Fish Like a GIRL

This is Pollinator Week, a time to celebrate the little critters that provide a third of all of our food. It is interesting to think about — one of every three bites of food we put in our mouths is made possible by pollinators.

Pollinator Week was the brainchild of the Pollinator Partnership, where I received my Pollinator Steward certification. I would recommend the certification program for anyone interested in pollinators or in ways to attract more of them to the yard.

Most readers of this column know my affinity for pollinators, specifically Hymenoptera (specifically bees) and Lepidoptera (aka butterflies, skippers and moths). In fact, next month I am manning an educational booth on bees at the Lakeland Gardeners’ Garden Fest. I hope to see many of our readers there.

Last year was my first year at the event. I put together an educational booth about butterflies, which was the theme last year. I found it interesting that almost every person who stopped to talk to me wanted to talk about milkweed. Of course, milkweed is important. It is the plant monarch butterflies need during every stage of their life cycle. I see monarchs as something of a poster child for butterflies. “Everyone” knows what a monarch looks like. I do not think it is a stretch to say they are the most widely recognized butterfly. So it makes sense that people’s attention is on milkweed and attracting monarchs. 

What is interesting is that much of the research out there points to many butterfly species being specialists. That means each of those species has a particular host plant that it needs to complete its life cycle. The more I talked to people the more I realized many did not know that.

This year, I expect quite a few people will want to talk about honeybees and colony collapse, as that is the “bee thing” that is in the news the most.

Colony collapse is definitely a problem for which we need an answer. Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) happens when there is a sudden death of an entire colony of bees, or when there is a lack of healthy bees left inside the hive. As I said, scientists are not sure exactly what causes this, but it seems as though there are multiple things at play. 

Regarding colony collapse, in my study of pollinators, I came across an interesting idea a few years back. While there is no doubt that CCD is an issue, and one that is incredibly costly for beekeepers, not to mention farmers who rely on bees that are brought in from other areas to pollinate their crops. But, as one researcher pointed out to me, honeybees are not a conservation problem. They are an agricultural problem. 

The thought hit me oddly at the time, but as it sunk in, it made sense. Honey bees are raised by beekeepers. They are livestock, just as much as a cow or a chicken. It was definitely a different way of thinking about it, but I cannot say that the idea is wrong.

I mentioned this at a Lakeland Gardeners’ meeting where I was presenting my talk about bees. I am sure, upon hearing this for the first time, my face looked much like many of those in the audience. It was a mix of confusion and disbelief. I am sure I will be having more of those conversations at Garden Fest as well.

“Beekeeping is for people; it is not a conservation practice,” said a quote in Scientific American by Shelia Colla, an assistant professor and conservation biologist at York University in Toronto, Canada. She went on to say that people move to keeping honeybees in a valiant effort to help native bees, many of which are at risk of extinction today. 

Interestingly enough, In November of 2020, Scientific American put out an article, written by Alison Mcafee, entitled “The Problem with Honey Bees: They’re important for agriculture, but they’re not so good for the environment.”

“To many people, honey bees symbolize prosperity, sustainability and environmentalism,” Mcafee’s article begins. “But as a honey bee researcher, I have to tell you that only the first item on the list is defensible.” She agreed that honey bees are important for agriculture. However, they can also destabilize natural ecosystems, she said. Honey bees can compete with native bees. With those bees already at risk due to pesticides, climate change, parasites, loss of habitat and other stressors, adding honey bees to the mix as another form of competition could be just one more insurmountable obstacle in some cases.

Mcaffee posits that honey bees are, in fact, the least in need of saving. Much as with monarchs  in the butterfly kingdom, honey bees receive the most media attention in the bee community. The difference, of course, is that monarchs are, in fact, a conservation issue.

However, where bees are concerned, hundreds of thousands of Americans, Mcaffee said, don the beekeeper’s veil, thinking they are providing the best service to natural ecosystems. While these people are all very well meaning, and are truly attempting to do the right thing, misinformation has led them to do something that may actually be harming native bee populations. Honey bees, by the way, are not native to the United States. They were brought over by settlers from Europe.

“The focus on neonics and honey bees has taken a ton of resources away from conserving wild pollinators from their most important threats,” Colla was quoted as saying in Mcaffee’s article. Neonics, or neonicotinoids, are pesticides that are widely used for crop protection. I could write an entire column just on the subject of neonics, but that is a topic for another week.

In any event, I am certain I will be having a lot of conversations about colony collapse at Garden Fest. And that is OK. I know people want to have more information about things they hear about here and there in the media. But, at the same time, I hope to help promote some of our native species, too, and how people can help them.

I am sure, too, that we will be talking a lot about bumble bees and perhaps the rusty patched bumble bee, which is considered to be endangered now. But another interesting fact is that mason bees are 120 times more effective at pollinating than either bumble bees or honey bees. 

Mason bees are cavity nesters. They nest in small holes and crevices. Because they are solitary bees, they do not live in hives. Therefore they have nothing to necessarily “protect” and will not sting people if they are not threatened in any way. I often see these bees in and around my gardens. We come into contact briefly and then go our own separate ways.

There are many native species of cavity nesting bees and ground dwelling bees in Wisconsin. In fact, there are 400 known species of bees that are native to Wisconsin — most of them, though, are unknown to the causal observer.

While we are on the subject, there are several species of bumble bees that are native to Wisconsin. Of course, they can be difficult to identify in the field, but the University of Wisconsin at Madison website has many great resources for people interested in bees to check out. For those interested, go to  wisconsinbumblebees.entomology.wisc.edu and check out those resources.

Also, “there’s an app for that,” as the saying goes. The UW College of Agriculture and Life Sciences has an app called WIBee. When a person first downloads the app and logs on, they will be asked to go through some training to ensure they are at least somewhat familiar with identifying bees. There is even a Bee Quiz before the end of training. I am a lover of all outdoor/conservation apps, so of course this app is on my phone. The app is pretty cool and I would encourage anyone to download it who is interested in pollinators, bees especially. 

Of course, there is also always iNaturalist, which is a “must have” app for those looking to keep records of the species of plants and animals they identify. 

As we come to the end of Pollinator Week, I hope I have given people some food for thought (pun intended). Why not head out into the garden, the woods, or even a local park, and see what can be found out there? 

I would welcome any photos any pollinator enthusiast might be lucky enough to capture over the weekend as well.

Beckie Gaskill may be reached at [email protected] or [email protected].