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Factors Affecting Bee Populations Report Rubric

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Location - The traditional range of the Coho salmon runs along both sides of the North Pacific Ocean, from Hokkaidō, Japan and eastern Russia, around the Bering Sea to mainland Alaska, and south to Monterey Bay, California.

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"Artists have a way of making things more palatable or unpalatable... and both are powerful"
- Louis Masai

"Louis Masai is a visual artist based in London. He uses his research on endangered species as a topic of discussion to heighten the general public's awareness of the 'sixth mass extinction'. When not working in the studio, Masai travels around the world painting murals in cities, towns, and villages. These are often of locally endangered species. His paintings have reached out to people in ways that environmentalists and activists find hard to capture. To this effect, he often works alongside scientists, and conservationists as well as environmentally minded companies."

Listen to our full podcast interview with Louis here
We loved talking art and impact in this conversation with Louis (something we don't ordinarily get to do). Here's a little more on what we learned about Louis and his work.

EMBRACING LOVE AND EMPATHY

Louis has always loved animals. Growing up in Surrey, England (on a green belt) he loved walking in the woods and his room was covered in pictures of animals. Born to parents who were artists themselves (his mom creates incredible 3D pieces and his dad uses fine art to tell stories) and into a family where art had been part of the story for generations, it is of little surprise that Louis has grown into a hugely well-respected artist.

"It's not good enough to be a good artist, you've got to be a good artist that's saying something"
-Louis Masai

Louis studied fine art at Falmouth University in Cornwall and while he enjoyed being surrounded by artists and musicians, it took time and a move back to London for Louis to become the artist he wanted to be. For Louis it has b een a case of backing himself, focusing on the projects and style that felt right to him and allowing ideas to evolve organically. The idea that has felt most important, organic and natural to Louis has been raising awareness for endangered and threatened species. The more he has learned about these issues, the more they have influenced him as a person and in turn, his art. Louis now almost exclusively uses art (in various forms) to give endangered species a voice. While his murals of local animals can be found all over the world, from the USA to South Africa, Louis also creates original art which he sells on his online store and in solo shows. Over the years, Louis has expanded his repertoire, recently adding a podcast and a series of short films to his paintings and sculptures.

" I like [the word] 'conscious' because I think that 'conscious' reflects everything about me, it's a not a question of what the impact of the painting is, it's about who I am as a person and what my views and thoughts are about life and how to treat people"
- Louis Masai

Ecosystems and biodiversity are of great interest to Louis - he signs off all his work with "One Love" which represents "the humanity of people and the warmth of people". To Louis, it is important that we recognize that we are all one: "We can't be one race, we can't be one species but we can be one love... the more you embrace love, the stronger we can be as a planet"

In our interview with Louis, we touched on a couple of his recent projects which illustrate his interest in ecosystems:

ENDANGERED 13 AND 'THE ART OF BEEING'

Endangered 13 was produced by Human Nature and Louis Masai in 2016. The idea came from The Friends of Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park in London, an unusual cemetery in that it doubles as a nature reserve and hosts a huge variety of butterflies (30+ species). The cemetery borders a railway line that had 13 industrial looking arches and the idea was to paint the arches to make the area more attractive and raise awareness for endangered species. Louis and the Human Nature team raised funding for the project and organized a collective of 13 artists to make it happen. The Human Nature website has pictures of all 13 pieces of art - see here. For lucky Londoners or travelers, you can see it in person at Ackroyd Drive, Tower Hamlets, London

The Art of Beeing is the project that originally drew us to Louis and we were fortunate enough to see one of his Murals in Sacramento when we traveled through earlier this year. The Art of Beeing came from Louis' idea to tie each animal he painted to where it is from. He traveled to 13 cities in the US over 9 weeks with London based film team, his friends, Where's Kong and painted more than 20 murals of endangered or threatened species that were local to each respective area. Louis picked the US for its diversity, its vast changing landscape and the sheer number of species. Funded by a Kickstarter campaign and sponsorships (e.g. from EcoAlf), the trip took 9 weeks and was "one of the hardest" things Louis has done. Each animal was p ainted as a patchwork animal, an idea that evolved from wanting to brighten a painting to the underlying message that if an animal is extinct, we will only have toys to remember it by. Across the entire series of murals, Louis used the "thread" of bees (each mural includes a bee, a needle and thread) which illustrates how ecosystems are all connected and how important it is for us all to unite and work together to solve the planet's toughest environmental problems.

