Download The

1
The
Plan Bee Now!
Workshop Manual
How to Manage
Bee Pollinator Decline
For Assured Food Security and Health
Copyright ©June 2010
By
Ted Leischner, B.Sc.
Corresponding Member CANPOLIN
Bee pollinator decline is real and merits immediate attention (CANPOLIN)
Plan Bee Now!
Keremeos, BC V0X 1N2
Phone: 250-499-9558
Email: [email protected]
www.planbeenow.ca (under construction)
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Table of Contents
Workshop Description
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Module 1.0 Importance, Nature and Identification of Native Bees
Including pictures of Native bees
Module 2.0 How to Build1 Bee Gardens2 Wherever We Need Them
Researched Bee Garden Design Guidelines
Resources for Further Action
Citations, Websites, Literature Cited, Notes and Comments
Appendix - Chart of the Plants that Empowered Bees
(Coastal Regions BC)
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Workshop Description
The Situation
With losses of honey bees up to 90-100% in locations in BC this past winter and recent past, we must direct
care and attention to our adapted native pollinators. This requires one and al l to become familiar with the
nature and how to use our 400+ native bees in BC. But even our native bees are declining from the impact of
insensitive land development so we must help them and honey bees to pollinate our commercial crops and
native plants of BC as they have for 10,000’s of years. The most important deficiency is the lack of adequate
bee pasture for both honey bees and native bees which must be put back to relieve stress on bees.
Workshop Purpose:
To accelerate public awareness of the bee pollinator decline issue and the nature of the 400+ species native
bees of BC that have the potential, through grassroots action, to reverse bee decline wherever we live and
work in urban and rural environments. The assistance of each individual counts a great deal.
After this workshop, you will be able to:
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File name: Building Pollination Power in Bee Gardens.doc
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Positive impact on other beneficial insects (flower flies, beetles, butterflies, parasitic wasps etc) are also important
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
Return to your home or business and know exactly what you need and need to do to protect and conserve
all bees in cities, on farms, roadsides and natural areas.
 Restore bee pollinators in your community to increase the capacity for sustainable green living, food
production and environmental health. I
Cumulative result: Humungous!
Healthy bee and plant populations, plant biomass and diversity are put back on the land creating an expanded
kaleidoscope of colour, fragrance, taste, texture in our yards, parks, field, vineyards and orchards returns to
our living space. Most importantly our efforts will greatly increase our capacity for food security and
environmental health for generations to come.
Each participant will learn:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
The importance of bee pollinators – What they give to us and the Earth
The critical requirements needed for bees to thrive.
The unique attributes of native bees for better pollination
What is killing our precious bees pollinators – A Bees Perspective
Steps to reverse colony collapse disorder (CCD) in honey bees
Ways to stop killing our bees generally
To observe and identify the native bees that live around us (Is it a bee, wasp or fly?)
The names of plants that can increase populations of native bees and honey bees in your backyard,
park, farm, woodlot through each part of a growing season
9. Design principles for bee gardens - What bees really like and need!
10. Apply the Xerces3 Three Step Plan for bee pollinator conservation to enhance residential, public and
rural landscapes to raise bees and the flowers
11. How to integrate of the use of native bees and honey bees to build ‘pollination power’ for commercial
pollination
12. Other important activities to be more bee friendly:
 Develop fund raising capacity for bee conservation work;
 Revise farming and gardening policy and practices;
 Greatly expand planting of power plants for bees in our yards, parks, farms, vineyards and
orchard, roadsides, and public lands.
Class activities include:
1. Activities to help you acquire eyes to see native bees in your garden. Hope we find some native bees
making tunnels. They are very cryptic about this. If we are lucky, maybe we will find a bumble bee nest
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Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation, Portland, OR
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2. Assessing native bee presence (walk around, timed flower observation)
3. Do the three step Xerces Bee Conservation Program4
a. Walk around site to assess what we got for bees and power bee plants
b. Discuss features observed from the walk around to suggest changes to gardening or farming
practices to protect bee pollinators
c. Discuss way to attract and keep more bees on the site by making it more bee friendly
4. Build boxes for bumble bees and make wood blocks for a variety of wood nesting bees and lean where
to put them
5. Determine the potential habitat for a whole neighborhood with Google Earth exercise
What you Need to See the Bees
1. Stopwatch to measure bee visitation for chosen plants
2. Insect net and bottles to catch bees alive
3. Camera and cold box for field observation of field bees
What You Need to Design a Bee Garden:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Pictures of your garden
A list of plants growing in your garden or park or farm
A yard, park or farm plan or Google “earth image”
Paper and pens; drawing and sketching equipment
plant ID books and Plant charts to select and place plants
About Ted Leischner B.Sc.,
Credentials: B.Sc. Biol. Calgary; Agric. Production Dipl. Olds College; BC Instructors Dipl. VCC; PTT certificate;
PDC. Proprietor; Plan Bee Now!
