Tag Archives: Garden Pollinator

Pollinator of the week: Bombus fervidus

Posted on by

This entry is from Angelee Calder, and undergraduate Agricultural Science student at Oregon State University. It highlights a bumblebee that can be found in Oregon gardens, but that is currently listed as ‘Vulnerable’ to endangered species status, due to documented population declines (Hatfield et al. 2015).

**********************************************************************

Dorsal view, Bombus fervidus. This bumblebee was collected from a Portland area garden in August 2018. Photo Credit: Angelee Calder and Isabella Messer

Anterior view, Bombus fervidus. This bumblebee was collected from a Portland area garden in August 2018. Photo Credit: Angelee Calder and Isabella Messer

********************************************************************************

When we think of bees, we usually conjure up the image of a cute fuzzy black and yellow puff of an insect. Bombus fervidus, which is also known as the Golden Northern Bumble Bee, looks just like that cute bee stereotype. This bumble bee has a black face, yellow body, and single black band across its body near its wings (Discover Life 2019). Although Bombus fervidus can be found across most of the whole United States, studies have shown that their population numbers are declining (Colla and Packer 2008). This bee is attracted to clover, which is one reason to tolerate (or even embrace) clovers in residential lawns.

We spent 120 hours hand collecting bees from 24 Portland area gardens in 2017 and 2018. In addition, across these two years we set out water pan traps to collect bees for an additional 3,450 hours of passive collection. In all this time, we only collected two Bombus fervidus. Both were collected from the same yard in August 2018. This yard is our largest garden, and it sits adjacent to Forest Park. It could be that this species, known to be in decline, does best with larger patches of habitat, that are close to a natural area.

The Northern Golden Bumble Bee is in the running for cutest bee, so make sure to take a look while he is out foraging. The peak viewing times to catch a glimpse of these cuties May to October (BugGuide.Net 2019).

References

Colla and Packer. 2008. Evidence for decline in eastern North American bumblebees (Hymenoptera: Apidae), with a special focus on Bombus affinis Cresson. Biodiversity and Conservation 17: 1379. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-008-9340-5.

BugGuide.Net. 2019 “Species Bombus fervidus – Golden Northern Bumble Bee”, https://bugguide.net/node/view/23135. Accessed February 27, 2019.

Discover Life. 2019. “Bombus fervidus“, https://www.discoverlife.org/mp/20q. Accessed February 27, 2019.

Hatfield, R., Jepsen, S., Thorp, R., Richardson, L., Colla, S. & Foltz Jordan, S.2015. Bombus fervidus. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2015: e.T21215132A21215225.http://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2015-4.RLTS.T21215132A21215225.en. Accessed  February 27, 2019.

Webinar on Willamette Valley Native Plants and Pollinators

Posted on by

Aaron’s webinar on his Ph.D. research has been posted on YouTube.

He highlights some really interesting results from his 2017 and 2018 field seasons, including recommendations for what to plant, if you are interested in attracting native bees to your garden. I’ve asked him to write a blog post, summarizing the results to readers.

Pollinator Survey

Posted on by

Lauren Bennett, a Master’s student at OSU, is doing her capstone project on pollinators She has a short survey (10-15 minutes) on pollinators and pollinator plants.

If you could spare a few moments of your time, we would appreciate your participation in this study. More information this study can be accessed, by following the link, below.

http://oregonstate.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_bw2OqokCObh83rv

FYI ~ this study was deemed ‘quality improvement / assessment’ and not ‘scholarly and journalistic’ by the OSU IRB. Thus, we do not need or have IRB oversight for this study.

 

Plant of the Week: Sunflower

Posted on by

This entry is from Lucas Costner, an undergraduate horticulture major at Oregon State University.  It highlights one of the plants that Aaron Anderson is using in his research.

