Native Bee Survey

Last week I attended a native bee identification training. It was fantastic and very timely since I will be leading a citizen science survey (say that 3 times fast) coming up in about a week and a half. If you're interested in learning more join me at Lowry Nature Center June 10th 12:30-2:30 to help us survey our restored prairies!



Miner bee

Many folks don't realize 1) that honeybees aren't native and 2) that most bees in MN are native bees, around 400 species, but that's where the survey comes in. The last survey was in 1919, and we can only guess at what difference we'll see in results in the last 98 years! There's only one species of honeybee, and it's from Europe, and has many struggles with surviving our climate. Native bees have developed in sync with our climate and plants and require very little input from us to survive.

But there is a catch, all bees are suffering from a loss of quality habitat and increase in the amount of chemicals we use to raise our food. For the honeybee that means longer flights and more energy lost gather food. But they are long distance fliers.

Native bee nest tunnels (I swear it's not poop)

 

 

 

Native bees are often solitary nesters, or only loosely colonial. This means that the female is responsible for finding food, building the nest, doing all the jobs a honeybee uses a whole colony to complete. The way they accomplish this is to have a much smaller range for their habitat. 300ft in some cases!

 

Bumble bee colony

This means native bees need to get their habitat JUST right. With food, water and nest areas, everything they need, close by. Habitats like the one below...

 

Crow Hassan restored prairie is a great example of a high quality habitat, but in some ways bees can benefit even more from your yard. If you have blooming plants throughout the season, water, patches of sand or soil (for nesting material) and don't use chemicals on your yard, you're helping pollinators. You have all their habitat needs in a small area, so they can focus their energy on rearing the next generation. Helping these important organisms out isn't hard. And learning about the biodiversity we have right under our noses is fun! I'll share some of the new-to-me bees I learn this summer right here in future posts.

Until then, thanks for reading.

-Laurel