Ted is from Calgary, AB now living in Keremeos, BC, Similkameen Valley. He is a lifelong earth systems
naturalist. bee pollinator conservation activist, permaculture teacher and designer and retired agricultural
college instructor with a background in applied ecology and biology.
He is now focused on ecological restoration, education and practice (permaculture); permaculture bee
gardens design and landscape retrofit to better care for our native bees and refurbish the capacity of our earth
for life support in cities, on farms, road sides and natural areas. He is also active as a special crops field
consultant, master beekeeper with commercial experience (500 hives), and has extensive farm business
enterprise planning experience.
Module 1.0 The Importance, Nature and
Identification of Native Bees
Objective: Learn to observe native bees in gardens, on farms and natural habitat and note their special
nature. Is it a fly, bee or wasp?
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http://www.xerces.org/pollinator-conservation/
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Rationale:
1. What happens if honey bees disappear? Answer: Native bees to the rescue
2. One cannot manage something that he/she cannot see and count”
The Importance of Bee Pollinators
“Every seed holds the magic of creation” but for that for any seed to start its development, pollination i.e. the
transfer of pollen from the anther of one plant to the pistil of another is required. Worldwide 200,000 species
i.e. 75% of plants are pollinated by an equal number of species of animals i.e. bats, hummingbirds, and insects
of which the bees are the most important pollinator.
Bees are keystone species
in our earth system life support mechanism
From an Earth system perspective, bees are essential to food production and ecological life support (seeds,
soil, water, plants). Regarding this role, 20,000 bee species in the world are needed to pollinate over 200,000
species of plants.
In terms of the functioning of our planetary life support system (i.e. earth systems science), bees are keystone
species. From Wikipedia: A keystone species is a species that has a disproportionate effect on its environment
relative to its biomass.[1] Such species affect many other organisms in an ecosystem and help to determine the
types and numbers of various others species in a community. Such an organism plays a role in its ecosystem
that is analogous to the role of a keystone in an arch. While the keystone is under the least pressure of any of
the stones in an arch, the arch still collapses without it. Similarly, an ecosystem may experience a dramatic
shift if a keystone species is removed, even though that species was a small part of the ecosystem by
measures of biomass or productivity. It has become a very popular concept in conservation biology.[2]
The Native Bees of BC
Question: What happens if honey bees disappear?
Answer: The solution is at our door step under our feet.
BC has four hundred (400+) species native bees which is uniquely 50% of all the native bee species in Canada.
Unknown to most of us, they live as solitary bees that nest in underground tunnels, old logs, snags and old
mouse nests in diverse habitats wherever they can find a place to nest.
Why Native Bees are Special
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It is the pollinating services of our 400+ species of native bees that create the seeds for all the kinds of flowers
in the valleys and fields in BC so that we and all creatures and plants can enjoy life in abundance. Our native
bees have been pollinating these plants for 10,000’s of years without the introduced honey bee. They can
continue to do so if we give back what they need to fill in for honey bees that are disappearing. Native bees
are unsung heroines of the OK-SIM that go unnoticed at their peril.
Native Bees Are Better Adapted Pollinators
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They don’t sting!
They are efficient pollinators because of ‘buzz behaviour’ e.g. 250 orchard bees/acre; Listen to bumble
bees the ‘zip’ sound the next time that you see them on a flower.
They work fast, work quiet as individuals, work at 12°C. Out of sight, and out of mind!
They don’t live in big populous hives--totally different than the stereotypic ‘thousands of bees in the
hive’ concept.
Sexes live as solitary bees, usually one mated female per tunnel in wood snags or in the ground; widely
distributed over the landscape. Males hang out in vegetation or on favorite flowers patrolling territory
or wait for females. Only pupae overwinter to the next season, underground etc.
They collect mostly pollen (hence named pollen bees); no surplus honey; native flowers, used
commonly in xeriscaping, are very important to short tongued species. See Ted’s power bee plant
charts for details.
Low numbers and low rate of reproduction make them ‘extinct prone’. Each female can only produce
40-60 baby bees unlike honey bee queens which lay thousands of eggs per day.
Most native bees have short foraging range of only a few hundred meters from the nest site, means we
need more little patches of flowers over our farms, orchards, vineyards etc and large parks. Native
bees do not fly for kilometers like honey bees.
They have a short life span: For most species, including the orchard mason bee,
only 2-3 weeks (a way of sharing resources perhaps).
There is a different set of bees for early season, midseason and late season.
Food (nectar and pollen) and nesting sites may occur in two separate kinds of habitat.
An Introduction to the Native Bee Fauna of BC
By Lisa Neame, Grad Student, Simon Fraser University
Bees are insects that belong to the Order Hymenoptera. This Order also contains Ants, and Wasps, both close
relatives of the bees. Bees belong to the Superfamily Apoidea. The Apoidea is characterized by the presence of
branched hairs on the body, and a narrow, constricted waist between the thorax and abdomen. A distinct
behavioural trait of bees is that they are vegetarian and feed exclusively from flowering plants. However,
there are bees that are parasites in the nests of solitary, and social bees which predate on the young bee
larvae or their food provisions. These parasitic bees have a lifestyle that is more similar to wasps, which are
typically carnivorous but will also feed off nectar or scraps from your family BBQ.
