[Pollinator] Fwd: USGS Pollinator Research and Monitoring Video

[Peter Bernhardt]

Dear Mary:

Please congratulate whoever made this smooth, competent and attractive
video. It does leave some questions.

1)  How many hives are under study at the Northern Prairie Research Center
during a typical research season?

2) How close does this center lie to national parks and/or Nature
Conservancy property?  Allowing honeybees to forage in such lands is like
releasing sheep and cattle in a national park.  Many hives make many
honeybees and they will outcompete populations of native pollinating
species (bees, hover flies, butterflies, moths etc.). It is an ongoing
problem in Australia.

3)  Several sequences show honeybees foraging on native milkweeds
(Asclepias).  Is someone studying honeybee mortality as they visit
Asclepias species at this station?  While milkweed honey is favored by some
apiculturists it has been known, since the early 20th century, that
honeybees often lose limbs or become trapped and die of exposure while
visiting Asclepias flowers (some fail to free themselves from the stigmatic
slit system).  Our own work on the endangered A meadii showed that at least
10% of the honeybees foraging on this flower lacked at least one hind leg.
Bombs species and Anthophora abrupta don't seem to have this problem.  My
research partner, Dr Edens-Meier took photos of honeybees hanging dead from
the flowers.

Peter Bernhardt, Prof. of Biology


---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Mary Galea <mg at pollinator.org>
Date: Tue, Jan 26, 2016 at 6:12 AM
Subject: [Pollinator] USGS Pollinator Research and Monitoring Video
To: pollinator at lists.sonic.net


Below is the link to an excellent video produced by our NAPPC partners at
USGS.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3_O6RDdrfDc


Mary B. Galea
Plant Ecologist
Pollinator Partnership
423 Washington Street, 5th Floor
San Francisco, CA 94111
e:  mg at pollinator.org <mb at pollinator.org>
w: www.pollinator.org
p: 415.362.1137
c: 216.701.7051

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