[Pollinator] Critical buzz on bees to be captured by SF State

[Ladadams at aol.com]

Critical buzz on bees to be captured by SF State  
March 18, 2008 -- In her effort to shed light  on the health of native 
pollinating bees, Associate Professor of Biology  Gretchen LeBuhn is soliciting the 
help of thousands of "citizen scientists"  nationwide. The "Great Sunflower 
Project," the first coast-to-coast study of bee  pollination, will store and 
analyze the data at San Francisco State University. 
 
"Our project is going to use data collected by the general public to produce  
the first real map of the state of bees in the continental United States,"  
LeBuhnsaid. "We'll do this by giving out sunflower seeds to as many people as 
we  can and have them keep records of the numbers and kinds of bees attracted 
to  their sunflowers. The commitment of time is no more than 30 minutes, twice 
a  month. We will be like sunflower thermometers measuring the temperature of  
pollination."  
Buzz about the project has already attracted interest from Alaska to Florida  
through word-of-mouth and podcasts. LeBuhn wants to involve citizen 
scientists  of all ages who live in a variety of urban, suburban and rural 
environments. She  urges gardening clubs, civic groups, nature museums and public school 
classrooms  to get involved. SF State biologists will observe sunflowers 
planted on campus.  
"We need to know where bees are doing well and how parks, gardens, natural  
areas and all sorts of habitats affect our bees," LeBuhn said. "Once we get a  
good picture of where bees are pollinating poorly, we can start to design ways 
 to help them."  
LeBuhn said that the non-native species known as the "honeybee" has  
historically been the pollinator of choice for commercial growers because they  are 
easy to cultivate in hives. But this species recently suffered a decline,  which 
prompted scientists to identify where bees in general were doing poorly.  The 
data collected for the Great Sunflower Project, however, will be much more  
specific.  
"It might sound a little strange, but the most important data we collect may  
be the locations where no bees visit the sunflowers," LeBuhn said. She hopes 
to  capture information from areas devoted to farming, manufacturing and 
energy  production to city streets and suburban and rural gardens. "It will be  
interesting to see what environmental factors may affect native bee  
populations," LeBuhn said.  
LeBuhn plans to collect three years of data that will contribute to new  
theories about bee pollination, behavior and survival. She believes the  
capability of native bees is underestimated.  
Everyone who signs up for the project will receive a kit containing data  
forms for reporting the observed bees, a guide to gardening for pollinators,  
educational materials about bee species and a special packet of sunflower seeds.  
Kits are available in English, Spanish and Mandarin.  
Initial funding for the Great Sunflower Project was provided with a $4,000  
grant from SF State. LeBuhn is seeking more funding to produce more sunflower  
kits and fund postage. Ten thousand kits are ready to send out to participants 
 in time for the plants to flower by National Pollinators Week scheduled for 
June  23 to 28.  
"Having healthy pollinators is important for both natural systems and our  
food supply," LeBuhn said. "We can thank bees for every third bite of food we  
take."  
To participate in this study visit _www.greatsunflower.org_ 
(http://www.greatsunflower.org/)  or call  (415) 847-1716.  
-- _Denize Springer _ (mailto:denize at sfsu.edu) 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Laurie  Davies Adams
Executive Director
Pollinator Partnership 
423  Washington Street, 5th floor
San Francisco, CA  94111
415-362-1137

_www.pollinator.org_ (http://www.pollinator.org/) 

_www.nappc.org_ (http://www.nappc.org/) 

National Pollinator Week is June 22-28, 2008. 
Beecome  involved at _www.pollinator.org_ (http://www.pollinator.org/) 



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