Pollinators: native bees

Showing posts with label native bees. Show all posts

Sunday, June 19, 2016

Bees and Biodiversity

Bombus ternarius, Tricolored bumble bee on mountain mint

Recently I discussed the idea of allowing dandelions on the lawn to benefit pollinators. I pointed out that such practice only benefits a handful of generalist pollinators, but not the specialists. The latter can be more numerous than the former when they are all counted. They also account for the wide diversity of nature.

Bombus impatiens, Common Eastern Bumble Bee on blanket flower

Andrena cornelli, Azalea andrena on azalea

Let me expand on the concept of biological diversity or, as it is often called by ecologists, biodiversity. There are 4,000 species of bees in North America, from the familiar, big and plump bumble bees to tiny bee species that remain unnoticed to all except to those who study bees. Bear in mind that even bumble bees aren't just one single species but about 46 in North America.

Augochlora pura on thistle

Nomada, cuckoo bee on spring beauty

Bee species vary not only in size but in many other ways. Some are active from early spring to the end of fall. Others complete their whole cycle in just a few weeks and remain dormant the rest of the year. Some are adapted to different climates and cover a large area, others are more limited in their geographic distribution.

There are even some species, called cuckoo bees, that don't bother raising a family. Instead, just as cuckoo birds, lay their eggs in the nests of other bees.

Some bees have a long tongue that enables them to reach into fairly deep throated flowers. Others can only visit flowers that are relatively flat and open. Finally, some are very particular about the flowers they visit.They collect pollen from only one species of plants (monolectic) or a few related species (oligolectic). They may visit a wider range of flowers for nectar, but only their choice plants will satisfy their pollen needs.

Agapostemon splendens on seaside goldenrod

Lasioglossum pilosum on coneflower

Losing a few of these specialists may not be catastrophic, but it is preferable to preserve as many of them as possible. A rich variety of species confers resilience to an ecosystem. This is why it is important to have a wide range of specialists along with the handful of generalists. One way to help the specialists is to plant a variety of native plants to ensure that some of them satisfy their needs.

Colletes on Cerceris canadensis

Bombus perplexus, confusing bumble bee on common milkweed


Long horned bee on sunflower

All images © Beatriz Moisset

List of articles
Beginners Guide to Pollinators and Other Flower Visitors

© Beatriz Moisset. 2016

Thursday, September 18, 2014

Sneezeweed or Helenium

Halictid male bee on Helenium. © Beatriz Moisset

It is September, the days are getting shorter, the weather cooler. Plants put up a display that rivals or even surpasses that of spring. Asters, goldenrods, coneflowers and a number of other similar flowers create a golden explosion in gardens and meadows. Pollinators seem busier than ever, taking advantage of this bounty. Insect flower visitors love yellow and flowers seem to know it. They dress up in colors that attract their favorite visitors in the hope that they carry pollen to other flowers of the same kind. Pollinators, in turn, know that abundant resources await them in the bright yellow flowers.

Fig. 1. Three Helenium blossoms of different ages. © Beatriz Moisset

Let us look at one of these flowers in closer detail. Helenium, also called sneezeweed, has the same structure as sunflowers and asters, a crown of petals and a center made of little knobby structures called florets. Each one of those knobs is an entire flower which produces pollen and seeds. Each one needs to be pollinated in order to produce a seed. The dead heads you see later in the fall are little packages of these nutritious mature seeds that bring joy to passing hungry birds.

Fig. 2. Several Helenium or sneezeweed flowers. © Beatriz Moisset

The florets do not mature all at once. They proceed in an organized fashion from the outer ring to the center, row by row; they open and expose the pollen-carrying anthers and the pistils ready to receive pollen. They also fill up with nectar. Only one row or two at a time are ready to welcome visitors and to be pollinated. Bees know that. Even syrphid flies know that. You can see them moving from floret to floret until they complete the circle. Then they fly to the next blossom. They know enough not to waste time on the unopened flowers or the ones past their prime.

Bumble bee collecting pollen and nectar from open florets. © Beatriz Moisset

Take a look at figure 1. The sneezeweed blossom near the center is quite fresh; most florets are still closed; only one is almost ready for pollination. The one in the upper right is halfway through; there are still some rows of unopened florets to go. The one below it is approaching old age, almost all done. Now, you can look at Helenium flowers and determine their approximate age just by looking at them. What do you think about the flowers in figure 2?

Another bumble bee. © Beatriz Moisset

Smart pollinators, not only know where the food is in each flower, but also know that they will continue to find supplies in the following days. Bumble bees are known to faithfully come back to their favorite flower patches.

Sunflowers and asters do the same. See the following examples:

Agapostemon female on sunflower. © Beatriz Moisset

Halictid bee on coneflower. © Beatriz Moisset

Syrphid fly, Toxomerus on daisy. © Beatriz Moisset

Skipper on sunflower. © Beatriz Moisset

List of articles
Beginners Guide to Pollinators and Other Flower Visitors

© Beatriz Moisset. 2014

Sunday, March 2, 2014

The Importance of Native Pollinators

At the risk of repeating myself, I want to discuss once again the widespread erroneous belief that we depend entirely on honey bees for the pollination of one third of our food and that we would all die if they were to disappear. Honey bees are not the only pollinators. We must value all the others and we should learn to take advantage of them for our crops' pollination.