There are seven families of bees, six of which are found in Canada.
The bee families can be grouped into 2 general types; the short tongued bees and the long tongued bees.
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Although this general classification works quite well, some short tongued bees have evolved long tongues and
some long tongued bees have evolved short tongues.
These are the:
Short-Tongued (ST) Bees
Andrenidae – The Mining Bees
Halictidae – The Sweat Bees
Colletidae – The Plasterer Bees
Long-Tongued (LT) Bees
Melittidae – The Oil Collecting Bees (Rare!)
Megachilidae – The Leafcutting and Mason Bees
Apidae – A highly diversified group containing many interesting bees including the
Social Bees
Honey Bees and Bumblebees
All of these bee families can be found in BC, although bees in the Family Melittidae are extremely rare.
There are about 3 dozen genera of bees in BC. Some of the more well known and common genera are
mentioned below.
Apis melifera (LT) - this is our well known introduced European Honey Bee used in commercial pollination
services, and honey production. It can often be found in hollow trees as feral colonies. Live in large hives on
wax honeycomb; up to 120,000 bees, one queen and a few hundred drones (male bees)
Bombus(LT) – i.e. bumblebees; social bees living in small nests. They are our only native bees which make
honey, but not very much. There are more than 30 species in British Columbia.
Megachile (LT) i.e gregarious leafcutting bees living in wood tunnels These are mostly summer active bees
which use pieces of leaves to construct nests in cavities and in the ground.
Osmia (LT) – i.e. blue orchard mason bees; gregarious; living n wood tunnels. These are the well known blue
metallic bees, mostly active in the spring, and used to pollinate orchards. You can attract Mason bees with
solitary bee houses.
Halictus (ST) and Lasioglossum (ST) – ground nesting sweat bees. These are common genera found in all
habitats. Lasioglossum is an extremely diverse group with more than 100 species in Canada. Also note the
metallic green Agapostemon virescens
Melissodes, Anthophora, and Eucera (LT) – these are robust, furry, very long-tongued bees which are active
throughout the season. They are important pollinators of wild berries, and garden vegetables.
Parasitic (cleptoparasitic bees) – parasitizing the nests of pollen collectors
Macropis (LT) – this is an extremely rare genus of bees which only visit species of Yellow Loosestrife
(Lysimachia spp.) found in wetlands and riparian habitats. They collect floral oils from glands on the flower to
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construct their nest lining and provision their offspring.
Nomada, Holcopasites, Epeolus, Triepeolus, Stelis, Melecta, and Xeromelecta (LT)– these are cleptoparasitic,
long-tongued bees which break into solitary bee nests and deposit their eggs which hatch into voracious
larvae.
Sphecodes (ST) – a cleptoparasite much like the above described, which attacks short-tongued bee nests.
Size: They range in size from our small carpenter bee (6 mm) to our largest bumble bee (350mm).
Nesting Habits:
60% nest in underground tunnels excavated by the mother bee.
15% nest in old tree snags or rotten logs (e.g. the orchard mason bee) or in plant stems (the small carpenter
bee, Ceratina sp).
15% are bumblebee species that nest in abandoned mouse burrows, grass clumps piles of leaves or similar
places.
5% are a small group of bees that parasitize the nests of other bees i.e. cleptoparasitic.
Conserving our 400 species of native bees and their natural habitat is our best insurance policy for sustainable
pollination services, biodiversity conservation and environmental health.
The Challenge of Observing Native Bees
The first challenge--observing insects on flowers in our gardens--is to tell the difference
between bees, wasps & hornets and flies
See chart at the end of this hand out for more detailed information.
Many species of insects live in our gardens and on our farms. The first skill to learn is to distinguish native bees
from the other insects so one can verify their presence in your garden and assess their abundance or absence.
Wasps and hornets are commonly misidentified as being bees. To confuse us, there are insects which are
actually flies and moths, and even beetles that mimic the appearance of being bees. This is a protective
strategy.
Step One: Learn the basic parts of an insect:
Head
Thorax (middle part with legs and wings)
Abdomen (back part)
2 Antennae
2 Compound Eyes
Mouthparts (various kinds)
6 Legs
4 Wings (some modified)
Your Sketch of insect parts
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Step Two: Look for these features on flower-visiting insects and the insects in Ted’s
collection:
Part of Insect
Bees: Honey Bees;
Bumblebees &
Solitary
Native Bees
Hornets & Wasps
Flower-Visiting Flies
that
Look Like bees
Antennae
Long; elbow shaped
Long; elbow shaped
Stinger (may not be
visible)
Yes female bees can
sting but native bees
don’t sting. Male bees
can’t sting
Appears broad
Yes; nasty disposition to
sting
Short; bristle like; may
seem absent
No flies on flowers do
not sting or bite
Greatly narrows
Broad
Black yellow white
metallic green
Yes; hairs branched
Strikingly White black
yellow
Bald; no hairs on body
Look like bees but are
not
Yes; hairs not branched
Waist
Color
Hairiness
Step 3: Take the Mystery Box Challenge
Directions:
Class will be divided into working groups.
