Pollinators on Parade

National Geographic, which can still be counted on for phenomenal visuals, has posted a breathtaking photo slide-show by Mark Moffett of pollinators great and small.

Take a look-see. You won't be disappointed.

Sex. Plants. Pollen.

I guess, what with the weather and all, pollination is on everyone's mind.

Take a look at Olivia Judson's latest in yesterday's New York Times. It's called Breezy Love, Or The Sacking of the Bees.

Oh and thanks, Eva, for bringing this to my attention.

Did You Thank a Honeybee for Your Great Pumpkin?

Hats off to our honeybees for this year's hefty haul of pumpkins.

Circadian Syncronicity

The tiny clocks in bees and flowers: read all about it here.

Become a Pollinator "Exit Pollster"

National Pollinator Week is months away, but from a global swarming perspective, pollinator week exists in perpetuity—it's a subject near to our hearts, uppermost in our minds, and—quite literally—central to our bee-ing.

The Pollinator Partnership has an abundance of resources about pollinators, ideas for sponsoring events that raise consciousness about the vital importance of pollinators, and an action alert to encourage we the people to bring attention to the plight and glory of pollinators by requesting of our governors that Pollinator Week 2009 be officially proclaimed.

Meanwhile, in an exciting new development on the local front, the Great Pollinator Project has launched NYC Bee Watchers—a citizen-scientist project to gather information about the distribution of four groups of bees (honey bees, bumble bees, large carpenter bees, and metallic green bees) in New York City.

Think of it as exit-polling for pollinators (you count them as they leave the flowers on which they're foraging) and visit the site to learn how to reinvent yourself as a "mobile bee watcher." You'll find a nice slide presentation on how to become a NYC Bee Watcher volunteer, instructions on how and when to conduct observations, and guidance on bee identification.

The site includes a page of NYC-specific and urban-focused info—including videos—on bees, bee-watching, and pollination.

There is also a fine resource section linking to online insect identification guides; insect and bee conservation groups; and documents on creating bee-friendly gardens, providing nesting sites for bees, and taking other actions that promote eco-systemic well being.

Team Beek vs. Team Orange

Read all about it here.

Pollination 101

Even the most casual conversation about beekeeping soon wends its way toward the inevitable topic of pollination—What is it, exactly? What role do bees play in it? And why should we care about it?

Such questions are usually asked with a vague sense of apology. We know we should be more conversant with something so basic to our food supply and our natural world, yet back in school, who among us did not zone out 150% when the topic of botany arose? The clock hands practically froze when the words "stamen," "stigma," and "anther" were uttered by teachers who somehow managed to make it all seem so distant, static, and dull.

I guess it takes decades of living to realize just how spellbinding plant sexuality can be, and just how mighty a role insect pollination plays in our lives—at least to the degree that our existence is tied with the availability of fruits, nuts, and flowers (not to mention stuff like coffee, cotton, and cola nuts). Check out this cool chart of bee-pollinated crop plants to see the scope of services bees and other insects provide.

I'll be the first to admit that, until I started gardening and beekeeping, the ins and outs of pollination were shrouded in vagueness and/or outright mystery. These days, though, every almond, apple, squash, and berry I encounter brings amazement about the intricacies of pollination and gratitude to the compound-eyed critters who make such gifts as the cukes below possible.Putting aside the 1950s-style narration and attendant assumptions about insect awareness (which I confess I find amusing), this short video provides a decent summary of how flowering plants reproduce.


Here's more:

A ton of fact sheets from the Xerces Society about pollinator conservation.

A HowStuffWorks Video on Pollination & Fertilization.

A Wikipedia page fruit tree pollination.

Wikipedia on pollination in general.

The Pollinator Partnership's new ecoregional planting guides to attract pollinators to your garden.

The utterly fascinating Pollinator Conservation Digital Library.

A New York Times article on the sexual trickery of orchids and hot, hot waspy action!

Berry Picking or Sitting at Desk?

Berry Picking or Sitting at Desk?
Berry Picking or Sitting at Desk?
Berry Picking or Sitting at Desk?

'Twas a tough decision; I did what had to be done.


Thanks to the honeybees, wasps, flies, moths and other pollinators who make such delicacies possible.

