[Pollinator] Volunteers stick to study like bees to honey

[Ladadams at aol.com]

Volunteers stick to study like bees to honey  
June 23, 2010 -- Now in its thrid year, The  Great Sunflower Project 
combines the efforts of nearly 100,000 "citizen  scientists" to count pollinating 
bees across 50 states and Canada.  
 
 
 
The Lemon Queen variety is widely used in The Great Sunflower  Project.  
Photo courtesy of Andrea Wiggins. 

The brainchild of Associate Professor of Biology Gretchen LeBuhn, the 
ongoing  project records the number of native bee visits to sunflowers and other  
plants. 
When the project began in the spring of 2008, LeBuhn hoped to attract about 
 5,000 volunteers from schools, master gardener groups and garden clubs  
representing all or most of the regions of the North American continent and  
Hawaii.  The project actually attracted 25,000 participants the first year.  
At first, the study utilized only sunflowers and volunteers planted the 
Lemon  Queen annual variety seeds to grow the plants needed to attract bees. 
Last year,  the project expanded with the use of other plants including bee 
balm, cosmos,  rosemary, tickseed and purple cornflower.  
At last count, 91,000 people of all ages and every walk of life have signed 
 up to plant the flowers and count the number of bees drawn to the plants 
over  15-minute intervals, then submit their data online.  
"The overwhelming response to the call for help on this study reflects the  
fact that thousands of people across the country have noticed that there 
are far  fewer bees than there used to be," LeBuhn said.  She hopes that the  
geographic breadth that the volunteers provide will reveal what kind of  
environments are best for bee pollination, which is the first step to  
determining what can be done to improve pollination.  
Bee pollination is considered so crucial that the U.S. Department of  
Agriculture designated an annual _National Pollinator Week_ 
(http://www.pollinator.org/pollinator_week_2010.htm)  to advance public awareness  and scientific 
information about bee populations.  Since the program began  three years 
ago, 36 states have officially adopted the designation and more  states are 
expected to follow suit this year.  
To commemorate National Pollinator Week this year, June 21 through 27, 
Great  Sunflower Project volunteers are being asked to "add a yard to your 
yard," by  adding a square yard of flowering plants to their gardens. 
"We not only want our volunteers to observe, but to take action by 
increasing  the amount of nectar and pollen available in their gardens," said the 
project's  outreach coordinator Fred Bove. According to the National Academy 
of Sciences  and the National Research Council, loss of habitat figures 
prominently in the  decline of the number and types of bees in the U.S. 
Project leaders are currently working on a major update that will allow  
LeBuhn to begin sharing the first three years of data this summer.  She  hopes 
to publish the preliminary results of her analysis as early as  December.   
Seed funding for _The Great Sunflower Project_ 
(http://www.greatsunflower.org/)  was provided by SF State  and the Integrated Hardwoods Range 
Management Program. The Spring Creek  Foundation and hundreds of volunteers have kept 
the project growing.  
-- _Denize Springer _ (mailto:denize at sfsu.edu) 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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