Author: Denise Ellsworth

Help Hunt for Queen Bumble Bees! New Citizen Science program through the Goodell Native Bee Lab at OSU

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Rusty patched bumble bee USGS Bee Inventory and Monitoring Lab

The Goodell lab is looking for volunteer naturalists who are able to identify bumble bees to species to help collect data on nest-hunting and foraging queen bumble bees this spring (April – June). This is part of a 2017-2018 statewide Ohio bumble bee survey that is being conducted by Karen Goodell’s lab at Ohio State and Randy Mitchell’s lab at the U of Akron, and is funded by the Ohio Department of Transportation. The primary goal is to determine the current distribution of the endangered rusty-patched bumble bee and the yellow-banded bumble bee, a species of concern. Secondarily, this survey will provide the opportunity to learn more about the distribution and habitat use of common species as well. 

 Volunteers will collect data and report on:

(1) information on nest-hunting bumble bee queens

(2) timed 15-min observations of patches of flowers where queens forage

Find details and data collection forms here.

Contact Jessie Lanterman, OSU post-doctoral bee researcher, with questions or for more information at OSUBeeResearch@gmail.com .

Woodland Pollinators Workshop, Mansfield Ohio

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In this day-long workshop, we will explore the woodlands around the OSU Mansfield campus for woodland pollinators and habitat features.  The class will begin indoors with sessions on bees, butterflies, moths, hummingbirds, and forest management.  After lunch, we will head outside.  Bring comfortable walking shoes and be ready for a stroll through the woods.

 OHIO WOODLAND STEWARDS PROGRAM 

Friday, May 18, 2018  

9:00am – 3:00pm

OSU Mansfield Campus

1760 University Drive

100 Ovalwood Hall

Mansfield  OH  44906

 

Cost:  $35

Deadline to Register:  May 11, 2018 

Register:    https://woodlandstewards.osu.edu/events/woodland-pollinators 

https://www.cvent.com/events/woodland-pollinators/registration-8c817c13b7bb48eba48f5a9e3920d945.aspx?fqp=true

 

Workshop registration now open: Pollinators on Ohio Farms: An Integrated Crop Pollination Approach

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March 1, 2018
9AM to 4PM
How can land owners and growers utilize and protect pollinators including honey bees, mason bees, bumble bees and others? This day-long workshop will explore strategies to provide pollination services, protect pollinators from pesticides, and create habitat on farms.
Presenters:
James Hung, The Ohio State University
Reed Johnson, The Ohio State University
Elizabeth Long, The Ohio State University
Ben Phillips, Michigan State University
Amber Barnes, Pollinator Partnership
Charles Walter, Walter’s Wholesome Goods
Fee to attend: $55, includes handouts, lunch and AM refreshments. Register here

Visit the Bee Lab website for more details and other workshops coming up this winter.
Questions? Please contact Denise Ellsworth at: ellsworth.2@osu.edu

Workshop Registration Now Open: Bumble Bees in Ohio: Biology, Identification and Conservation

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March 15, 2018
9AM to 4PM
rusty patched bumble bee
Rusty patched bumble bee, USGS bee lab
Join fellow bumble bee enthusiasts in Wooster (OH) for a day-long (9AM – 4PM) workshop on bumble bee biology, identification and conservation. Participants will learn the status of Ohio’s bumble bees, including conservation efforts for the rusty patched bumble bee. Additional topics include bumble bee identification, the Ohio bee survey and the Ohio Bee Atlas.
Presenters:
Karen Goodell, The Ohio State University
Jessie Lanterman, The Ohio State University
Randy Mitchell, The University of Akron
Paige Reeher, The University of Akron
Carlyn Mitchell, Cleveland Museum of Natural History
Meg Plona, Cuyahoga Valley National Park
Fee to attend: $55, includes handouts, lunch and AM refreshments. Register here
Visit the Bee Lab website for more details and other workshops coming up this winter.
Questions? Please contact Denise Ellsworth at: ellsworth.2@osu.edu

Looking for 2018 Bee Survey Sites in Select Ohio Counties

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We need your help! Can you suggest possible survey sites in Ohio? Ideally, locations would be 1-3 acres (or more) in size, and be full of flowers in summer (meadow, prairie). A patch of woods nearby is a plus. These can be public or private lands.
Counties in need for the 2018 bee survey are in gray. Counties in purple with black dots indicate areas surveyed in 2017. Dotted lines encompass areas with historical sightings of the rusty patched bumble bee, so sites in those areas are of particular interest.
To suggest a survey location, visit:

http://go.osu.edu/bees-in-Ohio

Everyone can help by joining the Ohio Bee Atlas project on iNaturalist. Upload your bee images to the project — you don’t have to ID the bee to participate! Learn more here.
Questions? Please contact Denise Ellsworth at: ellsworth.2@osu.edu