Louis told us that the trip was amazing. For each mural, he tried to connect with the species that he was painting - either directly or through talking about them with local people that could help him understand the realness and essence of each animal in more depth. He was also able to interact with locals and better understand how they view nature and ecosystem breakdown in their own area. Louis shared a story of how a Bushwick, NYC local reacted negatively to his mural given its contribution to gentrification. This is a tricky issue for Louis as he believes conscious art serves an important purpose but is also very much against gentrification and its impact on local people. In this case, Louis took the time to speak with this local man, explained the Art of Beeing Project and in turn, managed to better understand the man's concerns with gentrification. A simple act of love and empathy that's sorely missing in society today.

"I believe in talking through with someone what's going on and trying to break down this barrier of hate"
- Louis Masai

One of Louis' most recent projects, the All Fruits Ripe Podcast was of particular interest to us given our recent foray into the podcast world. This project is a joint effort with London-based DJ / Producer / Soundman / Engineer, Hylu and their podcast manifesto states:
"Via open discussions and exploration into environmental issues with experts in their given field, we aim to unearth the ways that many inspiring individuals are picking their own ripened fruits. The common thread will be one of love for the natural environment and their concerns of climate change. Each podcast features four records played in stereo format on a record player, powered by Unit 137 sound system. One track will be selected by our guest, one by Hylu, one by Masai and then a remix or similar of our guests track." Discussions will be across the board, including; artists, musicians, poets, scientists, chefs, curators, environmentalists, and many more.
A pretty unique concept for a podcast! We have been listening along and would encourage anyone interested in this space to have a listen (we have embedded an episode in this article above) - it is informative, relaxed and inspiring. At the moment, Louis and Hylu are sharing one episode a month and intend to invite a range of guests onto the show to encourage a broad perspective.

LOUIS' UPCOMING PROJECTS AND STAYING IN TOUCH

In the coming year, Louis is planning a solo show in London, a residency in Berlin and potentially additional projects on plants, farm animals and perhaps even a vegan cookbook. No doubt, Louis work will continue to turn heads and inspire change!

Stay in touch with Louis and support his work:

*Note: this is nota sponsored post. We were not paid to write this post. This was entirely voluntary and driven by our curiosity and desire to support environmental outcomes!*

You might also like...

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Conscious Art And One Love | Louis Masai's Art Is Creating Change

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Louis has always loved animals. Growing up in Surrey, England (on a green belt) he loved walking in the woods and his room was covered in pictures of animals. Born to parents who were artists themselves and into a family where art had been part of the story for generations...

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A short stroll from Mile End underground station, sandwiched between a building site and a busy mainline railway, is a verdant strip of green space in London's East End. Once neglected and unused, it is now decorated with native saplings, snake's head fritillaries, primroses and self-seeded plants such as honesty.

This park on Akroyd Drive and the adjacent Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park now boasts more butterflies per square metre than anywhere else in London. This transformation is the result of years of hard work by a team of dedicated volunteers.

Now a group of passionate artists have added to this effect by transforming grey brick and render of the linking railway arches, which stand along the park's perimeter, into a dazzling collection of murals.

We felt it was important to merge the worlds of public art and conservation issues, to reflect a growing concern on the lack of value we place on nature

Endangered 13 is an ambitious street art project curated by one of Britain's leading wildlife street artists Louis Masai, together with the environmental organisation Human Nature.

"We felt it was important to merge the worlds of public art and conservation issues, to reflect a growing concern on the lack of value we place on nature," explains Human Nature founder, Charlotte Webster.

Other artists taking part include Andy Council, Jim Vision, and the revered ceramic artist Carrie Reichardt, who is recognised for her political pieces. Reichardt has created a striking monochrome mosaic to highlight the plight of the bumblebee: "I think everyone should be passionate about bees" she enthuses, "As Einstein said, without bees, the human race has only four years."

Among the polar bears, blue whales, and tropical fish that now adorn the arches is a beautifully depicted pair of curlews ( Numenius arquata) painted by the artist known as ATM. "To me, curlews are incredibly special birds with their evocative calls," he explains, "But their decline is very worrying; their numbers in Britain have dropped by nearly 50% in the past 20 years."

Street art, by its very nature, offers its audience an engaging experience without the trouble of setting foot inside a gallery, surely an attractive proposition for any self-respecting artist.

But, as it turns out, it is often something else entirely which sets the pulse of a street artist racing.

"Walls are rarely even. Often they are a mix of brick and render, and so they create exciting problems to solve in terms of composition," acknowledges ATM with a smile, "And that's why I enjoy it so much - it's never a simple rectangle like a canvas."

Take a look at some other amazing wildlife stories that featured on Springwatch Unsprung.
Be the first to know about new BBC Earth articles and wildlife programmes by signing up for the BBC's new personalised email newsletter here. You can also follow BBC Earth on Twitter and Instagram and like us on Facebook.

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The street art raising awareness of endangered wildlife

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A short stroll from Mile End underground station, sandwiched between a building site and a busy mainline railway, is a verdant strip of green space in London's East End. Once neglected and unused, it is now decorated with native saplings, snake's head fritillaries, primroses and self-seeded plants such as honesty.