Each group will be given a box of 10 pinned insects labeled by number from one to ten.
The group must identify each insect as a bee, wasp or hornet or fly using the above chart as a guide and write
their answer on the sheet below.
Your instructor will verify if answers are correct or not correct noting errors in observation. Wrong answers
are as valuable for learning as right answers.
Review specimens to observe how they fit the correct determinations provided in the answer key. Time limit:
15 minutes.
Write bee, wasp or fly in each of the boxes below.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
The native bees in this exercise are fairly typical of the native bees that you will see in the field.
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Key Features of our common Native Bees to be described in class
Please observe and take notes on each group of bees in the collection of native bees on display.
Honey Bee_______________________________________________________________________________
Bumblebees_____________________________________________________________________________
Leafcutter bees
Alfalfa and Native Leafcutter Bees Megachile_______________________________________
Orchard Mason Bee Osmia_________________________________________________________
Stem nesters: Small Carpenter Bee, Ceratina_____________________________________________
Digger Bees
Sweat Bee, Halictus_________________________________________________________________
Metalic Green Agapostemon_______________________________________________________
Long Horned Bees Melissodes_______________________________________________________
See the insect collection on display to see what our different native bees look
like
Excellent pictures of native bees can be found in a small booklet available from the David Suzuki Foundation.
Although this little booklet is for Toronto residents, the bees picture are quite typical of what we find in BC or
across Canada. An excerpt from this booklet can be found at David Suzuki Foundation.
http://www.davidsuzuki.org/files/SWAG/Species/Pollinator_Guide_5pg.pdf
Module 2.0 How to Build5 Bee Gardens6
in Cities, on Farm Lands, Road Sides and Natural Areas
“Build It and They Will Come”
First, provide the Basic Needs of Bees
1. Food i.e. nectar and pollen from ‘bee power’ flowers for bee nutrition
2. Water--easy accessible clean water with no risk of drowning; dew drops
3. Nesting Space
a. Ground nesting female bees require bare ground with sparse grass
b. Bees that nest in wood tunnels need old snags, rotting longs, and stems
(raspberry, mullein, sumac etc).
c. Bumblebees need old mouse and bird nests, tufts of grass, piles of leaves
4. Shelter & Resting Space (females rest in subteranean tunnels; males rest on or in flowers &
vegetation)
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File name: Building Pollination Power in Bee Gardens.doc
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Positive impact on other beneficial insects (flower flies, beetles, butterflies, parasitic wasps etc) are also important
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5. Special Materials for Nesting:
a. Moist mud for orchard mason bees (Osmia sp);
b. Leaves / petals to cut (roses; alfalfa) for leaf cutter bees
c. Plant hairs (Stachys sp) for wool carder bees
d. Rotting logs for Augoclora
e. Dead tree snags (wood borer tunnels)
f. Grass tufts/ mouse nests for bumblebees (Bombus sp)
6. Natural habitat: Native bees are wild creatures adapted to the environments around them.
Ultimately they do best in natural areas. If 30% of the area within 1.2 km of a crop is natural
habitat, native pollinators can do the job.
What is Killing Our Bees?
Pollination ecologists and beekeepers worldwide agree that what is killing our bees is a complex of factors that
is different for each location. However there are common themes. The big three are stress from lack of
nutrition, diseases and cumulative chronic exposure to pesticides.
Here are all the components of the bee decline dynamic:
1. Loss of food and space for bee pollinators – The main limiting factor!
One of the biggest causes of bee decline and stressed out bees is the loss of 10,000’s of /hectares of
bee pasture over the past few decades. What is bee pasture? Bee pasture is the total area of the
landscape that provides nectar and pollen to bees. Bees find flowers that provide nectar in pollen in
natural areas, abandoned fields, gardens, agricultural and industrial areas, orchards, vineyards etc.
Bees without sufficient food have compromised immune systems and are more vulnerable to disease
pressure and pesticides. Loss of living space takes nesting site space away as well further reducing
capacity for pollination of crops and native plants important for life support.
Human development activities that remove bee pollinator habitat are:
 Urban sprawl i.e. expansion of the “asphalt/concrete jungle”. Expanding green turf in cities
regularly mowed and treated with chemical products is part of this component.
 Intensive industrial agriculture especially activities that involve monocropping, use of
tillage, fertilizers, pesticides and displacement of natural habitat for more row crops,
vineyards, and orchards.
 Over grazing of rangeland and grass pastures by cattle, sheep, goods and horses
 Clear cutting forests with no consideration of pollinators / native plants displaced
 Highway, right of ways and maintenance planting designs and use of chemicals
2. Spreading bee diseases:

Honey bees , Apis mellifera:
o Big part of Colony Collapsed Disorder CCD in honey bees e.g. of the Great Escape!