Pollinator Quick Guides (one-page PDF handouts) Now Available

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Five new Pollinator Quick Guides are now available as single page (front and back) PDFs through the following individual links, or find them all at:

http://u.osu.edu/beelab/osu-factsheets-and-bulletins/

Pollinator Quick Guide: What You Can Do to Help Bumble Bees

Pollinator Quick Guide: What You Can Do to Help Honey Bees

Pollinator Quick Guide: What You Can Do to Help Monarchs

Pollinator Quick Guide: What You Can Do to Help Native Bees

Pollinator Quick Guide: What You Can Do to Help Pollinators

Bees in Your Backyard: Olivia Carril Coming to Ohio

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Author and biologist Olivia Carril will travel to Ohio in August to teach four daylong native bee workshops. Each workshop includes hands-on bee identification using microscopes as well as field experiences with plant and bee experts.

Wednesday, August 2: University of Mount Union in Alliance

Thursday, August 3: Stratford Ecological Center in Delaware

Friday, August 4: The Dawes Arboretum in Newark 

Saturday, August 5: Mill Creek MetroParks Farm in Canfield

The cost is $65 per person, and includes lunch and handouts. Sessions run from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Olivia Carril will also give a free lecture and book signing at Franklin Park Conservatory in Columbus on August 3rd at 7 p.m.

Click here for more information on the workshops

Sponsored by the The Dawes Arboretum, Franklin Park Conservatory, Mill Creek MetroParks, The Ohio State University Bee Lab, Stratford Ecological Center, and University of Mount Union.
Questions? Please e-mail Denise
We hope to see you and the bees later this summer!

Summer pollinators@Secrest Arboretum

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Calling all Master Gardeners, OCVN’ers and others interested in learning more about pollinators!

Actual pollinators will vary 🙂

Come to Secrest Arboretum on Tuesday June 27th and/or Wednesday July 26th for two pollinator workshops, each 10AM to 2PM. Participants will spend time in the classroom learning about pollinator biology and practicing identification skills, then we’ll head outside to the gardens in search of pollinators.  Both sessions will include bee and plant information, but June’s session will focus on bee identification, and July’s will focus on plants for pollinators. You may register for both; there is likely to be some overlap…but lots of fun in the field and classroom on both days! 

Dates: Tuesday June 27th and/or Wednesday July 26th

Location: Secrest Arboretum, Wooster (Miller Pavilion)

Time: 10AM to 2PM

Cost: $10, payable at the door, but you MUST register here

Please bring your lunch. Dress comfortably and for the weather.

Questions? Please contact Denise Ellsworth at: ellsworth.2@osu.edu

Hope to see you later this summer in Wooster!

Spatial and taxonomic patterns of honey bee foraging: A choice test between urban and agricultural landscapes (Journal of Urban Ecology)

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The health of honey bee colonies cannot be understood apart from the landscapes in which they live. Urban and agricultural developments are two of the most dramatic and widespread forms of human land use, but their respective effects on honey bees remain poorly understood. Here, we evaluate the relative attractiveness of urban and agricultural land use to honey bees by conducting a foraging choice test. Our study was conducted in the summer and fall, capturing a key portion of the honey bee foraging season that includes both the shift from summer- to fall-blooming flora and the critical period of pre-winter food accumulation. Colonies located at an apiary on the border of urban and agricultural landscapes were allowed to forage freely, and we observed their spatial and taxonomic foraging patterns using a combination of dance language analysis and pollen identification. We found a consistent spatial bias in favor of the agricultural landscape over the urban, a pattern that was corroborated by the prevalence in pollen samples of adventitious taxa common in the agricultural landscape. The strongest bias toward the agricultural environment occurred late in the foraging season, when goldenrod became the principal floral resource. We conclude that, in our study region, the primary honey bee foraging resources are more abundant in agricultural than in urban landscapes, a pattern that is especially marked at the end of the foraging season as colonies prepare to overwinter. Urban beekeepers in this region should, therefore, consider supplemental feeding when summer-blooming flora begin to decline. (Full paper here.)
Douglas B. Sponsler
Emma G. Matcham
Chia-Hua Lin
Jessie L. Lanterman
Reed M. Johnson

New Monarch Nectar Guides from Xerces

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Monarchs need more than milkweed to support them throughout the year. Adult monarchs need nectar to fuel them during spring migration and breeding and to build up stores of fat which sustain them during fall migration and winter. 

Working with the Monarch Joint Venture and the National Wildlife Federation, the Xerces Society has created a series of nectar plant lists for the continental U.S. based on a database of nearly 24,000 monarch nectaring observations. Each of the 15 regional guides highlights species that are commercially available, are native to and widely found in the region, and are known to be hardy or relatively easy to grow in a garden setting. 

Read more about this project on the Xerces blog, or find a nectar plant guide for your region here.