CFAES is co-sponsoring a bee biology and identification workshop on four dates in August in northeast and central Ohio.
The workshop is called Bees in Your Backyard … and the Plants They Visit, and the instructor will be Olivia Carril, biologist and co-author of The Bees in Your Backyard (Princeton University Press, 2015).
CFAES bee researcher Reed Johnson, pictured, will join a panel discussion on pollinators — their value to people and ecosystems, how pesticides are affecting them, and more — from 7-9 p.m. April 4 in University Hall on Ohio State’s Columbus campus. Free admission, and free food (Chipotle) while it lasts.
It’s one in a series of sustainability-related events planned for Ohio State’s Time for Change Week, April 3-9. (Photo: Ken Chamberlain, CFAES.)
Honey bees are negatively impacted by the insecticide-coated seeds of some field crops, yet they also seem to benefit from the presence of other field crops near their hives, according to new research by CFAES scientists. Read the story.
Ohio’s bees are more than honey bees. They’re bumble bees (like this one), carpenter bees, cuckoo bees and others, and you can identify more than a dozen of them — types you’re likely to see in your garden — using a new pocket card from CFAES. (Photo: David Cappaert, Bugwood.org.)
Honey bees living next to corn and soybean fields are “exposed to a surprisingly wide and concerning range of pesticides,” according to a May 31 Newsweek story about research involving CFAES insect scientist Elizabeth Long, who was at Purdue University at the time of the study. There’s a video interview, too, with the story.
“Dozens of species of pollinators have been found in soybean fields around the country. This project is trying to get a handle on what’s out there in Ohio fields.” Here’s how you can help.
Although soybean crops are self-pollinating, some species of bee and fly pollinators can enhance soybean yields, says a CFAES researcher.
The question is, what pollinator insects are active in Ohio soybean crops?
That’s what Kelley Tilmon, a field crop entomologist with OSU Extension and OARDC, wants to know. OSU Extension and OARDC are the outreach and research arms of the college, respectively.
Tilmon is conducting a study on the issue and is seeking conventional or organic soybean growers willing to allow insect sampling equipment to be placed in their fields to identify what pollinator insects are flourishing there. Continue reading
Michigan State University Extension has just updated Protecting and Enhancing Pollinators in Urban Landscapes for the US North Central Region (30 pp.), which you can download as a free PDF