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o The exotic mite, Varroa destructor from the SE Asia honey bee, Apis cerana
o Other new viruses and internal parasites
Comment: the commercial beekeeper stakeholder group should NOT dominate decisions
regarding this challenge albeit they are a very important group for input
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Native bees:
o Spill over of exotic diseases to wild bees e.g. western bumblebee
o Chalkbroad Ascosphaera sp spread in leaf cutter bees and orchard mason bees?
3. Pesticide use, especially new insecticides like Admire (imidacloprid)?
o Pesticides are now commonly found in hive wax, honey and pollen.
o Some beekeepers misuse of pesticides and antibiotics to selects for resistance to miticides and
diseases.
4. Additional STRESS from honey bee hive relocation
o Moving hives for pollination. Each move = 10% loss in population and 10% loss of queens
o Having to move hive because of less tolerance by the general public to bee hives Result : no
place for bees
5. Climate change effects e.g. flowering date and native bee emergence dates shifting out of
synchrony
6. Honey bee /Native Bee competition (To be Determined)
e.g. 8000 hives are moved to the Okanagan Similkameen from northern Alberta annually
How to Quickly Bring Back the Bees
and Keep Them Here
The steps to bring back pollinators in urban and rural setting have been well research and demonstrated over
the past few years because of the urgency of bee decline as it impact the agricultural economy and
environmental health of North America. Actually there has been remarkable collaboration worldwide on this
topic.
In the Pacific Northwest, the Urban Bee Garden Project at the University of California, Berkeley working with
the Pollinator Conservation Program of the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation is effectively putting
more bees back into the landscape with the plants to support them sustainably. Fine tuning their programs to
Canadian conditions is the result of the research of our Canadian Pollination Initiative (CANPOLIN), 40
researchers working at 26 Canadian universities.
The Xerces bee pollinator conservation program has three steps:
1. Observe and inventory the bees, nesting sites and the bee plants at each location
2. Become more bee- friendly in planning and resource use i.e. farming and gardening practices. To
conserve and protect bees, change land use and practices that limit the success of all bee pollinators.
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3. Enhance bee pasture, nesting sites where they currently not provided. Bring in more species of bee
plants planted in blocks and large beds to support more pollinators.
Suggested Targets:
Urban residents can plant an additional one square meter of bee plants so that it blooms all season.
City parks and gardens can plant an additional one or two large beds.
Farms can aim for an additional 0.25 to 0.5 hectares ideally integrated with current farming practice. This
usually increases the value of the farm anyway and is convenient and low cost.
In a nutshell, provide bees with more bee pasture. Lots of it! Thousands of hectares/ acres are needed in the
right place and time for the pollinators that live in an area over a region. The quickest, direct way to bring back
the bees is to greatly expand bee pasture for both honey bees and native bees.
Bee pasture is the total area of the landscape (i.e. your neighborhood) that provides nectar and pollen to bees.
We need to acquire a “google earth” perspective of bee pollinator habitat to see all the potential patches of
flowers over a neighbourhood to see their size and how they are connected
Not all flowers are attractive or useful to bees.
(See the Plan Bee Now! Charts.)
A power plant for bees is one that provides a super rich quantity and quality nectar (sugars) and/ or pollen
(protein) to the diet of a bee. Open pollinated heritage varieties are highly recommended7. Avoid new
polyploid and double varieties of flowers that look nice and do not provide benefit to bees.
The charts list the plants likely to be most useful to bees in this region as determined by the University of
California’s Urban Bee Project , long term gardener, beekeepers, CANPOLIN pollination ecologists,
observation and a contact with the horticulture community in BC. You can do your own confirmation by doing
a bee visitation/attractiveness trial. Simply sit by a plant that attracts bee for two minutes and record and note
the number of different types of bees and number of bees that visit the plant for the two minutes. .
How to Bring Back Bees in Urban Settings
(Yards, parks, community gardens, boulevards)
Some the most successful efforts to bring back pollinators have bee in cities, towns and parks.
Cities have much to offer bees since they respond well to a scattering of patches of flowers over the whole
city. You can use these ideas to establish any bee garden bed wherever you want it.
Important Note on Plant Diversity and
Bee Pollinator Immune Response
French researchers suggests that immune response in bees is linked to high plant diversity
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See Seeds of Diversity Heritage Plants Database http://www.seeds.ca/hpd/hpd.php
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Plant diversity8 is the number of different kinds of plants and bees and defines the quality of the bee living
space (habitat). UC (Berkeley) Research shows that gardens with 10 or more species blooming in each of the
early, mid and late bee season are best. Do not forget the plants for the ‘specialist’ bees9.
