The Pivotal Role of Bees as Pollinators
Have you ever thought about the fact that one out of every 3-4 mouthfuls of food you eat and beverages you drink is made possible by pollinators??? According to Serge Labesque, an active member of the Sonoma County Beekeepers Association and an esteemed teacher on beekeeping at Santa Rosa Junior College, there are now fewer bees than 60 years ago but double the human population and thus a greatly increased need for pollinators.
Concern over the status of pollinators grew markedly when in the fall of 2006 bees all over the United States were disappearing from their hives in what was later termed Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD). The cause of CCD is still unknown but researchers think that it is the result of the interaction of various factors including the massive use of systemic pesticides to control parasitic mites, the loss of habitat, poor nutrition due to monoculture farming, and the transfer of infection from one hive to another on tools, equipment etc. To handle this increased need for the pollination of their crops, commercial beekeepers have imported bees from other countries, namely the European honeybee, Apis mellifera.
In an interview on Science Friday earlier this month, Jeff Pettis, an entomologist and the lead researcher at the USDA’s Bee Research Lab in Maryland and Richard Blohm, a Master Beekeeper who cares for 50 hives on High Meadow Honey Farm in New York, said that they both are very concerned about the crisis that CCD has imposed on crop production. In an ongoing national study comparing CCD-affected and healthy hives conducted by the USDA’s Bee Research Lab, Pettis reported that 1) hives in both groups were loaded with systemic pesticides and 2) during the 2009/10 fall and winter an increased number of bees have died from CCD in California. This second finding is of great concern as California’s almond growers face the upcoming season of almond tree pollination. California produces 85% of the world’s almonds.
In addition to the European honeybees imported to the United States, there are approximately 4,000 species of native bees in the United States but these too have suffered a decline. Sixteen hundred of these native bee species have been recorded in California. In an effort to rebuild populations of native pollinators and enhance the pollination services they provide, a number of initiatives and programs are underway. Perhaps not too surprisingly, leadership for most of these efforts has come largely from outside the huge agricultural conglomerates. A group which calls itself the Native Pollinator in Agriculture Work Group is in the process of developing a plan to organize an Agricultural Pollination Alliance through which the agricultural sector can work collaboratively and pro-actively to establish and protect native pollinator habitat and increase populations of native and managed pollinators.
Native pollinators are adapted to local climate conditions, soils, and plant life and thus require limited management & maintenance. Serge Labesque’s goal is to maintain bee colonies by relying on the natural strength of local strains of bees, by completely eliminating the need for antibiotics or toxic compounds for pest and disease control, and through techniques that allow beekeepers to be self-sufficient practitioners.
There are several beekeepers in our local communities. Amanda Eichstaedt has been keeping bees for two years. She purchased two hives from a beekeeper in Healdsburg and captured a third colony when it swarmed onto her property in Olema. The swarm is still alive but weakened; the two other hives have died, perhaps due to the wet weather we have experienced this winter. She is feeding the swarm organic sugar water in the hopes that it will revive so that she can divide it eventually and then maintain at least two hives. Cathleen Dorinson (Pt Reyes), Bing Gong and Rufus Blunk (Inverness) and Sandy Duveen (Woodacre) also keep hives.
Another great source of information on beekeeping using native bees is available at www.nature.berkeley.edu/urbanbeegardens which is under the direction of Gordon Frankie, a native bee expert whose team of experts at UC Berkeley and UC Davis are promoting habitat gardening for bees using targeted ornamental plants, mostly natives, to promote native populations and diversity. To create bee habitat and attract bees to your garden, Frankie et al recommend native and bee-friendly flowers and plants including borage, ceanothus, California poppies, Russian sage, and Goldenrod. They also strongly advise home gardeners to leave some unmulched areas in their gardens so that bees can create their nesting burrows. http://www.nature.berkeley.edu/urbanbeegardens
With the growing concern about the plight of pollinators and the new interest in community gardens, graying beekeepers are delighted that there has been an upsurge in the number of younger people enrolled in beekeeping classes in the last two years. Through the efforts of Master Beekeepers and researchers in the field, It is anticipated that native bee populations can supplement and enhance commercially raised pollinators and begin to reverse the crisis brought on by CCD. Not only do pollinators provide essential services in nature but they are also necessary for healthy, productive agricultural ecosystems as they ensure the production of full-bodied fruit and fertile seeds. If you are considering becoming a beekeeper, local beekeepers recommend taking Serge Labesque’s classes at Santa Rosa Junior College and contacting Marin County beekeepers (http://marincountybeekeepers.org) or West Marin Bees (www.westmarinbees.ning.com) for advice and information.