As summer in the Pacific Northwest comes to a close, the sunflower (Helianthus annuus) stands out as a classic garden favorite deserving consideration. These commonly large, tall yellow flowers are a boon to wildlife, provide late summer height and interest in the garden, and have shared an interesting relationship with people wherever we have encountered them. 

While there are many individual species and varieties available on the market today, wild populations can be found across North America, and most boast popularity with insect pollinators and other wildlife, including birds (1, 3). In the field, Aaron is using the wild-type and, while you certainly don’t have to do the same, varieties marked as “pollenless” or double-petaled should be avoided when planting for wildlife (3). Sunflowers seeds are well-known for their attractiveness to birds, but the flowers also provide forage to a diverse suite of insects, including bees, wasps, butterflies, and even beetles (2, 3). Four genera of native bee species (Diadasia, Eucera, Melissodes, and Svastra) host members that are sunflower specialists, and the giant leafcutter bee (Megachile pugnata) has even been studied as a managed pollinator for agricultural production of the crop (3). 

The giant leafcutter bee (Megachile pugnata).  Photo Credit: Thomas Shahan. Oregon Department of Agriculture.

Originally domesticated in eastern North America, the sunflower is the only native seed oil plant (1). Its use among North America’s indigenous peoples is well-documented and varied, having been used for everything from food to dye to medicine (2). The sunflower was introduced to Europe in the 16th century, where it first found its place in gardens, but it wasn’t until the 1800s in Russia that our modern ideas of giant, towering sunflowers came to be (1). This is because early American colonists did not cultivate sunflowers, and the seeds were reintroduced from Russia to the United States in 1893 (2). The Russians bred sunflowers that could produce up to 1000 seeds each for oil production, since the Russian Orthodox Church had forbidden the use of other cooking oils during the Lenten season (1). Therefore, in comparison with many common varieties available, and despite 3,000 years of domestication by indigenous peoples in North America, the wild-type appears quite diminutive (2). 

No matter the variety, gardeners should be aware that sunflowers are annual flowers that will need replanting every spring (although allowing squirrels to do the planting could be a fun experiment). They prefer well-draining soil and can reach rather impressive heights depending on the exact species and type. Additionally, the stems can become woody and may require some work removing at the end of the season. 

Sources cited: 

  1. Simpson, B. B., & Connor, M. (2014). Plants in Our World: Economic Botany (4th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Education.
  2. Stevens, M. (2006, June 7). Plant Guide: Annual Sunflower [PDF]. Davis: USDA NRCS National Plant Data Center.
  3. The Xerxes Society. (2011). Attracting Native Pollinators. North Adams, MA: Storey Publishing.

Do Gardeners Like the Same Flowers as Bees?

Posted on by

In 2017 and 2018, Aaron and Lucas took weekly counts of bees on their native plant plots. Aaron has summarized the data for 2017 (below) according to bee morpho-type. The morphotype categories are the same general categories that have been used by other researchers: bumblebee, honey bee, green bee, small bee, and big bee. These major bee categories are fairly easy to distinguish from one another in the field. Although, Aaron and I talked quite a bit about whether or not we should combine big bees and small bees into a new category: other bees. When does a small bee become a big bee? We had a general sense that a large Megachile rotundata would be a big bee, and a small Ceratina sp. would be a small bee. But, what about a smaller Megachile species? Is that big bee or a small bee? There is no clear answer.

Aaron and Lucas kept records of big bees vs small bees, as best as they could, but in the end, we might collapse all of that data into an ‘other bee’ category.Aaron recently surveyed gardeners, to ask their opinion on the aesthetics of his study plants. A quick look at the results suggests that gardeners and bees might be attracted to different flowering plants. While Gilia capitata was the most visited plant in Aaron’s study plots, it was ranked 6th most attractive (out of 27 plants) by gardeners. The story gets worse for Madia elegans (2nd with bees, 20th with gardeners), Aster subspicatus (3rd with bees, 14th with gardeners), and Solidago candensis (4th with bees, 23rd with gardeners).