Activity - How to Put More Bee Plant Power into your Community
1. Inventory the bee plants on your property and then ask: “Does my plant list provide the most nectar
and pollen to bees possible? See / Use Plant Species Lists
2. Guidelines for providing enough quantity of nectar and pollen:
a. In urban areas, plant in patches 1-2 square meters minimum. This makes bee foraging very
energy and time efficient. Planting individual plants helps bees but not as much as a whole
patch. Probably better to offer more area of a few choice bee plants than a collection of many
species. Use Plan Bee Now charts to guide you to which plants work best for bees.
b. On farmland, seed forage and green manure mixes fortified with bee plant in between rows of
crops, headlands, abandoned areas etc just growing weeds that do not produce nectar and
pollen for bees. E.g. There are 10,000 acres of vineyards in the Okanagan Similkameen. Most of
this area is potential bee habitat. See the Plan Bee Charts on which plants work best.
c. Natural Areas – riparian and desert habitat is especially valuable to bee. Many small patches of
flowers over a city or town can effectively link to natural areas.
Other important Bee Friendly Practices
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Reduce tillage. It destroys bee tunnels and flowers and destroys soil health dynamics.
Greatly reduce the use of PESTICIDES. They kill bees and now are showing up in honey bee hives in
nectar, pollen and wax. Reduce the regular use of non-selective herbicides which reduce plant
biodiversity in a crop that could contribute to soil health.
Reduce aesthetic standards. Most ground nesting bees need sparse undisturbed areas to nest.
Bumble bees need clumps of grass, leaves or abandoned mouse nests.
Think and Fly Like a Bee – Take a Bees Perspective
Now you know what bees are looking for. Let’s take a journey into bee space to see the whole picture of their
world. So, put on you wings and become bees flying over this site.
To respond like a bee from the air,
1. Get a “google earth” image of your site and print it out
2. Ask, what is going to catch the attention of a bee up there in the sky?
3. Key question: How much area is growing bee plants?
It is patches of flowers that attract bees.
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Research from France strongly suggests a positive correlation between plant diversity and bee immune response. Plant diversity also determines
diversity of beneficial microorganisms needed for digestion of food containing important phytochemicals.
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Specialist bee=a bee which pollinates one species of flower ie. Oligolectic. Most bees are polylectic.
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The world of the bee is an aerial view of the whole community or neighborhood. To define relevant habitat to
this site, draw a 1 km diameter circle around your site. Then we do some “ground truthing” observation of this
area observing natural areas and features and where the flowers are growing; the bees and plants present or
absent. In urban areas this implies getting to know the neighbours better. Bee habitat is the whole
neighbourhood not just your back yard. To save bees we need to organize neighbors to develop a
neighborhood plan for bees.
How do you know you are making a difference?
Evaluation of the effectiveness at restoring bee habitat is measured by calculating the difference between the
before and after total areas of bee plants growing plus the difference of the before and after total number of
native bee species and change of their populations over time. A general sense of the change is good enough.
Researchers use the following methods to assess the state of bees in an area:
1. Determining the no. of bees and kinds of bees that visit bee plants over 2 to 5 minutes indicates bee
attractiveness and value to bees nutritionally
2. Formal bee collection e.g. the Bee Bar Coding Project of Canada is done using hi-viz Blue, White and
Yellow Bee Bowl Traps which samples a small percentage of bees
3. Netting bees with insect collecting nets for a set period of time
A combination of these methods is usually selected to a more accurate reading.
Information Resources, Literature Cited, Notes and Comments
Important Context
Bee decline is happening as part of an unprecedented rate of species extinctions worldwide with an all time
low in capacity of our planet to provide ecosystem services for life support plus the climate/global change
stuff. Pollination is just one of these ecosystem services being impacted by human development essential for
life support. However there is much we can do to reverse this situation.
Pollination in Context of Ecosystem Service Capacity Depreciation
UNEP. 2005. Millennium Ecosystem Assessment Reports.
http://www.millenniumassessment.org/en/Index.aspx and the
2009 Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services www.ipbes.net
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Marris, Gay et al., G. Jones, P. Mwebaze, S. Potts, T. Breeze. Quantifying the value of ecosystem services: A
Case Study of Bee Pollination in the UK. The Food and Environment Research Agency, UK (includes cost of
hand pollination in Sichuan Provence, China).
http://www.apimondia.org/2009/pollination/symposia/Evaluating%20the%20role%20of%20pollinating%20ho
neybees%20in%20UK%20Apple%20Orchards%20-%20MARRIS%20Gay.pdf
Comment: Good information on costing out hand pollination of fruit crops
Documentation for Bee Pollinator Decline, Impacts and Recommendations
Buchmann, S. L. and G.P. Nabhan 1996. The Forgotten Pollinators. Island Press. California, USA 292 pages.
National Research Council of the National Academies. 2006. Status of Pollinators in North
America. National Academies Press, Washington, D.C. KEY REFERENCE
http://books.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=11761
Canadian Pollination Initiative (CANPOLIN) website http://uoguelph.ca/canpolin/index.html
Also see the websites of:
Dr. Laurence Packer www.yorku.ca/bugsrus/
Dr. Elizabeth Elle www.sfu.ca/biology/faculty/elle/
Kevan, P. New Research Network to Shed Light on Pollinator Decline. Hivelights. Canadian Honey Council.
