NativeBeesan Introduction

Why Care About Bees?

Pollination Services

Increase seed set

35% crops rely on pollinators to some extent

Essential for 13 crops, or improve production

Indirectly, dairy and meat

Wild flowers

Other Reasons

Biodiversity

Photo credit:

Sam Droege/USGS

Laurence Packer

Bees, An Up-Close Look at Pollinators

Around the World

Megachile lanata

What is a Bee ?

David Cappaert, Bugwood.org

Joseph Berger, Bugwood.org

David Cappaert, Bugwood.org

Bee Wasp Fly

Thick bodied Thin bodied Thick waist

No silver hair on face Silver hair on face

Often very hairy Generally hairless

Pollen-collecting hair No pollen-collecting

hair

No pollen-collecting

hairs

Stout legs with few

spines

Long thin legs with

spines

Long antenna Long antenna Short, non-segmented

antenna

Four wings, folded

over back

Four wings, at sides Two wings

Eyes on the sides of

head

Eyes on the sides of

head

Eyes large, forward

facing, often touchingThe Bees In Your

Backyard

Most Bees - Efficient Pollinators

Bees are vegetarians, Wasp larva are meat eaters

Bees actively transport pollen for nests

Bees often fly between the same type of flower

Magic in Hair

Each hair is branched

– plumose. This

enables it to trap

pollen grains more

effectively.Photo courtesy of Zachary Huang.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bumblebee

A bee can detect the electric fields of flowers via the deflections of many tiny mechanosensory filiform hairs on its head and body.

Harold H. Zakon PNAS 2016;113:7020-7021

©2016 by National Academy of Sciences

Ground Nesting Bees

70% of all bees nest in the ground

“Wild West” of the bees

Soil buffers against cold and heat

Soil atmosphere gives larval moisture

Easy to tailor nest cell sizes

Easy to expand

Texture, aspect, relief can all matter

How Do You Know They Are There?

Ants

Halictid

Andrena

Halictid, Sweat Bee

Halictid, Sweat Bee

Underground

H. ligatus

Roberts, Radclyffe B., Bees of Northwestern America: Halictus

Ground nesting - Agapostemon

David Cappaert, Bugwood.org

Ground nesting - Lasioglossum

Ground nesting - Andrenidae

Ground nesting - Andrenidae

Ground nesting - Andrenidae

Cuckoo -Cleptoparasite

Stem Nesting Bees

30% of all bees nest in stems and wood

Easy to manage

Need protection from sun, wind, rain

South or East facing for morning sunlight

Temperatures greater than 90 degrees

can be lethal

Ron Spendal

Ron Spendal

Stem nesting

Ron Spendal

Whitney Cranshaw, Bugwood.org

Stem nesting - Mason Bee or Fly

Ron Spendal

Stem nesting - Mason Bee

Ron Spendal

Stem nesting - Mason Bee

Stem nesting - Mason Bee

iDTools.org

Hairy Fingered Mite

Stem nesting - Mason Bee

Stem nesting - Mason Bee

Stem nesting - Mason Bee

30,000 honey bees or 250 masons pollinate 75

apple trees

75 flowers per trip, 25 trips per cell, 30 cells per

lifetime of 6-8 weeks

Overwinter as adults in cocoons

Effective foraging range – 100 yards (300 ft)

5/16 inch holes, 6-11 inches long

Emerge when temperatures reach 50-60F

Stem nesting - Leafcutter

Stem nesting - Leafcutter

115 native and non-native species

Nests contain petals, leaves, pulps, mud,

resins

Many natives are non-gregarious

Overwinter in pre-pupa stage, emerge

mid-June

Stem Nesting - Ceratina

Nests in old canes

Minds the pith

Can be small communities of sisters

Stem Nesting - Ceratina

Cuckoo Wasp

Cleptoparasite

Parasitic Chalcid Wasp

Jon Yuschock, Bugwood.org

Stem nesting Bee ParasitesBee fly,

Anthrax irroratus

Bumble Bee

Nest in abandoned bird and mice nests

Social

Queen overwinters

Fly dawn to dusk

Buzz pollination

Common Bumble Bee Speciesof Scappoose

vosnesenskii

mixtus

melanopygus

flavifrons

griseocollis

Bumble bee

OBA

Bumble Bee - Nest

Phelyan Sanjoin, Wikipedia, Flickr

Photo credit:

Sam Droege/USGS

Laurence Packer

Bees, An Up-Close Look at Pollinators

Around the World

Megachile fortis

Sarah A. Taylor, Common Bee Pollinators of Oregon Crops, ODA 2016

ODA Postershttp://www.odaguides.us/posters.html

Bumble Bees of the Western UShttps://www.fs.fed.us/wildflowers/pollinators/documents/BumbleBeeGuideWestern2012.pdf

J. H. Cane, 2015, Landscaping pebbles attract nesting by the native ground-nesting bee Halictus rubicundus (Hymenoptera: Halictidae). Apidologie. DOI: 10.1007/s13592-015-0364z.

Joseph S. Wilson & Olivia Messinger Carril, The Bees In Your Backyard, 2016

Sam Droege, Bees: An Up-Close Look at Pollinators Around the World

L. Hooven, R. Sagili, E. Johansen, How to Reduce Bee Poisoning from Pesticides; OSU, pnw591AND phone application

Plants for Pollinators in Oregon, NRCS, PM13

Attracting Native Pollinators, Xerces, 2011

Selecting Plants for Pollinators, Pacific Lowland Mixed Forest Providence, Pollinator Partnership, NAPPC

Pennsylvania Native Bee Survey, Citizen Scientist Pollinator Monitoring Guide, Xerces (though it is east coast, there is good Family level information)

References