Category Archives: Beneficial Insects
Five Scientific Studies that Changed the Way I Think About Gardens, Part 3: Wild Bees > Honey Bees
This article is the third in a five part series that I am writing for the Hardy Plant Society of Oregon (HPSO) Quarterly Magazine. I am grateful to the team at HPSO for their editorial skills and feedback. Part 1 … Continue reading
Virtual Field Day: Garden Ecology Lab
Our colleague, Brooke Edmunds, was kind enough to shoot and edit this short video on two of our current lab projects: Jen Hayes’ study of native plants and nativars and Tyler Spofford’s study of the economic costs and benefits of … Continue reading
Posted in bees, garden ecology, Native Plants
Tagged Basil, Bucket Garden, nativars, Native Plants, pollinators, Tomatoes
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Five Scientific Studies that Changed the Way I Think About Gardens: Part 1
[Preface: For the past few years, I have written a column for the Hardy Plant Society of Oregon’s (HPSO) Quarterly Magazine. It has been a wonderful experience, as the HPSO provides excellent editorial assistance. Below, I share my most recent … Continue reading
Posted in bees, Beneficial Insects, garden ecology, science, urban
Tagged Ecological Theory, ecology research, Island Biogeography, Urban Ecology, urban pollinators
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Pollinators in Your Parking Strip
What’s the first thing people see when approaching a house? The parking strip.What is often the ugliest, most barren part of a yard? The parking strip! The parking strip, often called a “Hell Strip”, is a tough landscaping challenge. Narrowly … Continue reading
Posted in Beneficial Insects, Native Plants, urban
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How do we know what flowers bees like?
Pollinator Syndromes Pollinator syndromes are the characteristics or traits of a flower that appeal to a particular pollinator. These traits often help pollinators locate flowers and the resources (e.g. pollen or nectar) that the flowers have to offer. Syndromes include … Continue reading
Does Repeated, Lethal Sampling Contribute to Insect Declines?
Over the past few months, I have shared data on bees and other insects that we have collected from Portland-area gardens. For every garden insect we study (except for butterflies, which can be identified to species by sight), we use … Continue reading
Posted in bees, science
Tagged bee collecting, ecology research, insect collections, Insect Decline
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A Primer on Parasitoids
You know about butterflies, about bees, beetles, and ladybugs, all of our favorite garden critters – but do you know about the parasitic wasp? Alias: The Parasitoid. Not quite a parasite and not quite a predator, they are the zombie-creating … Continue reading
Posted in Beneficial Insects, garden ecology, science
Tagged beneficial wasps, biocontrol, garden insects, Parasitoids
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Setting up a native-nativar plant study
Natives vs Nativars Recent studies report an increase in consumer demand for native plants, largely due to their benefits to bees and other pollinators. This interest has provided the nursery industry with an interesting labelling opportunity. If you walk into … Continue reading
Posted in Beneficial Insects, Lab News, Native Plants, science
Tagged California poppy, Camas, field research, nativars, native cultivars
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How attractive are native wildflowers to gardeners?
For my dissertation research, I am studying which native Willamette Valley wildflowers are most visited by pollinators and natural enemies for use in home gardens and urban landscaping. I’ve previously shared preliminary results from my field study on our blog, … Continue reading
Posted in bees, Native Plants
Tagged gardeners' views, native bees, Native Plants, native wildflowers, Oregon Native Plants
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Flies as Pollinators
This post comes from Cliff Brock, who is a graduate student in the Contreras (plant breeding), Langellotto (pollinators), and Lambrinos (invasive plants) lab groups. Cliff is studying the impact that plant breeding has on invasiveness and pollinator visits in butterfly … Continue reading