[Pollinator] [beemonitoring] Should we tell them?

Tue Apr 28 08:26:03 PDT 2015

I am so glad to hear this dialog. it is hard enough to reduce science to a
level widely understood, but it is a constant bother to see people just
making up stories and using the internet to spread them.

Thanks all

On Mon, Apr 27, 2015 at 9:42 AM, Peter Bernhardt <bernhap2 at slu.edu> wrote:

> Dear Gord:
>
> Oh yes, there's a BIG gap between academics and the general public.  It's
> the reason I turned to writing popular books 25 years ago (with very
> limited results).  Steve Buchmann's upcoming book (The Reason for Flowers)
> will fill in gaps but the information our organizations have needs to be
> spread beyond publishing houses and Kindle.  My original email on this
> topic has been bandied about but no one has really answered the question.
> What do we do when presumably well-meaning businesses or public
> institutions spread inaccurate information?  How should I approach Whole
> Foods with basic information like...
>
> a) A bee hotel is made of hollow reeds, not mulch or garden debris,  and
> most bees aren't interested in them anyway.
>
> b)  If you do make one keep them out of the reach of small children as
> such hotels are almost invariably colonized by wasps.*
>
> c)  To grow wildflowers follow the instructions on the packet.  You're not
> going to have much success overcrowding seeds in small, shallow cups that
> lack a drainage hole.
>
> Ed Spevak has a big public outreach program on pollinators at the St.
> Louis Zoo and it works at several levels because different techniques are
> used to interest people in different age groups.  I look forward to his
> comments.
>
> *  Jack,  I correspond with Dr. Alcock and used to correspond with the
> late Howard Ensign Evans so I know that wasps are are fascinating,
> beautiful, economically important and some are important pollinators (see
> my paper on Paeonia brownii).  The public needs to know, though, that if
> their gardens cater to wasps be prepared to lose some of those nice
> butterflies and moths as their caterpillars will be converted to meat
> pastes by diligent foragers.
>
> Peter
>
> On Sun, Apr 26, 2015 at 9:22 PM, Odo Natasaki <odonatas at uvic.ca> wrote:
>
>> Michael,
>>
>> The same applies to odonates (compared to bats), but mostly I enlighten
>> people about odonates being "dragons" on the wing and they will even be
>> cannibalistic given the chance.
>>
>> I agree that there is a lot of "mal-information" when it comes to passing
>> information to the general public, but at least some of us are trying to do
>> it properly. I've noted quite a disconnect between some academics and the
>> general public. That's where I like to come in for instance.
>>
>> Gord Hutchings
>>
>> Sent from my iPhone
>>
>> Sent from my iPhone
>> On Apr 26, 2015, at 9:56 AM, "askartie at aol.com [beemonitoring]" <
>> beemonitoring-noreply at yahoogroups.com> wrote:
>>
>>
>>
>>  I have to agree with Dave.  Sometimes misguided information can be a
>> problem.  We see this in the mosquito world a lot.  I often hear of
>> websites quoting some statistic that bats can eat 2000 mosquitoes in one
>> night.  Well, sure if they are in a room with nothing but mosquitoes (I
>> would probably eat a bunch too if placed in such quarters), but in the real
>> world we know that optimal foraging will have them chasing down noctuid
>> moths and other juicer morsels - why eat a piece of popcorn when there is
>> steak flying around?  However, because of that one statistic, there are
>> people who think the best way to eliminate mosquitoes is to put bat boxes
>> everywhere.  Ah...if only it were that simple.  I love bats (and the
>> various insects and arachnids that actually use the bat boxes since the
>> bats rarely do in most parts of the world), and am glad that people are
>> becoming aware of the importance of bats in nature.  Unfortunately, the
>> misguided education sometimes prevents the use of effective mosquito
>> control methods.  If there are ways to present the same information in a
>> manner that is effective, we should encourage that instead.  Dave's "Things
>> to Do" list makes a lot more sense than sending people home with a ball of
>> sticks and a plant that won't survive.  We can do awareness AND good
>> education at the same time.  We must.
>>
>> Happy Spring!
>>
>> Mike
>>
>>
>>
>> Michael J. Weissmann, Ph.D., Entomologist
>> Kallima Consultants, Inc.
>> P.O. Box 33084
>> Northglenn, CO 80233-0084 USA
>> Phone: 720-872-6262
>> E-mail: AskArtie at aol.com
>> Website: http://kallimaconsultants.squarespace.com/consulting/
>>
>>
>>
>>  In a message dated 4/26/2015 9:18:01 A.M. Mountain Daylight Time,
>> beemonitoring-noreply at yahoogroups.com writes:
>>
>>
>>
>>  I believe there is a strategic dance between awareness and misguided
>> education.
>>
>>
>>
>> Peter is right that Whole Foods, at this particular store, is potentially
>> teaching poor bee management techniques.  However, they are enlightening
>> their customers that there are more bees than the one.  …and if someone
>> asks “where is the honey stored?”, the store clerks might be able to add
>> “not all bees make honey and there are a lot of bees out in our yards that
>> are endangered.”  That’s potentially the end of their knowledge.  Adding a
>> few flowers, though possibly ineffective, provides something easy that a
>> person can do.
>>
>>
>>
>> The first step of actually reaching the public with this small bit of
>> information is wonderful.
>>
>>
>>
>> Whole Foods, from what I understand, is based on independent stores