We must remember that 4,000 species of native bees populate this country; 20,000 the entire world. They vary in size, appearance, season of activity, flower preference. . . Some live in colonies similar to those of honey bees, but most are solitary and nest in holes in the ground or in hollow tubes inside soft pitted canes or in holes left behind by beetle larvae.

All of them combined are tremendously important, not just for the pollination of wild flowers but also of some crops. In fact, all the crops pollinated by honey bees could be taken care of by one or another of the numerous species of wild bees.

A few examples of the marvelous things native bees do

*Bumble bees and several solitary bees pollinate tomatoes, peppers and eggplants. Only they know how to manage their flowers. Honey bees cannot do it

*The alfalfa bee and the alkali bee pollinate 80% of the alfalfa flowers they visit. Several bumble bees do just as well. The batting average of honey bees is a mere 20%

*A single southern blueberry bee can pollinate $20 worth of blueberries (probably more at current rates). Honey bees don't come even close

*An acre of apples can be pollinated by 250 female orchard mason bees. This task would require 1.5 to 2 honey bee hives—approximately 15,000 to 20,000 bees

*Squash bees are up early in the morning, when squash flowers are at their peak. Later on, when bumble bees and honey bees arrive, most of the pollination has already taken place

*When the weather is bad, too cold or wet, some native pollinators go out anyway. A few work before sunrise or after sunset. The honey bees prefer to stay home under these conditions

An assortment of pollinators provides a degree of insurance. When the population of one species declines, as it is bound to happen some years, other species take over the slack. This is one of the advantages of diversification. We have depended for too long on just one species.

Despite the advantages of this variety of native pollinators, farmers often resort to honey bees because the wild pollinators are, well, wild, not easily controlled. Honey bees provide a large task force that can be managed and transported where needed. They are perfect for large monocultures, with only one kind of food temporarily available and nothing else the rest of the year.

We shouldn't ignore the contributions of native bees. They can do a superb job at small or medium sized farms. Managing them would require a healthier habitat and less pesticides. A polyculture, the opposite of a monoculture, would also be important.

We are reaching a point in which we cannot rely entirely on just one species of pollinator. The task of changing cultivation practices is huge but it can be done and it needs to be done. The Xerces Society and some universities are committed to developing the ways of putting native pollinators to good use. The results have been highly encouraging.

Additional readings

One Bite our of Three
Don't Underestimate the Native Pollinators

Will We all Die if Honey Bees Disappear?

Bring Back the Native Pollinators! We need them more than Ever

Farming with Pollinators, the Xerces Society
Wild Pollinators, Agriculture’s Forgotten Partners. WildFarm Alliance
Native Pollinators. Wildlife Habitat Council

List of articles
Beginners Guide to Pollinators and Other Flower Visitors

Monday, February 10, 2014

Alfalfa Pollination


Large commercial alfalfa field requiring managed beehives because of its size © Vapampidis. Wikicommons

What is the most important insect-pollinated crop? Not a fruit or a vegetable but alfalfa. Yes, alfalfa, not because we consume large amounts of their sprouts, but because cattle needs this food. Thus: no alfalfa, no beef or milk.

This crop was first introduced in California during the gold rush. Alfalfa farming grew from there at a steady pace to what it is today, the third largest crop, after corn and soy bean. A few species of bumble bees and solitary bees took a look at this exotic flower, found it to their liking and proceeded to pollinate it. It wasn't a big leap; this plant's blossoms resemble those of other members of the pea or bean family. The native pollinators were familiar with bean flowers and adapted easily to the new arrival.

Alfalfa blossom. H. © Zel. Wikicommons

Peas, beans, alfalfa, clover and several other plants have butterfly-like (papilionaceous) flowers. The lower petals form an enclosure, shaped like the keel of a boat. This structure holds the sexual parts, the anthers and pistil. When an insect lands on the flower, a trigger mechanism makes it snap open or trip the flower. This is how pollination is accomplished.

Honey bees were not present in California when the earliest fields of alfalfa were cultivated. The first beehive arrived in 1853, just one solitary hive; a few others had died in transit. It took many years for the honey bee populations to build up to significant levels. This didn't matter because the wild bees did an excellent job.

New Zealand wasn't so lucky when it started growing alfalfa to feed the recently introduced cattle. The few native pollinators were stumped by the new flower. They lacked the necessary equipment and dismissed the strange blossoms. Year after year, hay grew luxuriantly, but no seeds. Alfalfa growers resorted to importing a few species of bumble bees from Europe to cut down the expenses of having to buy seed every year. Thus, industrious bumble bees saved the day in that country.

