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<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/07/garden/07qna.html?_r=1<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>May 7, 2009<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><nyt_kicker>Garden Q&A<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
</nyt_kicker>
<h1><nyt_headline version="1.0" type=" "><b><font size=6 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:24.0pt'>A Helping Hand for Pollinators <o:p></o:p></span></font></b></nyt_headline></h1>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><nyt_byline version="1.0" type=" ">By STEPHEN ORR<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><span class=bold><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'></nyt_byline><nyt_text>Q.</span></font></span> <span class=italic>Is
there any way to landscape around a colony of miner <a
href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/science/topics/bees/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier"
title="">bees</a> without harming or disturbing it?</span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p><span class=bold><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>A.</span></font></span> You should be congratulated on your desire to
preserve the bees’ habitat. Even with the rise of the green movement,
some gardeners have no tolerance for wildlife in their yards. They trap, kill
or extinguish whatever creatures they meet, perhaps not realizing that even in
the smallest garden there is an important eco-system at work.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Though
miner bees, native to this country, don’t make honey, they are important
in pollination and are more efficient than honeybees for the amount of
pollination they deliver per bee. They also seem resistant to the several
plagues affecting imported honeybees.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Dr.
Stephen Buchmann, a coordinator for the North American Pollinator Protection
Campaign, a group involved in the conservation of pollinating animals, said
that about 90 percent of the 4,000 species of native bees in the country are
miners, which nest in the ground.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>“Unfortunately,
most people aren’t aware that there is even such a thing as
ground-nesting bees, so they mistake them for wasps and view them as a
threat,” said Dr. Buchmann, who co-wrote “The Forgotten
Pollinators,” a 1997 book about the symbiotic relationships between
plants and their pollinators. “But they aren’t that
aggressive.”<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Unlike
ordinary honeybees, whose ancestors were imported mainly from <st1:place w:st="on">Europe</st1:place>,
miners don’t live in social colonies or hives. They may congregate in
areas with good soil, but as in a classic <st1:State w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">New York</st1:place></st1:State> apartment building, each keeps to
its own tunnel, with little interaction. During their adult lives, which last a
few weeks to a month, they nest in underground tunnels ranging from a few
inches to several feet long. They lay eggs and seal them in for up to a year
with a supply of pollen and nectar.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>It is
during the long larval and pupal stages that they are most vulnerable to the
effects of digging. “It depends on the species, how deep you can dig or
disturb the soil without killing them during their resting period,” he
said.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Generally,
it is safe to till at least 12 inches from the entrance hole, but paving over
the nests would likely kill them. (Dr. Buchmann knew of only one bee, the sweat
bee, that tolerates asphalt.)<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Other
than disturbed burrows, bees need protection from most pesticides, especially
broad-spectrum formulas that indiscriminately destroy all insects, beneficial
and harmful, in a given area.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>In fact,
he said, miners should not only be protected, but heralded, particularly the
females, which gather pollen and pack it in tunnels for larvae to eat.
“We should thank these insects for every third bite that we eat,”
he said. “Basically, 30 percent of our food is brought to us by
pollination. Native bees, especially the almost unknown ground-nesting types,
are the unsung heroines of the bee world.” <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>•<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><span class=italic><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt'>Send questions by e-mail to <a
href="mailto:gardening@nytimes.com">gardening@nytimes.com</a>. Unpublished
questions cannot be answered individually.</span></font></span><o:p></o:p></p>
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