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Street art murals create a buzz about the plight of bees | Eastlondonlines

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Contemporary art has long been a vehicle used to highlight various social issues that effect society. On the graffiti covered walls that surround Brick Lane and Shoreditch High Street Station, organisers of the Save the Bees Project are using large-scale murals to draw attention to the future of bees.

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The Raw Deal will be buzzing as it hosts a traveling group of activist artists called the Beehive Design Collective on their tour for Earth Week. This group of volunteer activists based out of Maine, traveling by bike, has a mission to ...

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- A swarm of support. That is what Matthew Willey, a New York artist, is trying to spread across the country.

Willey recently painted a mural on the side of the Carrboro fire station - one of the many murals he hopes will help find a solution to the dwindling bee population.

"I'm painting 50,000 honey bees individually, one by one," he said.

According to Willey, 50,000 bees is the number needed for a healthy hive.

"I think the hardest part is painting something people can connect to," Willey said. "The fire station is such a hive. I love the metaphor of painting on the wall because it's really about this group of people, the kind that live together a lot of the time, doing their job, they all have their job, but they are also thinking collectively about the community."

Willey also painted bees on the side of Estes Elementary in Chapel Hill and the Burt's Bees headquarters in Durham.

The paintings started when a friend pointed out a blank wall on a honey store in rural Florida.

"So, I called them up and said, 'Would you be interested in a mural?' And they said, 'Yes, but we have no money and murals are illegal in this town."

They were able to get the law changed, and now Willey wants to change perceptions people have about bees.

"I had an experience with a bee seven years ago where one landed on the floor of my studio in Manhattan. I just stopped. And for some reason sat down on the floor and watched this bee," he said.

He learned about the decline in bee populations around the world.

"I found out that a lot of people everywhere did not know there was this massive die-off with the bees. I decided put up or shut up, and I took the leap," Willey said.

While Willey is not sure how long the project will last, or exactly how many murals it will take to paint all 50,000 bees, he hopes that his paintings will inspire others to take action and correct the problems in our bee communities.

"The goal is when I'm done painting the 50,000th bee we will have an awareness of what's going on with the honey bee and other pollinators," he said.

To donate visit The Good of the Hive website.

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NY artist paints 50,000 bees to raise awareness to dying population :: WRAL.com

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A swarm of support. That is what Matthew Willey, a New York artist, is trying to spread across the country. Willey recently painted a mural on the side of the Carrboro fire station - one of the many murals he hopes will help find a solution to the dwindling bee population.

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Colony collapse disorder is a colossal issue - and artist Louis Masai wants you take notice. His street art project "Save the Bees" aims to catch your attention by covering the walls of London with bees. Bees are extremely important to agriculture as they pollinate plants - yet entire colonies are disappearing without a solid reasons (there are theories, mostly about pesticide ingredients). Louis understands that people don't really care much about the problems they don't face every day, so he informed them via the medium of bee graffiti. To that end, he joined forces with artist Jim Vision and took to the streets of London, painting these (oft illegal) murals. And they got quite big! They also featured the "Save the Bees" hashtag, a nice touch separating it from general street art.

Louis' project didn't end there. They organized a sort of "Save the Bees" "family day". The aim was to inform Londoners of businesses aside from the agricultural industry that will be affected by the collapse. Hiver beer, Dead Gents clothing and Inkkas footwear were all in attendance. In addition to that, everyone received seeds from Thompson and Morgans, so they could plant some plants and help the bees in their own small way.

If you want to read about a beehive that is built to tackle colony collapse disorder, press here.

More info: louismasai.com (h/t: boredpanda)

"My work with the Save the Bees campaign was born of a desire to increase awareness about an impending environmental crisis"

"We held the Save the Bees family day to inspire people"

"We found out that people have a genuine concern for their native animals"

"But I don't think it's just the UK, I think that it's urbanized countries"

"Although we have countryside here, it is heavily farmed"

"When countries have populations of people piled on top of each other, people care less about what lies beyond"

"It's been really nice to see the Save the Bees aesthetic moved from outside, public spaces to inside, private environments"

"I think there's a disconnection in British peoples' minds about their own living environment and the idea of extinction"

"Bees are just a small part of the show, the focus will be on a much bigger range of endangered species"

Here's a video about the campaign:

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'Save The Bees' Street Art In London To Raise Awareness About Colony Collapse Disorder | DeMilked

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Colony collapse disorder is a colossal issue - and artist Louis Masai wants you take notice. His street art project "Save the Bees" aims to catch your attention by covering the walls of London with bees. Bees are extremely important to agriculture as they pollinate plants - yet entire colonies are disappearing without a solid reasons (there are theories, mostly about pesticide ingredients).

