Unless you've been living in a cave somewhere a couple hundred feet underground you probably have noticed that bees have been quite the buzz (do your best to ignore my obvious and not so clever puns) as of late, but more specifically the beloved, but now very troubled Western Honey Bee (Apis mellifera). It seems lately, at least a few times a month I come across a story of how both the human race and the honey bees are undeniably doomed, DOOMED I SAY!!! In all seriousness though, it's pretty damn serious. And just in case you need an example of a real world illustration of why bees are so freakin important to begin with, take a look at Nature's Silence of the Bees (skip ahead to 38:36 to see the really scary part):
While this may be blasphemous to point out, the beloved Western Honey Bee, however integral to our modern way of life, was actually introduced to the Americas by european settlers, and and its effects on our endemic, less metropolitan members of the bee family, Apidae, have not been widely studied. However, with the menagerie of honey bee afflictions mounting, culminating in the now widely publicized colony collapse disorder (CCD) it might be time to take a closer look at our native bee species. This isn't by any means a call to write off the honey bee, but rather an opportunity to get more acquainted with our native bees and other pollinators.
My first introduction to the wide world of bees, outside of the honey and bumble, happened in the back seat of a car when I was a kid (insert joke here) when I noticed a poor, probably long dead but still brilliant emerald body of a female metallic sweat bee, genus Agapostemon (I found out later that only the female is fully iridescent)
It was fairly hard to miss, but for me, up to that point in my life the only awe-inspiring insects I was aware of were butterflies and the scarab beatle I saw on Aladdin, but this little deceased bee certainly rivaled any of the most beautiful butterflies I had seen up to that point. I, being the type of kid that I was, hauled the poor little lady around for at least a few days, asking every person of authority within earshot if they had ever seen anything so amazing, most of whom either ignored me, or gave me a disgusted look and told me that I shouldn't pick up dead things.
If I had found her today I could have avoided the dirty glances all together cause there are TONS of places online where you can find this stuff, but here's a shortlist of some of the better places:
BUGGUIDE
THE XERCES SOCIETY
DISCOVER LIFE
TYPES OF BEES, UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA EXTENSION
I'd try to give a brief synopsis of each native bee species we have in the northeast, but given my complete lack of expertise, and the fact that there are around 5,000 bees native to the U.S. – and about 400 to the northeast, this is more information than I'm willing to tackle.....but there were few things you could generalize about our native bees in this area:
- Aside from the native bumblebee the majority of our native species are solitary, meaning they do not live in hives.
- Most are very reluctant to sting.
- Their life cycle generally last only one year
- They are often able to fly and pollinate in much colder temperatures then the imported honeybee.
And for a bit more detailed information on our native bees check out this article from Northern Woodlands.
As one would suspect, it is the messy gardner that is the better gardner, or at least as far as our native pollinators are concerned. Old ratty stems, open soil, lawn weeds, and no pesticides are either beneficial or necessary for our native bees' survival and these are all elements that are less likely to be found in a "well-kept" garden. Its pretty simple actually, if you want more native bees, then us gardners just all need to calm the hell down (the humane society actually did a great job summing up a few ways to make your yard a bit more comfy for our native bees in this article). Here's also a list of pollinator friendly plants for the northeast compiled by the NRCS.
Furthermore, the same ecological principles that apply to gardening and large scale horticulture apply to our bee problem as well. The more of a monoculture we create, for example, the American Elm (Ulmus americana), the more susceptible to disease the species becomes. While this may be an oversimplification of what is happening to the honey bee, one way we can begin to help is stop relying on them for the sole pollination of the majority of our commercial crops. It's time we approach pollination holistically in the context of the larger systems under which we operate. The sooner we diversify and utilize local pollinators the sooner we help save the honey bee and promote the health of all bees and pollinators everywhere. And there are actually a few companies out there (Crown Bees, Beediverse, Arbico Organics, and Planet Natural) that have recognized this and are taking the first steps by selling pollinator alternatives.
FYI - If you're want to learn a bit more about our native bees and live in northeast MA or southern NH the Nashua River Watershed is hosting a lecture on native bees "Native Bees of Massachusetts, Their Diversity and Natural History" on Wednesday, July 30, from 7:00 to 8:30 p.m., at the NRWA River Resource Center, 592 Main Street (Rt.119) in Groton, MA. Get there if you can.
And to end this post I leave you with this message from BEEFRIENDLY.CA. Enjoy.
MORE POLLINATOR RESOURCES AND INFORMATION:
http://www.pollinator.org/
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/replacing-the-honeybee/
http://news.cornell.edu/stories/2011/10/native-bees-are-better-pollinators-honeybees
http://extension.psu.edu/plants/tree-fruit/news/2011/wild-bees-as-alternative-pollinators
http://ucanr.edu/delivers/?impact=305
http://www.thetrustees.org/what-we-care-about/the-natural-world/get-the-buzz.html
http://www.xerces.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/organic-farming-for-bees-xerces-society.pdf
http://www.bestbees.com/
http://www.honeybeegenetics.com/
http://www.glenn-apiaries.com/genetics.html
http://beeinformed.org/
http://www.ibra.org.uk/