November 2009
http://www.uoguelph.ca/canpolin/Publications/Hive%20Lights%20Nov%202009%20CANPOLIN.
North American Pollinators Protection Campaign Website www.nappc.org
Some Cascading Effects of Bee Decline on Plant Populations
Biesmeijer, J. C., Robert S. P. M., Reemer M., Ohlemüller R., Edwards M., Peeters T., Schaffers
A.P., Potts S.G., Kleukers R., Thomas C.D., Setele J., Kunin W. E., 2006. Parallel Declines in
Pollinators and Insect-Pollinated Plants in Britain and the Netherlands. Science, 313: 351-354.
Fontaine, C., Dajoz I., Meriguet J., Lore au M., 2006. Functional diversity of plant-pollinator interaction webs
enhances the persistence of plant communities. PLoS Biol. 4:e1,
http://biology.plosjournals.org/perlserv/?request=getdocument&doi=10.1371%2Fjournal.pbio.0040001
For more information on global change, bee and plant genetics please contact Dr. Elizabeth Elle, Simon Fraser
University.
Naming 400+ species of Native Bees
Comment: University of York, ON / CANPOLIN bee collections last season revealed that BC is a bee species
hotspot for Canada and the South Okanagan Similkameen, not surprisingly is a global hot spot for bee
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pollinator species including specialist pollinators of the native flowers living here. Lincoln Best, Grad Student,
Univ. York, Toronto, Pers. Communication.
Bar coding bees revealed 500 species of bees in BC with almost half of these living in the South Okanagan
Similkameen.
See Packer, L., Gibbs, J., Shefflield, C. and P. Kevan. 2008. Bar coding the Bees of the World. In Anais do VIII o
Encontro sobre Abelhas, Ribeirão Preto - SP, Brazil, p. 276. (PDF)
Rogers, Theresa. 2009. The Beekeeper. Lab Business Magazine.
http://www.labbusinessmag.com/articles/spring09beekeeper/spring09beekeeper.html
Comment: Dr Laurence Packer was featured in the CBC-TV Documentary, To Bee or Not to Bee. See
CANPOLIN website for link.
Note: Of the 400+ species of native bees in BC, 70% are ground nesters, 20% are cavity nesters and 10% are
bumble bees.
What Do Native Bees look like?
Examples of images from Dr. Packer’s lab team:
Bee Trading Card Gallery. http://resonatingbodies.wordpress.com/art/bumble-domicile/tradingcards/gallery2/
David Suzuki Foundation. Excerpt from A Guide to Toronto’s Pollinators. 35 pages of color photos.
http://www.davidsuzuki.org/files/SWAG/Species/Pollinator_Guide_5pg.pdf
Announcement: In June 2010 Bee Bar Coding Dr. Laurence Packer’s grad student, Lincoln Best will have a photo Field Guide to the
Native Bees of the Okanagan Similkameen ready for distribution
Native Pollinator Identification
BugGuide website - Identification, Images, & Information for Insects, Spiders & Their Kin For the United States & Canada
http://bugguide.net/node/view/15740
Discovery Life Website http://www.discoverlife.org/mp/20q?search=Apoidea
Technology to Raise Native Bees Commercially
Important comment: Researchers on bee decline make it clear that the solution to bee decline is not going to
be just substituting the honey bees with another species of bee. To retain pollination services from bees we
will need an integrated strategy quite a bit more complex that we are use to or want. First we need to remove
environmental and nutritional stress on honey bees by providing more forage. We also must begin to raise
alternative pollinators e.g. Osmia species commercially but these require more management than honey bees.
In addition to this we need to also seriously implement native bee pollinator habitat protect and enhancement
over entire farms and communities for our 500 species of native bees in BC to thrive. This means we need to
learn about native bees.
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Orchard Mason Bee Suppliers for Bee and Nest blocks and Books etc
USDA Non-Apis [i.e. native bee]Bee Laboratory, Logan, UT
http://www.ars.usda.gov/Main/site_main.htm?modecode=54-28-05-00
Bosch, J. and W. Kemp. 2001 How to Manage the Blue Orchard Bee: As an Orchard Pollinator, Sustainable
Agriculture Network, 98 pages.
BeeDiverse website (Margriet Dogterom PhD, Coquitlam, BC) www.beediverse.com
Dogterom, M. 2002. Pollination with Mason Bees. BeeDiverse Books, Coquitlam, BC
79 pages.
Mason Bee Homes http://www.masonbeehomes.com/
Knox Cellars Native Pollinators www.knoxcellars.com
Pollinator Paradise Website (Karen Strickler PhD, UT) http://www.pollinatorparadise.com/
Osmia.com (Dale Nielson) http://osmia.com/
Comment: Good info for using orchard mason bees in the fruit orchard.