Could it be that bees and gardeners are truly attracted to different types of flowering plants? Or could it be that if gardeners knew about the benefits of these Willamette Valley natives, that they might see a new kind of beauty in these plants?

 

First Bee List from Native Plant Study

Posted on by

We are so lucky that Lincoln Best has been in Oregon, supporting the work of the Oregon Bee Atlas. Linc was kind enough to take a look at Aaron’s bees, before going back to Canada. Aaron is currently taking a bit of time off, following his wedding this past weekend (Congratulations Aaron and Maura!). In everyone’s absence, I’m chomping at the bit to see what bees were identified from Aaron’s study of Willamette Valley native plants. So ~ for your reading pleasure, here is a preliminary list of bees collected from Aaron’s plant plots.

Aaron and Lucas in the native plant study site. You can see the 1m by 1 m plot in the foreground by Aaron, a second one near Lucas, and a few more in the distance.

A few things to note about this list:

  1. I give no mention of abundance of each bee species. Some specimens were caught many, many times off of a flowering plant species. Others were rare, and only caught once.
  2. This list is not all-inclusive. It’s Labor Day. I’m working. I got excited about the bees, and wanted to share. But, I am not carefully going through every small label.
  3. Some bees were only found on one or two flowering plant species ~ even though Aaron’s plots are all in the same 3 acre field (1X1m plots, with each plot separated from every other plot by 6 m).
  4. Yellow-faced bumblebees were collected off of most plants ~ so I am not listing them, below. I also did not look at the honey-bee plant associations.
  5. Linc dissected male genitalia (yes ~ that is how you need to ID some bees to species), and found FOUR Bombus calignosus (all associated with lavender)~ a vulnerable species on the IUCN Red List.
  6. We also have Bombus fervidus, another species on the IUCN Red List (Vulnerable) on lavender, Salvia, and Gilia.

I’ll leave it to Aaron to make a rigorous accounting of bee-flower associations. But for now . . . on this holiday weekend, I was too excited to not take a peek and share initial findings with all o fyou.

Nepeta (non-native comparitor)

Oregano (non-native comparitor)

Salvia (non-native comparitor)

Lavender (non-native comparitor)

Phacelia (native)

Clarkia (native)

Goldenrod (native)

California Poppy (native)

Doug Aster (native)

Oregon Iris (native)

Gilia capitata (native)

Oregon Sunshine

Madia (native)

Sidalcia (native)

Yarrow (native)

Pearly Everlasting (native)

Upcoming Webinars Feature Garden Ecology Lab Research

Posted on by

If you are interested in hearing more about our research, please consider sitting in on one of the upcoming webinars we are presenting, as part of the Advanced Training Series for Master Gardeners, organized by OSU Extension Faculty Member, Brooke Edmunds. Gail will be speaking on August 30th, about garden bees. Aaron will be speaking on October 22 on his native plant research. There is also a presentation in November by Melodie Putnam (not in our lab group ~ but a great speaker) on plant galls.

Webinars qualify for Master Gardener continuing education units in Oregon. The webinars are free, but you must pre-register. After the presentations, all webinar recordings are posted on Brooke’s YouTube channel.

More details, and link to the registration page, can be found, below.

Thursday 8/30 at 11am PT

The latest research on bees in the garden: an update from the OSU Garden Ecology Lab.

Speaker: Dr. Gail Langellotto (OSU)

 https://learn.extension.org/events/3443

Monday 10/22 at 11am PT

‘First Look’: OSU Research on Native Plants in the PNW Garden

Speaker: Aaron Anderson (OSU graduate student)

https://learn.extension.org/events/3494

Monday 11/19 at 11am PT

The Weird and Wonderful World of Plant Galls

Melodie Putnam (OSU Plant Clinic)

https://learn.extension.org/events/3493

Missed a webinar? 

Catch up with the 2018 series here: https://tinyurl.com/yczwxjvr (opens in YouTube)

First Publication from the Garden Ecology Lab!

