[Pollinator] Value of bumble bees and how to deal with nests

[Carol A Kearns]

http://www.scienceinschool.org/2006/issue3/bumblebee

Putting the Buzz back into school grounds by David Goulson and Ben Darvill




Carol Ann Kearns Ph.D.
Baker Residential Academic Program
Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
University of Colorado
Boulder, CO 80309
303 492-4973

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From: pollinator-bounces+carol.a.kearns=colorado.edu at lists.sonic.net [pollinator-bounces+carol.a.kearns=colorado.edu at lists.sonic.net] On Behalf Of Victoria MacPhail [vmacphail at gmail.com]
Sent: Wednesday, May 28, 2014 11:07 AM
To: Stephen Pryor
Cc: pollinator at lists.sonic.net
Subject: Re: [Pollinator] Value of bumble bees and how to deal with nests

Hello everyone.  The North American Pollinator Partnership developed two brochures a few years ago that may be relevant to pass on to the teacher and parents: Bumble bees are Essential - Helping Pollinators Thrive and Inviting Bees to Your Property - No Fear of Stings.  Wildlife Preservation Canada and the Pollinator Partnership recently updated these for Canada too.

The "North American" (but US focused) versions are available at: https://pollinator.org/brochures.htm

The "Canadian" versions are available at: http://wildlifepreservation.ca/insect-pollinators/ (see side-bar about half way down the page).

I know for Canada, I researched the stats and found that you were more likely to drown in your bathtub than from a bee or a wasp sting (I think the US equivalent said more likely to die from a lightening strike than from a bee or a wasp sting).

The 'No fear of stings' brochure in particular is great as it talks about this and other aspects of bees.

Good luck!

Victoria MacPhail


On Tue, May 27, 2014 at 2:34 PM, Peter Bernhardt <bernhap2 at slu.edu<mailto:bernhap2 at slu.edu>> wrote:
Dear Stephen:

I understand that some bumblebee species are more aggressive than others.  Some are "pussycats" but others get cranky around the time of year when the new queens are developing and emerging.  At that time some workers will attack when you come to close to the nest.  In the east, the cranky periods occur from late July to early September.  I've had this misfortunate twice.  You may need a copy of "Bumblebees of North America" by Thorp.  It's easy to use and you can find out whether you have pussycats or high school french teachers (sorry, flashbacks).  Go to the following link and see if this is good for you or your school library.

http://press.princeton.edu/titles/10219.html

Peter Bernhardt


On Mon, May 26, 2014 at 11:36 AM, Stephen Pryor <sjpryor at hotmail.com<mailto:sjpryor at hotmail.com>> wrote:
Hello members,

I am a researcher in the San Luis Obispo area of California and I've been called out to a school lawn that has three veryhealthy bumblebee (B. vosnesenskii) colonies nesting in gopher borrows in the lawn where kids play.

The lead teacher does not want to have the colonies sprayed, but is caught between her concern for the bees and the parents concern for the their kids being stung.

I have roped off the most active colonies and told the teachers to have the kids stay a distance away. I've also been relocating the queens currently emerging to a rural site nearby that also has many bumblebees colonies and wild flowers, hopefully they will still mate and start their own colonies.

Does anyone have any sage advice to best avoid stings. Also could you forward me papers in laypersons terms that explain the value and importance of bumblebees as well as the peril that bumblebees are in nationwide and worldwide.  Links would also be helpful.  We want to avoid the exterminator.

Thanks for any help you can offer.

Stephen Pryor

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