Global Pollinator Watch's Boletim

20 de maio de 2022

Happy World Bee Day, 2022!

While World Bee Day was originally set up to celebrate the vital role Western honey bees have in both honey production and agricultural pollination services, we extend that celebratory mood to include all the native bee species all over the globe! Here in North America, that includes around 4,000 species of native bees, and if you’ve got a flower blooming someplace near you, I guarantee one of those bees will be buzzing around there sometime soon!
Scientists have noted, however, that many of our most important insect pollinator species have been in decline over the past couple of decades, with bees apparently being hit the hardest. Habitat loss, fragmentation and degradation top the list, but indiscriminate use of pesticides and herbicides, the spread of parasites and diseases, and the bundle of significant threats posed by a rapidly changing climate all have contributed to this decline.
Lepidopterist and author Robert Michael Pyle reminds us that in most cases today, “extinctions happen one backyard at a time”. To me that suggests that preventing extinctions can and should not only take place in our backyards, but as Douglas Talamy suggests, in our front yards as well, where our conservation values are on display for others in our community to see and hopefully emulate. And that goes for our neighborhood parks, the gardens and open space around our apartment buildings and workplaces, and particularly in and around our community gardens, where pollinators are critical to the successful production of the vegetables and fruits we grow.

Here’s a short list of ways to help out bees:
• Convert grassy lawns into diverse natural habitats, primarily by planting species native to your particular ecoregion.
• Planting plants native to your specific region and natural local ecosystem. Learn about which plants are native to your region using this resource from Pollinator Partnership Planting Guides | https://www.pollinator.org/guides or here: https://www.nwf.org/nativeplantfinder/
• Include a patch of native wildflowers in community garden spaces – they’ll help everyone’s crops thrive! Learn about an inspiring effort “Power of the Pollinators” - https://www.inaturalist.org/blog/65349, featuring a wonderful short video: https://youtu.be/eDxZojp9yNg
• Reduce pesticide and herbicide use. See Organic Practices: https://www.nwf.org/Garden-for-Wildlife/Sustainability/Organic-Practices?_ga=2.20518648.1179853802.1650557397-1600761744.1650557397
• Keep the dried stems and flowerheads intact through the fall, winter and into the spring. Many species of bees and other pollinators have larval forms that overwinter inside those hollow stems!
• Set up “bee houses” for mason and carpenter bees How to Build a DIY Bee House the Right Way: https://www.thespruce.com/build-a-diy-bee-house-5112611

And another way you can help scientists better understand how bees and other pollinators are responding to both threats and conservation efforts is to keep contributing those observations to Earthwatch’s Global Pollinator Watch Project – hosted here on the iNaturalist platform. This project taps into the power of citizen scientists around the globe by asking you to collect observations of pollinators in your communities and share them with our team of scientists.

beethechange #beekind #beepollinatorfriendly #beewilder #globalpollinatorwatch #worldbeeday #pollinators

Posted on 20 de maio de 2022, 02:40 PM by srullman srullman | 1 comentário | Deixar um comentário

28 de outubro de 2021

Leave Them Be!

Here where I’m based in New England, the changing leaves have replaced the last goldenrod and aster for the Great Autumn Color Show and I'm encountering fewer and fewer pollinators out readying for winter’s dormancy. But this can be a critical time of the year to help pollinators survive whatever winter will throw at us this year – no matter where you live. We are often rather quick to remove the accumulated debris of fallen leaves from our yards and garden spaces, but that blanket of leaves can be the difference between life and death for many overwintering pollinators. Instead of raking (or worse - using a leaf blower) the leaves into piles and bagged as yard waste, gently rake the leaves to the base of the tree they fell from. Even a buffer around the trunk that is about half the area of the tree’s crown will help preserve vital overwintering microhabitats for many caterpillars, chrysalises, other larvae and even adults. And it helps protect the roots of the trees as well.

Posted on 28 de outubro de 2021, 07:59 PM by srullman srullman | 1 comentário | Deixar um comentário

31 de março de 2021

5 Simple Tips to Turn Your Yard Into Pollinator Paradise - from TNC

Posted on 31 de março de 2021, 04:18 PM by srullman srullman | 3 comentários | Deixar um comentário

Trailblazing research uncovers urban gardens as a hidden powerhouse for pollinators

Researchers quantified nectar supply in rural and urban areas and found the scale of production in city gardens overwhelming.

Summary article in Anthropocene here:
https://www.anthropocenemagazine.org/2021/03/urban-gardeners-have-a-big-role-to-play-in-protecting-pollinators/

Open Access publication available here: https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1365-2745.13598

-Stan Rullman

Posted on 31 de março de 2021, 04:08 PM by srullman srullman | 0 comentários | Deixar um comentário

07 de julho de 2020

RESEARCH BACKGROUND

There are a number of drivers for pollinator decline, including habitat loss, fragmentation, and degradation, spreading urbanization (including light pollution), overuse of pesticides and herbicides, regional declines in air and water quality, and, of course, the changing climate. But our knowledge about the current decline in pollinators is limited to a few studies, in a few places, in a few different habitats. It is also limited to only a subset of the species that are primarily responsible for pollinating important agricultural resources.

To be able to act with greater certainty to mitigate the specific impacts in a region, managers and scientists need access to more information about which species are being most heavily impacted, which threats can be best addressed, and which solutions are most effective. To date, much of the existing data has been gathered by citizen scientists working together with researchers. Pollinator monitoring is an area where citizen science can be a really useful approach - as evidenced by the many Earthwatch projects that include insects and pollinators as part of their field research. We are now looking to further catalyze this citizen science effort to generate data useful to pollinator conservation efforts globally - by having people collect pollinator data in their backyards, where they work, in nearby parks or as they travel.

Posted on 07 de julho de 2020, 08:19 PM by srullman srullman | 2 comentários | Deixar um comentário

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