Spring is here, as we saw today with one of our first sightings this year of a the mining bee of the genus Andrena sp. These medium sized bees (similar to the size of a honey bee) burrow nests about 2-3 inches into the ground and are common during the spring time. We found a large number of nests on a hillside in State College. The nests are easy to identify as they are commonly found on hilly areas with sparse vegetation and loose soil, with their entrances facing toward the sun and a small pile of dirt surrounding the nesting hole. We found close to 50 nests in that one spot today! We collected a sample for the Bee Germs project that is striving to better understand bee pathogens in native bee species that live in cities and agricultural landscapes.
Author: margaritamlopez
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Cotton, Fabric of Our Lives
Cotton, Fabric of Our Lives
Cotton Pollinator Connectivity Workshop was held at Penn State University at State College February 16. It has been shown that increasing the diversity of pollinator species can dramatically increase cotton production. Researchers at University of Texas in Austin estimate that in South Texas, increasing the diversity of pollinators could boost cotton production by up to 18 percent, yielding an increase in annual revenue of more than $1.1 million. Collaborative efforts among the Lopez-Uribe Lab at Penn State, Jha Alb at University of Texas and Luiz de Queiroz College of Agriculture at University of São Paulo, Brazil are investigating the effects of pollinator diversity on cotton yields in Brazil and south Texas. -
The Bee Tells “Strawberry Fields Forever”
The Bee Tells “Strawberry Fields Forever”
Strawberry flower in the Carolina’sThings are well underway for the project, “Integrating pest and pollinator management”. The goal of this project is to better understand how pesticide use, honey bee stocking density, and landscape context are influencing native pollinator communities. Using the national land cover use database and GIS software, we’ve characterized the landscape surrounding many strawberry farms throughout North and South Carolina. We will be working on a maximum of 23 strawberry farms, 10 organic and 13 conventional, which span across a gradient of pest management intensity and surrounding landscape context. Strawberries benefit from insect mediated pollination and both yield and quality can be enhanced. Strawberries in our region will begin blooming in the coming weeks and we expect to visit farms from March-June before blooming ends. At each site, we will set out bee bowls and perform sweep net sampling along several transects to collect bees for ecological and molecular analysis. We know that strawberry fields often host many different pollinators, but we are specifically interested in three focal native species (Andrena nasonii, Lasioglossum hitchensi, and Augochlorella aurata). This spring we will determine which species are present in this region and this fall we will begin work to understand how pesticide intensity may influence immunity, and how pathogen dynamics change over the season.
By Jeremy Slone, PhD Student, North Carolina State University
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Our first feral sample of the season
The Tracking of Feral Bees project at Penn State is underway. Last Thursday night, we set out on our first feral bee adventure of the year! About 45 minutes south of State College, in Huntingdon County PA, we sampled individuals from the our feral colony of our study. A great sycamore tree, close to 100 years old, had fallen. The tree had a large cavity that was home to a feral colony. The comb inside the colony was brown and aromatic, indicating the that the colony has resided for several years. We gathered our gear, including a smoker and fuel, veil, tubes for collecting samples, dry ice, and a phone for navigation, and headed out. The task appeared trickier than we had initially thought. The bees were rambunctious earlier in the day after the tree had fallen, but as the sun went down the bees huddled together and were determined to not break their winter cluster! We could hear them buzzing as we waited outside the entrance to the colony. We had sampling tubes in hand, ready to capture each bee as they left the colony. It took about 30 minutes to collect 30 bees, and after 7pm we excitedly returned to State College. The samples were stored in -80 for future genetic analyses. The tree will be removed next week and we shall return in an attempt to save the colony.
Written by Katy Evans, Field Technician in the López-Uribe Lab.
Feral colony inside the cavity of a fallen tree (January 19, 2017) Contributed by Katy Ciola Evans
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PSU Apicultural Survey Results 2016
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It was a wonderful weekend at the Pennsylvania State Beekeepers Association conference in State College. Beekeepers came from all over PA to listen and learn about honey bees and beekeeping. I am Margarita, a new assistant professor at Penn State and leader of the Lopez-Uribe Lab. I was a guest speaker at the PSBA conference and gave a quick overview of my research and the future goals of my lab. I handed out a survey during the conference in hopes of finding out more details about PA beekeeper demographics and their interests. In total, 29 beekeepers took the survey. Here is a link that includes a short summary of the results.https://docs.google.com/document/d/1WMUUVt1UCKzoIMdIS6jCXNdxKqmDQgk7rL51-BH4DSI/edit
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