[Pollinator] Capital Press -- Native bees in need

[Matthew Shepherd (Xerces Society)]

From: Capital Press; July 13, 2007.

Native bees in need
Researchers hope to foster native backup to ailing European honeybees 

Colony collapse disorder in honeybees hasn't seriously disrupted Pacific Northwest crop production so far, and Joe Williams hopes it stays that way. If it ever does become a serious emergency, however, Williams wants farmers to have an insurance policy in place: namely, native pollinator habitat.

Currently, the agricultural industry in the Northwest and throughout the U.S. is overly reliant on European honeybees for pollination, said Williams, manager of the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service Plant Materials Center in Corvallis, Ore.

"We're concerned (that) we're putting all of our eggs in one basket," he said.

Honeybees are convenient to transport from place to place for pollination, and the delicious end product of their efforts obviously adds to the species' popularity, Williams said.

But the danger to growers is that pests, diseases and colony collapse can drastically reduce the number of available hives, hindering pollination and driving up prices, he said.

"If colony collapse comes to Oregon, those hives are going to be pretty expensive," said Williams.

By planting native flowering plants near fields of blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, tree fruits and other pollinator-dependent crops, growers can supplement European honeybees with native bee species - and have a backup plan in case of disaster, he explained.

The nectar from flowering fruit plants such as blueberries is only available to bumblebees, sweat bees, wasps, yellowjackets and other native pollinators for a limited period of time, explained Mace Vaughan, conservation director for the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation.

"Once the blueberries are done, there needs to be something else in bloom," he said.

If their blooming periods are staggered, Oregon grape, willow, yarrow and ocean spray, among others, can provide pollinators with a source of food throughout the growing season, building up beneficial insect populations over time, said Vaughan.

Currently, the USDA NRCS Plant Materials Center in Corvallis - which specializes in native plants - is studying flowers, shrubs and grasses to determine which ones most attract pollinators, said Williams.

"What we're trying to do is broaden that list," he said.

The Plant Materials Center is also trying to narrow down exactly when each plant blooms, in order to give farmers a better idea of what mix of species they can use to stagger blossoms throughout the season, he said.

"The problem is that the (existing) guidelines are pretty generic," said Williams, noting that they describe bloom schedules in terms of months rather than weeks.

Other important factors also require more study. Right now, not much is known about the precise ratio of habitat to farmland needed to ensure complete pollination, said Vaughan.

One study in California indicated that a watermelon patch could be fully pollinated by native insects if a land area one-third of the field's size was left in natural habitat nearby, he said.

On a large scale, that would require taking a significant amount of land out of production, he said. In reality, though, a natural habitat even one-tenth the size of a field could significantly impact pollination, said Vaughan.

After all, some habitat is always than none.

"The more, the better," he said.

While some native plants are easy to find, securing a reliable supply of many species can be tough. For this reason, the Plant Materials Center is developing seeds for lesser-known flowering plants like Prunella, a type of native self-heal, and Oregon sunshine, among others.

Much of their production is geared toward governmental agencies that conduct restoration work, especially soil and water conservation districts, explained Williams.

Over time, the Plant Materials Center plans to refine the agronomic practices for raising such plants while building a more robust market demand for them.

That way, cultivating native species will become more feasible for commercial farmers, giving the public better access to pollinator-boosting plants, he said.

"We're trying to get a big plethora of plant species out there," Williams said.

Habitat management entails more than getting the right plant species established, though. Many native pollinator species live underground or in snags, so those areas need to be preserved, said Vaughan.

Usually, that doesn't necessarily involve much extra effort. In fact, farmers can get a lot done simply by maintaining their properties less fastidiously, not clearing away piles of excavated dirt or dead trees, according to Vaughan.

Farmers can also re-evaluate what they consider weeds; permitting non-invasive plants to grow at the edge of their fields can benefit pollinators, he said.

Spraying pesticides after dark, when pollinators aren't foraging, and avoiding applications on blooming plants will also help, according to Vaughan.

"A lot of times it doesn't take much to change practices," said Williams.

Mateusz Perkowski is based in Salem, Ore. His e-mail address is mperkowski at capitalpress.com.

Copyright, 2007, Capital Press (Salem, OR). All Rights Reserved.
______________________________________________________
The Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation
The Xerces Society is an international nonprofit organization that 
protects the diversity of life through invertebrate conservation. To 
join the Society, make a contribution, or read about our work, 
please visit www.xerces.org.

Matthew Shepherd
Director, Pollinator Conservation Program
4828 SE Hawthorne Boulevard, Portland, OR 97215, USA
Tel: 503-232 6639 Cell: 503-807 1577 Fax: 503-233 6794
Email: mdshepherd at xerces.org 
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