Bee-munity

Bee-munity where people and nature thrive. 

Vermont is home to about 275 bee species. How can we bee wise about helping our native bees including bumblebees? We can convert or restore the land to native plant communities that used to be there to create habitats where nature and people thrive. 

And we can learn more about our native bee community. 

Below are excerpts and notes from  “The Bombus Among Us - Bumble Bee Basics” by Heather Holm, biologist, pollinator conservationist, and award-winning author. 

Ninety percent of North American native bees are solitary (live alone). Ten percent are social (live in colonies). Bumblebee colonies may produce from 200 to 800 bumblebees in a season vs honeybee hive that might have ten to fifty-thousand honey bees. Native bees nest in the ground or in cavities. 

Note that the Western Honeybee is an introduced domesticated species to North America from Europe. 

Only female (native) bees collect and transport pollen. Some collect on hairs at the bottom of the abdomen. Others collect on hairs on the hind leg and on hairs on the side of the thorax or abdomen. Some ingest pollen internally. Bumblebees have a pollen basket (Queen and female workers) on the flared bristled hind leg. Pollen that sticks to hairs on the body is moved to the pollen basket. Cuckoo bees do not collect pollen. 

Bumblebees are significant, efficient, and effective pollinators of many agricultural crops. They have the ability to buzz pollinate flowers which are required by some agricultural crops. Honeybees do not have this capability. Bumblebees move more pollen than honey bees and pollinate apples better than honeybees due to a larger contact with the pollen on the flower. 

Bumblebees forage even in cool temperatures. They demonstrate floral constancy foraging from one flower to the next of the same species, getting the right kind of pollen to the next flower visited. They have long tongues, size, and strength to extract nectar from complex flower systems. 

Bees get protein and lipids from pollen; and carbohydrates, and free amino acids from nectar.

Another reason native plants are important to our native bees is that about 25% of solitary bees (other than BBs) in the eastern US are pollen-collecting specialists, collecting pollen from a few or a single plant family or genus. 

Early flowering nectar and pollen-producing species are critical in the early spring for bumblebee queens. The queen needs the nectar to build up energy to lay eggs, and pollen to store on a pollen ball for the next generation. 

Some flowering plants are nectar-less but offer pollen. Pollen may all be extracted in the morning hours.

Bumblebee queens establish nests where there is some insulation like in a rotting log, under leaf litter, abandoned rodent holes, holes in retaining walls, or an old mouse nest. 

Bumble Bee Queens create the first (of one or two) generation, all-female workers who help collect nectar and pollen and regurgitate nectar into wax pots for storage. The nectar pots may later be filled with pollen with eggs laid on top. 

About mid-summer, a generation of males come out. They do not return to the nest and live for about two to three weeks. They have large eyes to help watch for a new queen to mate with. The male bumblebees tend to like different species of flowers than the females and the males consume just nectar. 

The last generation is new queens, the only ones that will survive and hibernate over winter. Native plants such as goldenrods provide nectar with high concentrations of amino acids for the new queens to store fat stores to survive the winter. 

Bumble Bee bodies include the head, thorax, and abdomen. Males lack pollen collecting structures; they have skinny hind legs. Bumble Bees have three simple eyes on top of the head to detect sunlight and orient the location of the nest, and two eyes on each side of the head. 

Some identification patterns to note are the color of the hairs on the face, the back of the head, and on each of the six or seven segments of the abdomen, dark or light-colored wings, distinct or an indistinct black spot on the thorax. 

Most of our US native bumblebees are in decline, some are endangered such as the rusty patched bumblebee. Habitat loss and the insufficient number of flowering native plants are some of the reasons for the decline. Climate change, fragmented habitat, competition from introduced non-native bees, flowerless landscapes are contributing to nutritional stress. Also, plants are not producing historical levels of nutrition quality. 

Other factors affecting bumblebee populations are pest and pathogen transmission, insecticides, other pesticides, and nest disturbance. 

Habitat disturbance, loss, and fragmentation are areas individuals can solve. We need to think differently about what we plant in commercial and residential landscapes and how we manage those landscapes. 

TO HELP native bees including Bumble Bees; We need to provide native plants, including a diversity of flowering plants, flower colors, and flower forms, and a continuous overlapping succession of flowering plants throughout the growing season. This includes pollen and nectar-producing trees, shrubs, and perennials. 

We need to eliminate pesticide use. 

In managing landscapes, in order to create and protect Bumble Bee nesting habitat, allow for areas of leaf litter, plant debris, logs lying on the ground, and rodent holes. 

Lastly, we can advocate for the preservation and restoration of native plant communities. 

Citizen scientist opportunities: 

iNaturalist (www.iNatuarlist.org)

Bumble Bee Watch (www.BumbleBeeWatch.org)

My Thanks to Heather Holm and her presentation “The Bombus Among Us - Bumble Bee Basics”.  The entire presentation (videorecording) by Heather can be viewed here.

Discovering the life of bees is part of my late-life revelations. Connecting nature with community.

Bernie 

PS yes I petted a bumblebee. Read about it here. 

Check out the PBS Video “ My Garden of A Thousand Bees” filmed in Bristol, England. If you thought bees behave only by instinct think again. The filming is incredible. See bees like you never have before - an up-close and intimate look at their behaviors and everyday lives. https://www.pbs.org/video/my-garden-of-a-thousand-bees-trjhzt/