Bumble Bee Nest Boxes
Comment: Next to the honey bee as far as long distance generalist pollinator bees are concerned, are our bumble bees. They have
huge potential to fill in for honey bees and but they too are declining so need urgent care. They live in abandoned rodent and birds
nests, dry base of a tussock of grass or untidy hedge bottom. We need to replace the urge to be tidy with pride in having provided a
place for bumble bees to live to assure pollination once provided by honey bee.
General Information on BB nest boxes http://www.bumblebee.org/nestboxes.htm
Coffee Cans for Bumble Bees http://crawford.tardigrade.net/bugs/BugofMonth36.html
Cheshire Bumble Bee Box http://www.cheshire-bka.co.uk/Articles/BumblebeeNests.php
Tom Clothier Website http://tomclothier.hort.net/page38.html
Comment: Invasive or “spill over” diseases of bumble bees are deadly and have caused species extinction e.g. Western Bumble Bee
in California. Please pay attention to hygiene in your bumble bee boxes to halt the spread of these diseases. See above websites.
Bee Conservation Technology – What We Need To Do
Mader, Eric, M. Spivak, E. Evans. 2010. Managing Alternative Pollinators – A Handbook for Beepeepers, Growers and
Conservationists. SARE Handbook 11. SARE and NRAES. 161 pages. NEW!
Mader, Eric, Mace Vaughan, Matthew Shepherd, Scott Hoffman Black. 2010. Alternative Pollinators: Native Bees. ATTRA.
Xerces Society of Invertebrate Conservation.
Xerces Society – Pollinator Conservation program website.
http://www.xerces.org/Pollinator_Insect_Conservation/overview
See http://www.xerces.org/pollinator-conservation-agriculture/
Comment: Very user interactive and practical
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Xerces Society and The Bee Works. Pollination Conservation Handbook – A Guide to Understanding, Protecting And
Providing habitat for Native Pollinator Insects. http://www.xerces.org/Pollinator%20Pages.pdf
Bee Conservation on Farmland
Vaugh, M., M. Shepherd, C. Kremen, and S.H. Black. 2007. Farming for Bees – Guidelines for Providing Native
Bee Habitat on Farms. Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation. Portland, Download from
http://www.xerces.org/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/farming_for_bees.pdf
Bee Conservation in Towns and Cities
Shepherd, M., M.Vaugh, and S.H. Black. 2008. Pollinator Friendly Parks – How to Enhance Parks, Gardens, and
Other Green Spaces for native Pollinator Insects. Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation. Portland, OR.
Download from http://www.xerces.org/parks-and-golf-courses/
Power Plants for Bees
New research from France clearly shows a direct link between immune competence in honey bee and plant
diversity.
Alaux, C., F. Ducloz, D. Crauser and Y Le Conte. 2010. Diet effects on honeybee immunocompetence. Biology
Letters, The Royal Society.
http://rsbl.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/early/2010/01/18/rsbl.2009.0986.abstract
This paper confirms what most beekeepers know as common knowledge. Since native bees share a common
physiology is it probable that this is important for native bees as well.
Basic Annual Mix Research seed mixes for bees contain the following common garden flowers and green
manure: Lacey Phacelia, Buckwheat, Oil Seed Rape, Black Cumin, Coriander, Pot Marigold, Bachelors Buttons
(Centuria cyanus), Wild Mallow, Malva sylvestris , Dill, Borage, Legume forages (clovers, sweet clover, alfalfa,
vetches, lupines, mint family
Xerces Map to decide what Bee Plants you need for your region
http://www.xerces.org/pollinator-resource-center/
Comment: Note that it covers all of North America!
University of California (Berkeley). The Urban Bee Garden Project – Seasonal Recommended Plants
http://nature.berkeley.edu/urbanbeegardens/list.html
Comment: This is an excellent list showing which native bee visits what kind of flowers. Pay attention to this in your designs along
with seasonality targets.
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Phacelia tanacetifolia [Lacey Phacelia]: A brief overview of a potentially useful insectary plant and cover crop
as part of a bee forage/green manure mix. Small Farm Success Project. Fact Sheet Number 2.
www.smallfarmsuccess.com/Phacelia_farmer_version.pdf
Comment: Phacelia is an important component in commercial seed mixes researched to provide forage for bees over a season. It is a
perfect bee plant. Ted is looking for demonstration site cooperators and seed growers
Suppliers of Native Plant Nurseries and Seed Suppliers in BC
http://www.npsbc.org/Use/use.htm
Durance, Eva.2009. Cultivating the Wild – Gardening with Native Plants of British Columbia’s Southern Interior
and Eastern Washington. Nature Guides BC, Delta.
Plan Bee Now! 2010—Lining up Sources & Suppliers
I am currently lining up sources and suppliers etc to provide commercial quantities of seeds and plants for
bees. Objective: Adequate area of a high diversity of plant species blooming from spring thru summer to fall
along road sides, hedgerows, fence lines, stream sides, alley ways and vacant lots. We have met the target
when like in the “old days” you can you see acres of these plants in your communities throughout the season.
It is very important to get our native plants back into our landscapes. We have much work to do.