Posted on by

Our paper on the potential for bee movements between gardens and urban/peri-urban agriculture has been published in a special issue on Agroecology in the City, in the journal Sustainability.

Langellotto, G.A.; Melathopoulos, A.; Messer, I.; Anderson, A.; McClintock, N.; Costner, L. Garden Pollinators and the Potential for Ecosystem Service Flow to Urban and Peri-Urban Agriculture.Sustainability 2018, 10, 2047.

In this paper, we estimated how far the bees we collected from our Garden Pollinators Study could move between gardens and pollination-dependent cropland. We found that when pollination-dependent crops (commercial-scale or residential-scale) are nearby, 30–50% of the garden bee community could potentially provide pollination services to adjacent crops.

But, we currently know so little about bee movements in complex landscapes ~ if and how bees move across roads or through gardens embedded in housing developments. This question will be a focus of our future work.

Some of the bees collected from our 2017 Garden Pollinators study.

Pollinator of the Week: Woodland Skipper

Posted on by

This entry is from Isabella Messer, and undergraduate horticulture student at Oregon State University. It highlights a common Oregon pollinator.

Photo by Marc Kummel

As winter starts to wind down, daffodils and crocuses begin to emerge, and butterfly enthusiasts start looking forward to another season of spotting some of my favorite pollinators, the Lepidoptera. While peak butterfly season still may be a ways off(5), there is no reason to delay in learning about and exploring the world of butterflies, as I have been doing these last few days with Ochlodes sylvanoides(Boisduval, 1852), or the Woodland Skipper.

These little beauties can be identified by their tawny upperwings which sport a black border and large red patches on their underside(1,2). The hindwings of the Woodland Skipper can vary greatly from being unmarked to being yellow or even showing a chevron pattern(1, 2).

Woodland Skippers are native to Oregon and in fact, are native to most of the western United States. With a range that stretches from South Dakota to Oregon and from Vancouver, BC to San Diego, CA, Skippers are one of the most abundant butterfly genera in the US(6,2). The preferred habitats of Woodland Skippers include grassy areas in chaparral, mountain meadows, and hillsides(1). For those of you living among

Photo by Claire Christensen

With Portland’s many hills, it seems likely that your garden would be an appealing place for these butterflies to make their home. If you are looking to attract some Woodland Skippers to your garden, this may not be terribly hard as O. sylvanoides are generalists. Larval food plants consist largely of common grasses such as bermuda, wildrye, wheatgrass, and canary(1,2). Adult food plants can vary widely, from Oregon natives such as yarrow, sweet pea, and willowherb to others such as catmint, tansy, and zinnia(1). If you are having a slow start to your gardening season and have lots of patches of exposed dirt, that is okay seeing as adult Woodland Skippers will also sip salts from mud puddles(1).

Keep the hope of summer and Woodland Skippers in your garden alive, as this winter season begins to come to an excruciating close, and when August(3,4) finally rolls around, keep your eyes open for these tawny beauties.    

References

  1. Lotts, Kelly and Thomas Naberhaus, et al. “Woodland Skipper”. Butterflies and Moths of North America. 2017. Butterflies and Moths of North America. http://www.butterfliesandmoths.org/
  2. Woodland Skipper — Ochlodes sylvanoides.  Montana Field Guide.  Montana Natural Heritage Program.  Retrieved on February 22, 2018, from http://FieldGuide.mt.gov/speciesDetail.aspx?elcode=IILEP72010
  3. Allen, Nancy., et al. “Create a Butterfly Garden”. 2002.  http://ir.library.oregonstate.edu/concern/administrative_report_or_publications/kd17ct04f
  4. Chu, Janet R.. “Butterflies A Continuing Study of Species and Populations In Boulder County Open Space Properties – 2011 Inventory and 2007-2011 Analyses”. Boulder County Parks and Open Space and Boulder County Nature Association. Dec. 2011. https://assets.bouldercounty.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/research-report-2011Chu.pdf.
  5. Kaufman, Kenn. “Year-round Guide to Butterflies”. Birds and Blooms. 2016.http://www.birdsandblooms.com/gardening/attracting-butterflies/year-round-guide-butterflies/
  6. Department of Systematic Biology, Entomology Section, National Museum of Natural History, in cooperation with Public Inquiry Services Information Sheet Number 189. “Butterflies in the United States”. Smithsonian. https://www.si.edu/spotlight/buginfo/butterflyus