Recent Things (Today)

The Milkweed Cometh

Last week, the milkweed started to blossom, attracting an astonishing array of beetles, spiders, bees, moths, butterflies, snails, and other critters. In the past week, I've seen the following:


You might also get a kick out of last summer's post entitled, Got Milkweed?, which reveals the dangerous side of milkweed and provides additional documentation of the enormous diversity of animals I've seen visiting these fascinating flowers.

In Praise of Daisies

Recent Things

The weather hasn't been great for bees—pretty cold and gray. But they get out when they can, and yesterday what remained of the apple blossoms (following days of heavy wind and rain) was in receipt of considerable attention by bumblebee and honeybee alike.
The road strewn with fallen blossoms.
The joyous surprise of finding columbine at the edge of a neighbor's woods.
A dog who doesn't let the weather report ruin his fun.
A cool ornament at our favorite farm stand on Route 28, near Phoenicia. (Truly the robins are everywhere.)

Bees and Air Pollution—Again

Last week I wrote about an important report from University of Virginia linking air pollution with difficulties among pollinators—including honeybees—in locating the fragrances and chemical signals flowers use to attract pollinators. This is important news, and we're not hearing nearly enough about it in the mainstream media.

Thank goodness for WNYC and other un-bought media outlets with brains in tact. Leonard Lopate interviews the researcher, Professor Jose D. Fuentes, who provides in-depth information on his research and its quite major implications (including its possible correlation with the dreaded CCD). The conversation is fascinating and well worth a listen.

Our Smog Thwarts Bees

An important and not-at-all surprising new study by Jose D. Fuentes of the University of Virginia shows that air pollution hampers bees' ability to follow the scent of flowers to their source—a clear impediment to the delicate and essential process of pollination upon which our lives (or at least life as we know it) depend.

It doesn't take a rocket scientist to see that the "mystery" of CCD may well be connected to this and the many other environmental insults the honeybees and other pollinators are enduring at our hand. Yes, folks, everything going wrong with the honeybees IS our fault! Canary-in-the-Coalmine Alert, Code Red.

The Washington Post article titled Air Pollution Impedes Bees' Ability to Find Flowers includes the following:

"In the prevailing conditions before the 1800s, the researchers calculated that a flower's scent could travel between 3,280 feet and 4,000 feet, Fuentes said in an interview, but today, that scent might travel 650 feet to 1,000 feet in highly polluted areas such as the District of Columbia, Los Angeles or Houston.

"'That's where we basically have all the problems,' Fuentes said, adding that ozone levels are particularly high during summer. 'The impacts of pollution on pollinator activity are pronounced during the summer months.'

"This phenomenon triggers a cycle, the authors noted, in which the pollinators have trouble finding sufficient food, and as a result their populations decline. That, in turn, translates into decreased pollination and keeps flowering plants, including many fruits and vegetables, from proliferating."

Enough said. (And thanks, S.J., for the tip.)

Plum Blossom Bee

The plums have blossomed and the honeybees are working them avidly. I don't blame them—the plums' perfume is intoxicating and their white blossoms evoke the clouds of Heaven.

Drink Coffee? Thank a Bee: Honeybee Pollination Research Roundup

If you eat fruit, drink coffee, or love flowers, you need to thank a bee today. In this springy time of pollen-gathering, here's a little roundup of articles on the topic of honeybee pollination.

Had Your Morning Coffee? Thank a Killer Bee; Smithsonian Scientist Shows Pollination by Exotic Honeybees Increases Coffee Crop Yield by More Than 50 Percent Who knew? According to the researcher, David W. Roubik, "the work of two or three dozen wild African honey bees is in every cup of coffee that you drink."

Primitive Plants Use Heat and Odor to Woo Pollinating Insects. Sex sells.

Wild Bees Making Honeybees Better Pollinators. I bet you'll never guess why.

Oregon Bee Loves Berries, May Help Fill Gap Caused by Colony Collapse Disorder of European Bees. Native bees to the rescue? We hardly deserve it.

See also my recent post on native bees (a.k.a. "alternative pollinators").

And buzz on over to Bee Culture to download a Cornell University study entitled The Value of Honeybees as Pollinators of U.S. Crops in 2000 (on the lower right-hand corner of the Home Page, look for the article under "Free Reprints").