honey."
1 p.m.: Wendy Mather, co-program manager of the California Master Beekeeper Program (CAMPB), "So, You Want to Be a Beekeeper?"
1:30 p.m.: Jean-Philippe Marelli, senior director of Integrated Pest Management for Mars Wrigley Confectionery (also a journey level master beekeeper and Melipona beekeeper in Brazil), "Stingless Bees: The Amazing World of Melipona Bees"
2 p.m.: Cooperative Extension apiculturist/associate professor Elina Lastro Niño of Entomology and Nematology, and director of the California Master Beekeeper Program (CAMPB), "What Our Bee Research Is Teaching Us."
2:30 p.m.: Sanmu "Samtso" Caoji, a 2022-23 Hubert Humphrey fellow, and founder of the Shangri-la Gyalthang Academy, and CEO of the Cultural Information Consulting Company, "Empowering Women to Become Beekeepers and Bread Winners for Their Families While Keeping Bees in the Wild"
3 p.m.: Rachel Davis, coordinator of Bee City USA Woodland and chair of Bee Campus USA UC Davis (and GATEways Horticulturist for the UC Davis Arboretum and Public Garden), "Woodland Is a Bee City; UC Davis Is a Bee City--What This Means to Our Communities"
UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology communications specialist Kathy Keatley Garvey will provide a background slide show of images of honey bees and native bees.
The UC Davis-based California Master Beekeeper Program, founded in 2016 by Niño, provides a program of learning, teaching, research, and public service. They offer comprehensive, science-based information about honey bees and honey bee health. Since 2016, the organization has donated 32,000 hours of volunteer time and served 186,630 individuals in education, outreach and beekeeping mentorship. Read more about their classes and their work on their website.
Following the California Honey Festival, an after-party will be held from 5 to 9 p.m. at The HIVE Tasting Room and Kitchen, 1221 Harter Ave., Woodland. It will feature pollinator-inspired food, drinks, and dancing to the music of Joy and Madness, an 8-piece soul and funk group. Tickets are $20 and will benefit the California Master Beekeeper Program. "Each ticket includes entry to win a bountiful Yolo County food and drink basket (value $500)," Harris said. More information is on this website.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
Those who live in the Sacramento area (including Davis) and the East Bay, are invited to register for the citizen scientist project sponsored by UC Davis doctoral alumnus Billy Krimmel, ecologist and founder of Miridae Living Labs, West Sacramento.
The goal: to see the dynamics of native plant seed dispersal in human-dominated landscapes. "Sign-ups are open until mid-January or until we run out of seed packets!" said Ashley Hong, Seed Pile Project intern.
Miridae has extended the time frame from December to mid-January to drop the seeds.
Miridae is working with pollination ecologist Neal Williams, professor, and urban landscape entomologist Emily Meineke, assistant professor. Also on the team is assistant professor Haven Kiers of the Department of Human Ecology, who specializes in landscape architecture and environmental design.
Here's what you do:
- You sign up here
- You get 3 free packets of native wildflower seeds
- You drop them somewhere in your neighborhood or commute
- You DO NOT water or maintain them
- You monitor them once a month until May using the Miridae app and "tell us what you see"
"We encourage folks of all ages to participate, and we provide resources such as seedling identification guides to help you identify the species in your seed piles," Krimmel told us. "This is a great project for school classes and scout troops in addition to individuals."
It works like this: "Community participants to drop small piles of local, California native seeds in urban areas where they live or work, then monitor the results through repeated observations," as Krimmel explained. "Using data from participants on the conditions under which certain species of these locally adapted seeds spread, survive, or die, we can gain a better understanding of which native species to incorporate into the built environment and where to put them for the greatest ecological benefit and resilience."
What's in the wildflower mix?
Sacramento Region seed mix:
- Eschscholzia californica, California poppy
- Phacelia imbricata, Imbricate phacelia
- Clarkia unguiculata, Elegant clarkia
- Lupinus microcarpus var. densiflorus, Dense-flowered lupine
- Madia elegans, Common madia
- Helianthus annuus, Sunflower
- Nemophila menziesii, Baby blue eyes
East Bay Region seed mix:
- Eschscholzia californica, California poppy
- Phacelia californica, Rock phacelia
- Hemizonia congesta ssp. luzulifolia, Hayfield tarweed
- Clarkia purpurea, Purple clarkia
- Lupinus bicolor, Miniature lupine
- Nemophila menziesii, Baby blue eyes
Happy seed-piling!
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
If you live in the Sacramento area (including Davis) and the East Bay, ecologist Billy Krimmel, a UC Davis doctoral alumnus and founder of Miridae Living Labs, invites you to participate.
- You sign up here
- You get 3 free packets of native wildflower seeds
- You drop them somewhere in your neighborhood or commute
- You DO NOT water or maintain them
- You monitor them once a month until May using the Miridae app and "tell us what you see"
It works like this: "Community participants to drop small piles of local, California native seeds in urban areas where they live or work, then monitor the results through repeated observations," Krimmel said. "Using data from participants on the conditions under which certain species of these locally adapted seeds spread, survive, or die, we can gain a better understanding of which native species to incorporate into the built environment and where to put them for the greatest ecological benefit and resilience."
"The basic goal is to learn which species can thrive in human-occupied spaces, especially transportation corridors," said Krimmel, who received his doctorate in ecology in 2015, studying native plant-insect interactions with major professor Jay Rosenheim, distinguished professor of entomology. "This year we are collaborating with UC Davis entomologists who will use these seed piles to learn about how certain urban conditions impact native bee species."
Miridae will be working with two UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology faculty, pollination ecologist Neal Williams, professor, and urban landscape entomologist Emily Meineke, assistant professor. Also on the team is assistant professor Haven Kiers of the Department of Human Ecology, who specializes in landscape architecture and environmental design.
"We encourage folks of all ages to participate, and we provide resources such as seedling identification guides to help you identify the species in your seed piles," Krimmel said. "This is a great project for school classes and scout troops in addition to individuals."
The seed packets will contain Arroyo Lupine, California golden poppy, Phacelia ciliata, Bolander's sunflower, Madia elegans and Nemophila.
A kickoff gathering is set from 4 to 7 p.m., Thursday, Nov. 17 at the Jackrabbit Brewing in West Sacramento where participants can pick up their seed packets, meet other participants, and perhaps buy a native plant and/or beverage. "There will be other pickup options as well," he said.
Krimmel founded the company, located at 1385 Terminal St., West Sacramento, with the intention of “creating habitat for native species within human-occupied areas and engaging people with the species interactions occurring in these habitations.” Its mission: "To strengthen connections between people, native plants, and wildlife through design, construction, outreach and research."
The name, Miridae, is Latin for a family of insects known as “plant bugs,” or mirids, which Krimmel researches. One of the most well-known mirid is the lygus bug, a serious pest of cotton, strawberries and alfalfa.
Miridae won the highly competitive 2020 Award of Excellence for Communication from the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) for its Seed Bank Living Wall at DPR Construction, Sacramento. The ASLA awards, judged by a jury of professionals, honor the best in landscape architecture from around the globe.
Of his company, Krimmel says: “We create habitat for, and engage people with, native plants and the wildlife they support. We do this by tying together design, science, and high-quality construction to create landscapes that are beautiful, resilient, and ecologically powerful.” His goal, with each project, is to “come one step closer to creating a network of habitat gardens and migration corridors to support resilient populations of native species.”
Krimmel may be reached via his website www.miridae.com or on Instagram.