Garden Ecology Lab News, January 2018

Posted on by

It’s been a busy month in the Garden Ecology Lab.

  • Gail’s manuscript on bees in home and community gardens has been published in Acta Hort. Briefly, the results of this literature review are that: 213 species of bee have been collected from a garden habitat; gardens have fewer spring-flying and fewer ground-nesting bees, compared to non-garden sites; I suspect that over-mulching might be cutting out habitat for ground-nesting bees in gardens.
  • Aaron presented his first Extension talk to the Marion County Master Gardeners. This 90-minute talk was an overview of using native plants in home gardens.
  • The entire lab is getting ready to present their research results at the 2018 Urban Ecology Research Consortium annual conference, to be held in Portland on February 5th. A few highlights of our presentations, can be found below.

Gail’s Poster on Urban Bees: we sampled bees from 24 gardens in the Portland Metro area (co-authored with Isabella and Lucas)

  • Langellotto and Messer UERC 2018 Poster: click to see preliminary results
  • Most of the bees that we collected await identification. We did find a moderate relationship between lot size and bee abundance: larger yards hosted more bees. But, we also found evidence that suggests that intentional design can influence bee abundance: one of our smallest gardens (site 56 = 0.1 acre), located in the Portland urban core (surrounded by lots of urban development) had the second largest number of bees (42), of the 24 gardens sampled. This garden was focused, first and foremost, on gardening for pollinators. The plant list for this garden (photos, below) includes: borage, big-leaf maple, anise hyssop, globe thistle, California poppy, nodding onion, yarrow, fescue, goldenrod, Phacelia, Douglas aster, lupine, mallow, columbine, meadow foam, yellow-eyed grass, blue-eyed grass, coreopsis, snowberry, Oregon grape, trillium, mock orange, pearly-everlasting, serviceberry, coneflower, blue elderberry, currant, milkweed, dogwood, shore pine, crabapple, cinquefoil.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mykl’s Poster on Urban Soils: we sampled soils from 33 vegetable beds across Corvallis and in Portland (co-authored with Gail)

  • All gardens were tended by OSU Extension Master Gardeners.
  • Gardens were over-enriched in several soil nutrients. For example, the recommended range for Phosphorus (ppm in soil) is 20-100 ppm. Garden soils averaged 227 ppm. The recommended range for Calcium is 1,000-2,000 ppm, but the mean value for sampled beds was 4,344 ppm.
  • Recommended ranges gleaned from OSU Extension Publication EC1478.
  • There was a tendency for soils in raised beds to be over-enriched, compared to vegetables grown on in-ground beds.
  • Data suggests that gardeners are annually adding additional soil amendments or compost, and that there has a build up of certain elements in the soil.

Aaron’s Talk on Native Plants: measured bee visitation to 23 species of native and 4 species of non-native garden plants (co-authored with Lucas)

  • Field plots established at the North Willamette Research and Extension Center
  • In the first year of establishment, of the 27 flowering plants that were the focus of this study, seven natives (lotus, milkweed, camas, strawberry, iris, sedum, blue-eyed grass) one non-native (Lavender) did not bloom, or else did not establish
  • Several natives attracted more bees than even the most attractive non-native (Nepeta cataria, or catmint). These include:
    • Gilia capitata: Globe Gilia
    • Madia elegans: Common Madia
    • Aster subspicatus: Douglas’ Aster
    • Solidago candensis: Goldenrod