Scotch broom, a papilionaceous flower, being tripped. © Beatriz Moisset

Honey bees detest the rough treatment alfalfa flowers subject them to and soon learn a trick of their own. They enter the flower from the side and help themselves to nectar without tripping its mechanism. Only naïve, youthful ones pollinate flowers. Despite the honey bees' poor performance, most alfalfa farmers resort to them because of the convenience in using a managed species.

In addition to the honey bee, two other species of alfalfa pollinators are managed to some extent and used commercially. They are the Japanese alfalfa leafcutter bee and the native alkali bee.

The populations of native bees have been severely reduced in the last one hundred years largely because of intensive agriculture. Restoring their numbers and putting them to work in alfalfa fields would be an arduous task but a worthy one. Some farmers find that, when they include flowering and nesting site places in their fields or orchards, the health of the crop improves and the need for pesticides diminishes. Thus, alfalfa pollination could be done entirely and more efficiently by native bees. This form of agriculture would be more sustainable than the present methods.

List of articles
Bring Back the Native Pollinators
Will We all Die if Honey Bees Disappear?
Growing Insects: Farmers Can Help to Bring Back Pollinators
Organic Farming for Bees

Beginners Guide to Pollinators and Other Flower Visitors

Friday, June 21, 2013

Native Bees, Honey Bees and Natural Areas

It is common practice for nature centers to have a beehive. Often, a glass wall allows observation of the colony's busy life, seldom failing to catch the eye of visitors. This serves an educational purpose by providing a great opportunity for a behind-the-scenes peek at the private lives of honey bees. Thus, visitors learn about these useful insects and their role as crop pollinators.

Sometimes I wonder if we are delivering the right message. The purpose of nature centers is to protect natural wildlife and to promote conservation of natural resources. This is clearly stated in many of their mission statements. Honey bees and chickens are domestic animals. They are both important to agriculture. However, we don't keep chickens at the bird feeders to teach about birds. Do we need honey bees to teach about insects?

Nowadays, agriculture relies heavily on honey bees; however, we must bear in mind that honey bees were introduced to this continent by Europeans a few hundred years ago. Until then, all pollination was accomplished by native pollinators, more than 4,000 species of bees and many other insects, such as flies, moths, wasps and even beetles, as well as some birds and bats.


Fungus gnats © Beatriz Moisset

Native plants didn't need honey bees then, and they don't need them now. A few examples should suffice. In early spring a number of delicate little flowers carpet the forest floor. They are in a rush to take advantage of the sunlight during the absence of foliage and don’t last long. Thus, they are called "spring ephemerals." None of them is visited by honey bees. In fact, many resort to highly specialized pollinators which have been around for as long as the plants themselves. Skunk cabbage and Jack-in-the-pulpit are pollinated by flies. Spring beauties and trout lilies are visited by an assortment of bees and bumble bees; but get help, in particular, from their own specialized pollinators, the so called spring beauty bee and the trout lily bee respectively.

Shortly after, when azaleas bloom another set of specialists comes into service, the buzz pollinators. These are experts at shaking the pollen out of the flower stamens. One of these experts is the azalea Andrena bee. Its name needs no explanation.

So, what are honey bees doing in the meantime? They devote their time to the nectar and pollen of willows and maples. Thus, honey bees make use of these trees, but the trees themselves benefit from an abundance of native pollinators and don't need the extra help. Honey bees also gather pollen from hazelnuts. This is good for the bees but doesn't help the trees in the slightest because they are wind-pollinated.

Honey bees don't pollinate azaleas or rhododendrons. They also ignore dogwoods. As for magnolias and their close relatives, tulip trees, these plants are primarily pollinated by beetles and flies, all of them native. Honey bees are more inclined to visit generalist flowers, the ones receptive to a wide range of pollinators. Therefore, native pollinators are all that the flowers need.

Another problem with honey bees in natural areas is that they may contribute to the spread of non-native plants by pollinating them preferentially. They also may compete with native pollinators for floral resources.

In summary, native plants and native pollinators are members of a complex community. They have adapted to each other and work well together. Honey bees, while important to agriculture, are not needed in natural areas. The only justification for keeping beehives at nature centers is to use them as a gate to the understanding and familiarization with insects and their usefulness. If the visitor leaves the nature center as ignorant of native pollinators as he was when he came in, then the center has failed to deliver the most valuable message of the bees.

It is imperative that naturalists and educators at nature centers with beehives devote time to informing the public about native pollinators and their significance to native plants. Posters with this information would also be helpful.

Tom Bain presents some good suggestions in his blog "GeoEcology. Earth and life through time..."

"There is an essential piece missing from the typical presentation about pollination in many nature centers, that is the discussion of native pollinators and their essential continuing role in native and not so native ecosystems. Each presentation about honey bees should be accompanied by a hands-on activity to plant native plants that are partners to native pollinators, or the construction of simple solitary bee houses from dry bamboo canes or wood blocks. We would make progress if our children earned great take-home's like solitary bee bundles in place of coloring-in honey bee illustrations; and, planting native seeds to grow purple coneflower or other natives in place of marigolds, etc. A little effort and a subtle change in emphasis would shift attention to native pollinators."

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