Bee Informed Partnership

Bee Deaths in Minnesota

Katie Lee — Tue, 21 May 2013 14:57:19 +0000

On May 7, a beekeeper in Minnesota noticed his bees were dying. I went to the beekeeper’s location a few days later and saw all the below symptoms and took samples for the beekeeper. There were bees on the ground with their legs up and twitching. There were bees that, when placed on their backs, couldn’t right themselves. There were bees on willow blossoms (the first blooming plant of the year) that should have been actively collecting pollen, but would barely lift a leg when poked or were dead. There were dead bees all over one of the few remaining snow patches and in front of the colonies. Inside the hive, the colonies looked a bit depopulated for the amount of brood and stores. There was some fresh pollen being brought in from the willows, but I didn’t see any conclusive evidence that the brood was affected.

One of the many twitching bees.

So what caused this? It is unlikely that it was a disease or pest since colonies show symptoms at different times depending on factors such as the initial inoculation or degree of susceptibility to the specific disease, and it looked like the colonies were all affected at the same time. Plus, I don’t know of any disease or pest that would cause this aggregate and severity of symptoms. Something was affecting the bee’s movement and killing them. With the number of dead and affected bees, and from my field experience, it looked like an acute pesticide kill.

The beekeeper’s theory on why the bees were dying was that when the corn fields right next to the bee yard were being planted with corn seed coated with a neonicotinoid pesticide, the high winds blew the dust onto the willow blossoms and the bees. It is possible the bees then became exposed to the pesticide through eating the dust on the willow blossoms or by trying to groom the dust off. This theory is not unique: beekeepers in Ontario experienced losses of bees during corn planting last year, researchers documented bee losses in Indiana in 2010 and 2011, and Bayer CropScience is working on reducing the dust exposure to bees during planting.

About a week later, a second beekeeper in Minnesota reported similar issues with his bees in a yard located near cornfields that were recently planted.

In both cases, representatives from both the MN Department of Agriculture and Bayer visited the beekeepers and took pesticide samples. I went to the first case as an impartial BIP bee person, and a coworker went to the second case. At both beekeepers, we colony assessments and took samples for Varroa, Nosema, and viruses. The cause of the bee deaths at the two beekeeper operations is not yet officially confirmed. We are waiting to hear the results of the sampling. Stay tuned.

Dead bee on willow blossom.

Corn field next to bee yard.

Dead bees on snow. There was still a patch of snow despite temperatures being in the 50-60s.

“Bee” Movies

Heather Eversole — Tue, 14 May 2013 17:30:04 +0000

Francis, Freddie, dir. The Deadly Bees. Paramount Pictures, 1966. Film. 14 May 2013.

Bees truly are everywhere. Even in cinema you can find them. With the anticipation of the 2013 summer movies, I thought I would

Buitenhuis, Penelope, dir. Killer Bees!. Shavick Entertainment, 2002. Film. 14 May 2013.

investigate movies with bees as a main character. I came across a few classics: The Deadly Bees (1966), Killer Bees (1974) and The Bees (1978). The movie posters are amazing.Then there are more modern movies such as Killer Bees! (2002). An updated version of bees attacking people. Run for your lives! If you like a little animation, the Bee Movie (2007) may “bee” it. The movie may radically misrepresent an actual hive; it does feature bees and was meant to be fun! You will not find killer swarms or psychic control here.

The next time you want to rent a movie or two, try picking up an oldie and pop up some popcorn and have a giggle. Enjoy!

Seinfeld, Jerry, perf. Bee Movie. DreamWorks Animation, 2007. Film. 14 May 2013.

Zacharias, Alfredo, dir. The Bees. New World Pictures, 1978. Film. 14 May 2013.

Moving On

Jennie Stitzinger — Thu, 09 May 2013 19:49:31 +0000

Let me first start by saying the last three years have been a wonderful experience. I am so incredibly lucky to have spent them with some of the most amazing, ambitious, fun loving and dedicated individuals one could ever meet. That’s why today was a bittersweet day as I walked into the lab for one, final time. While I will be moving on to a new position, I will never forget the amazing and thrilling experiences and opportunities I had during my time at BIP. They will only serve as great memories and invaluable life lessons in all of my future endeavors. My journey with BIP took me from a quiet undergrad at Penn State to settling into Maryland to learn and grow both professionally and personally. It is with great hope for my future and a strong appreciation of all my past experiences at BIP that I move on to my new chapter, leaving one that I will look back on very fondly. It has truly been a pleasure.

