The Buzz About Bees. Sadie Brown Boston Area Beekeepers Association July 20, 2015

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1 The Buzz About Bees Sadie Brown Boston Area Beekeepers Association July 20, 2015 Sponsored by the Friends of the Belle Isle Marsh & the Tacelli Foundation

2 Introductions - raise your hand if you... Are currently a beekeeper? Have thought about becoming a beekeeper? Have heard that bee populations are declining? Are interested in helping native bees (bumble bees and other nonhoney bees)?

3 Beekeeping Mentors (L R) Dad & Mom, Mentor Jean-Claude Bourrut & THE BEES!

4 Boston Nature Center Teaching Apiary

5 Leland Community Herb Garden Students visiting from the Academy of the Pacific Rim, Boston Day and Evening Academy & the Park School

6 Classroom Hives SHORT BLURB Placing observation honey bee hives in local K-12 classrooms since Self-contained habitats specially designed to safely bring small honey bee colonies into the classroom as a daily experience with the superorganism of the colony.

7 Boston Area Beekeepers Association (bostonbeekeepers.org)

8 BEES ARE IMPORTANT! Bees* pollinate 80 percent of our flowering crops (1 out of every 3 bites of food we eat!) Not just honey bees species of native bees in the US!

9 Decline in Honey Bee Colonies after WW2

10 Honey Bee Losses

11 Why the decline? Commercial Agriculture Commercial Beekeeping Farmers (& others) using synthetic fertilizers instead of pollinator-friendly cover crops (alfalfa, clover) Huge crop monocultures (e.g. soybeans and corn) Spread of diseases (varroa mites transmit viruses) Pesticides Climate Change (native bees)

12 Commercialization of Agriculture --> Commercialization of beekeeping Monocultures: put out a feast for crop pests, but provide only brief period of nectar &/or pollen for bees image courtesy of Signeli Agnew

Lack of Pollinators in Monocultures Public Park in Cape Town, South Africa (1 ft 2 over 24 hours) Image courtesy of Craig Childs, NPR Image courtesy of David

13 Lack of Pollinators in Monocultures Public Park in Cape Town, South Africa (1 ft 2 over 24 hours) Image courtesy of Craig Childs, NPR Image courtesy of David Liittschwager Cornfield in Iowa (100 ft 2 over 60 hours)

14 Pesticide Use High pesticide use on most monocultures image courtesy of Imagine China Bees bring pesticides back to the hive - dangerous for bees (even in sublethal doses) and can accumulate in honey Impacts native bees too

15 Commercialization of Agriculture Commercialization of beekeeping Almond bloom in California - over 1 million hives are trucked in each year!! image courtesy of Singeli Agnew

16 Commercialization of Agriculture Commercialization of beekeeping Spread of Diseases image courtesy of Marla Spivak

17 Climate Change

18 What Can You Do?

21 We are NOT honey bees, nor all bees! bumble bee - ground nests that die every fall. small colonies (a few hundred). make honey, but small quantities (oz) carpenter bee - solitary bee, tunnels through wood. gentle! hornet - makes paper nests above ground only wasps - include hornets and yellow jackets yellow jacket - a social wasp, fiercely aggressive! nest underground or in trees (paper nests)

22 Local Honey Bee & Beekeeping Resources Boston Area Beekeepers Association o Google Group forum o Facebook ( Boston Beekeepers & Boston Beekeepers Club ) o Meetup Classroom Hives ( MA Beekeepers Assn (massbee.org) Beverly Bees: treatment-free bee products, blog, chemical-free wasp & bee removals

23 Native Bees - Resources Xerces Society Pollinator Stewardship Council USDA - Bee Basics: An Intro to Native Bees NTS/stelprdb pdf

24 Honey Bee Metamorphosis Gorgeous time lapse video of a bee developing from egg to adult:

25 Thank You! Sadie Brown

Why pollinators are important. Learning objectives 2/9/2016. Landscaping for Pollinators by Julie Weisenhorn & Karl Foord. Landscaping for Pollinators

Why pollinators are important. Learning objectives 2/9/2016. Landscaping for Pollinators by Julie Weisenhorn & Karl Foord. Landscaping for Pollinators Landscaping for Pollinators Julie Weisenhorn, Extension Educator Karl Foord, Extension Educator Learning objectives 1. Be able to explain the landscape needs of pollinators and how these needs relate human