>> making independent decisions.  Thus, I surmise that Peter found the only
>> store in all of Whole Foods that had this one approach.  The employees are
>> empowered to make differences… I don’t think it’s a top down education
>> program.
>>
>>
>>
>> Two paths that my team will be taking on in the next few months.
>>
>> Create an infographic that could be forwarded to the various Whole Foods
>> districts.  It will have simple awareness bullets as well as simple “what
>> you can do to help the pollinators” tips.  We’ll try to have this
>> distributed prior to Pollinator Week that pollinator.org founded.
>>
>>
>>
>> *An example might be:*
>>
>> ·         Most of our 4,000 native bee species nests in the ground
>>
>> ·         Not all bees make honey
>>
>> ·         There are other bees that are superior pollinators than others.
>>
>> ·         Most of the bees are solitary and are gentle… less likely to
>> sting you.
>>
>>
>>
>> *Things to do:*
>>
>> ·         Remove a portion of your lawn and add some native flowers
>>
>> ·         Have flowers in bloom from as early as possible to late in the
>> season as possible
>>
>> ·         Try growing some food
>>
>> ·         Try raising hole-nesting bees
>>
>> ·         Use one less chemical in your yard
>>
>> ·         Leave portions of your yard without mulch/beauty bark for
>> ground nesting bees.
>>
>>
>>
>> While this infographic may not reach all stores, and all stores may not
>> have employees that care enough to teach their customers, it will be a
>> steady march in the right direction of public awareness to our native bees.
>>
>>
>>
>> Peter, thanks for this string.
>>
>>
>>
>> If anyone would like to help, please reach out to me.
>>
>>
>>
>> Dave Hunter
>>
>> <image003.png>
>>
>> O. 425.949.7954
>>
>> C. 206.851.1263
>>
>> www.crownbees.com
>>
>>  Click below to hear the buzz!
>>
>> *<image004.jpg>* <http://www.facebook.com/CrownBees>*<image005.png>*
>> <http://pinterest.com/crownbees>*<image006.jpg>*
>> <http://twitter.com/#!/crownbees>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> *From:* beemonitoring at yahoogroups.com [
>> mailto:beemonitoring at yahoogroups.com <beemonitoring at yahoogroups.com>] *On
>> Behalf Of *Jack Neff jlnatctmi at yahoo.com [beemonitoring]
>> *Sent:* Sunday, April 26, 2015 7:36 AM
>> *To:* Peter Bernhardt; Bee United; Pollinator List-serv; Ed Spevak
>> *Subject:* Re: [beemonitoring] Should we tell them?
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> I see nothing wrong with setting out "bee hotels" as they are a step to
>> increasing awareness.  If nest sites aren't limiting in the area, they
>> won't do much for bee populations but they won't hurt.  More likely various
>> eumenines, pompilids and sphecoids will set up shop and these are all
>> generally considered beneficial (unless one is a big fan of caterpillars,
>> spiders or crickets).  The only wasp predators of bees (Philanthus) are
>> ground nesters.  Eventually such hotels will attract nest parasitoids and
>> if unmanaged, become unsustainable,  but this happens at reused natural
>> nest sites as well.
>>
>>
>>
>> best
>>
>>
>>
>> Jack
>>
>>
>>
>> John L. Neff
>> Central Texas Melittological Institute
>> 7307 Running Rope
>> Austin,TX 78731 USA
>> 512-345-7219
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> On Sunday, April 26, 2015 8:51 AM, "Peter Bernhardt bernhap2 at slu.edu
>> [beemonitoring]" <beemonitoring-noreply at yahoogroups.com> wrote:
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> Has anyone been to a Whole Foods store in the last couple of weeks?  A
>> week ago I went in to buy a piece of fish.  When I entered the vegetable
>> section  I was greeted by two women who announced that "Pollinators are
>> Endangered."  I was invited to make a "bug hotel" to attract them to my
>> garden.  Yes, they were assembling twigs and broken stalks into balls
>> secured by wire.  I told them that the most recent publication on these bee
>> motels is that they were not good for bees (most are ground nesters) and
>> were more likely to attract bee predators like certain wasps.  One of the
>> Whole Food Employees was miffed.  She snapped, "Good, I love wasps."
>>
>>
>>
>> On the way out of the store more employees stood by a table offering
>> tiny, shallow, pots the circumference of 50 cent pieces.  There was dry,
>> potting medium in the pots and they threw seeds of some composite (probably
>> a coreopsis) on the surface."Would you like to learn how to garden with
>> wildflowers and help our pollinators?" one asked. "I already garden with
>> wildflowers," I replied.
>>
>>
>>
>>  "Well," if you go inside they will show you how to make a bug hotel."  I
>> repeated pretty much what I'd said to the hotel makers.  I also suggested
>> they might join NAPPC and explained the acronym.  It seemed best to leave
>> and not tell them that those seeds wouldn't do very well in such a tiny,
>> shallow pot.
>>
>>
>>
>> Here in St. Louis, the Whole Foods employees are quite young and they are
>> always full of advice.  Would it be possible for us to offer them accurate
>> information?  Currently, the St. Louis Zoo does a very nice job educating
>> its members about pollinators during pollinator week in June.  Our lab puts
>> up posters, exhibits boxes of specimens. We sell some of our books and
>> photos.
>>
>>
>>
>> Peter
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
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-- 
John Purdy PhD
Environmental Scientist
Abacus Consulting Services Ltd
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