Solitary Bee Observation Hives

Rachel Bozarth — Mon, 06 May 2013 19:39:30 +0000

Jordan Arata, left, along with Jason Rubin and Pranett Puppla at the apiary on top of the North Campus Diner, UMD.
Copyright © 2013 Charlie DeBoyace/The Diamondback
http://www.diamondbackonline.com/news/campus/article_cf168956-ab05-11e2-91f3-001a4bcf6878.html?mode=image

Jordan Arata is a mechanical engineering major at University of Maryland who worked on the native pollinator project in our lab. He is also a member of the beekeeping club on campus and started the UMD apiary on the North Campus Diner. This is his blog entry…

As a PollinaTerp, I was tasked with building solitary bee observation hives (shown in the picture) and learning more about native bee nesting in general. Mason bees and leafcutter bees are some of the easiest bees to provide a home for. They live in pre-existing tunnels around 6 inches deep and 5/16” in diameter on average. Mason bees start at the back of a tunnel (or build a back wall using mud if the tunnel is too long), create a dough ball of pollen and nectar, lay an egg on top of the dough ball, and seal the chamber off with mud. They make several consecutive chambers in this manner until they reach the entrance to the tunnel. Leafcutter bees do the same thing, only they line their tunnels and build their chamber walls with leaves. The solitary bees lay females in the back chambers and males in the front, since males develop faster. This also makes sure that there are males ready and waiting to mate once the females emerge. If a young solitary bee decides it’s time to emerge and the bee in front of it hasn’t, it nips at the other to prompt its emergence (the bees are all fully developed before spring). Males live outside while females live in the tunnels and work to fill them with baby bee chambers. Adult bees die after they have made one or a few nests. Their eggs will develop into adult bees and hibernate through the cold season.

Nesting for solitary bees is easily provided by drilling holes in wood. Just make sure to drill very well! Otherwise, wood fibers pushed against the tunnel wall by the drill bit will protrude with changes in heat and moisture, forming porcupine-like tunnel walls – not a great place to live! Drilled wood can also be hard to clean out if any of the solitary bees do not make it through the winter. Both of these problems are easily solved by using parchment paper to line the tunnel walls. Just take some parchment paper and roll it using a pencil. Make sure to fold the back end so that the back most young come out with the paper roll rather than sliding out and remaining in the hive. If you notice in the spring that none of the bees emerge from a certain tunnel, just throw it out. Also, try to change out the paper rolls once the bees have emerged and before they start making new chambers in them. Lastly, protect the wood from water, otherwise, dampness and the accompanying flora will kill the young bees. There is no need to start with bees; if you provide a good home, they will come!

I made the solitary bee observation hives for the PollinaTerps by cutting 5/16 channels into pine 1X8 boards that I cut to be 12” tall and 6” wide (=6” deep tunnels). I screwed these back to back and added a back and sides that would hold plexiglass over the channels and doors over the plexiglass. Then I added the top, bottom, and doors. These hives provide 5/16” by 5/16” by 6” square prism tunnels for the bees and allow the innards of the bees’ tunnels to be seen.

PollinaTerps

Rachel Bozarth — Mon, 06 May 2013 16:14:02 +0000

Dana Rushovich is an environmental science & policy major at University of Maryland. Her interest in honey bees led her to our lab this semester. This is her blog.

Stepping on a bees nest and getting stung 8 times would likely turn any 6 year old off of bees. I was no exception. I was always a kid that enjoyed digging in the dirt looking for worms and salamanders and was fascinated when we got to watch slugs make their slime trails for an experiment in science class. But when a bee would fly by I would freeze up waiting for it to leave me alone.

I wasn’t introduced to the wonders of bees until a friend of mine recommended the book Honeybee Democracy and began to tell me about the intricate workings of the honeybee hive. The more I began to learn about these fascinating creatures, the more I became hooked and my childhood fears started to become a distant memory. While studying abroad in New Zealand last year I had the opportunity to spend time with a beekeeper and have my first hands on experience inside of a hive. Then, last fall, I was able to take the beekeeping class offered at Maryland and was probably one of the few students taking the class out of an interest in bees rather than for an easy A.

When I received information about a research position promoting native pollinators I knew I had to apply. It wasn’t until the first meeting of the soon to be Pollinaterps that I fully learned what I would be doing: helping develop a native pollinators booth for Maryland Day.

I have worked at countless booths during my time here at Maryland but this was the first time I would be working behind the scenes throughout the whole planning, design and implementation of the booth. So, with little more guidance than a few brochure topics I set to work, along with fellow student Norris Vassel.

When I sent out the first draft of my brochures I was expecting a few comments, but was instead returned a draft that was majority red. Feeling slightly discouraged that I was in over my head I slowly started to pick through the edits and create an even better second draft. After several back and forths and many hours editing and formatting we eventually created hand out ready brochures to be given out at MD Day.

After the brochures, was the creation of the nesting box activity, invention of a pollinator simulation game, design of a banner, and several small handouts to go along with all of the activities. Before I began this process I never really understood what it took to put together a display. I always took for granted the people behind the scenes who had everything ready when I showed up for my allotted time slot. This process was an invaluable experience, which showed me what it takes to follow a project from start to finish.

This experience not only taught me about what it takes to put together a project but I also learned a huge amount about native pollinators, including what is causing their decline and how everyone can help. I also really enjoyed getting to work with all the other members of Pollinaterps. Everyone in the group brought different perspectives to the table, which resulted in a much better result than I could have ever hoped for on my own.

The week leading up to Maryland Day was a mad dash to get everything together. But everything was there, albeit a few kinks, and the curious people began to arrive. It took a little coaxing to get kids to play our pollinator game and not everyone was into the idea of learning about bees but in the end I would definitely consider our first ever Pollinaterps booth a great success. I can only hope that it will continue to get bigger and better in years to come.