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Small and vital, bees work together for the good of the whole ecosystem. They are excellent pollinators who bring the abundance of food to our gardens and farms by transferring pollen as they collect the nectar and pollen from the flowers.

A Community Arts Project initiated by Julie Armstrong to raise awareness of the importance of bees for pollination for a whopping 2/3 of our food production. Fruit and nuts including apples, almonds, avocados, cherries, kiwifruit, apricots, peanuts, blueberries, plums, mangos, oranges, peaches, pears, watermelon and honeydew melons. Vegetables and seeds including beans, broccoli, carrots,cucumbers, cauliflower, celery, onions, pumpkins, squash and sunflowers. Livestock feed including clover and lucerne all depend on honeybees for pollination.

What is your favourite food on the Global Hive?

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Small and vital, bees work together for the good of the whole ecosystem. They are excellent pollinators who bring the abundance of food to our gardens and farms by transferring pollen as they collect the nectar and pollen from the flowers.

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Stacey Churchill Could you describe your "To Bee or Not to Bee" lesson? What did your students do, and what were your goals for the activity? , this week's Educator of the Week, led a project called "To Bee or Not to Bee" in which her students researched threats to bee survival, designed an art project to present their findings, and displayed their works in several locations in their town.
Students researched the importance of saving the bees and used art to showcase their findings to the public.

Inspired by National Geographic photographer Joel Sartore's film " Rare: Creatures of the Photo Ark ," in which Sartore photographs endangered species from around the world, students worked in three teams to conduct research on the essential role pollinators play in maintaining our food supply. Each team member focused on one of the parts of STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art, and math) and presented their findings to the class by creating an art project of their own choosing. Having a choice in the aspect of STEAM through which they looked at the issue helped engage students in the lesson and allowed them to focus on their own personal strengths while making the project more meaningful to them. I think students gained a sense of ownership in their learning by making their own choices.

We then displayed their art in our school library, in a community exhibit at our town's public library, and on the students' web portfolios. Having students work in teams helped create a sense of community as they collaborated on their presentations. Students provided problem-solving examples of how to help mitigate the bee crisis, and we hope that we empowered community members to take action.

My goal for this lesson was to have students learn how such a small creature has such a large impact on our world. I wanted students to empathize with the problem and show responsibility for the planet while they created their art.
Educators: download the full lesson plan here! What advice would you give educators who want to incorporate more art into their science lessons?
Soon after teaching this lesson, the rusty patched bumble bee gained protection under the Endangered Species Act, the first bumble bee in the U.S. to receive this designation. This news allowed us to continue this lesson by discussing the timeliness of the news and emphasizing that just because our lesson was finished didn't mean that we should stop caring.

Adding the "A" to STEM can help reach all students in your classroom by making material more relatable to students with varying interests. Many STEM lessons effortlessly welcome art into the mix.

Art provides students the opportunity to communicate in an authentic way, so I would suggest teachers incorporate art to help students demonstrate their learning. Have students create their own solutions to STEM issues and present their learning in innovative and artistic ways.
How did infusing art into a project about bees and conservation inspire students to be changemakers?
Looking to nature was a wonderful way for me to develop a STEAM lesson, so I would suggest that teachers use the environment as a starting point.

In reflections after the project, students spoke of how proud they were of their creations, how their groups came together to make a great presentation, overcoming the challenge of taking photos, and working more productively than usual. They would like to do more research to find the exact cause of colony collapse disorder, how the people making bee robots came up with such an amazing idea, how they can continue to spread the word about their research, and how they can translate this project into the real world.
This interview has been edited and condensed. Do you know a great educator who teaches about our world? Nominate a colleague or yourself as the next Educator of the Week!
I was impressed by my students' engagement in the activity, enjoyment of creating art, and genuine concern for bees. They took pride in their work, and I think that the STEAM components of this project helped make a lasting impression on my students.

The Educator Spotlight series features inspiring activities and lessons that educators are implementing with their students that connect them to the world in bold and exciting ways.

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Educator Spotlight: Saving the Bees with STEAM

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Stacey Churchill Could you describe your "To Bee or Not to Bee" lesson? What did your students do, and what were your goals for the activity? , this week's Educator of the Week, led a project called "To Bee or Not to Bee" in which her students researched threats to bee survival, designed an art project to present their findings, and displayed their works in several locations in their town.

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Make anatomy flash cards for anatomy station

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Make anatomy flash cards for anatomy station

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Bees Are Amazing! - The Wonderful World Of Bees Explored

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All about bees: information resources and education for all about the different types of bees, their nesting and foraging habits and more fascinating facts!

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Fun Bee Facts for Kids, Parents and Teacher

Most of us are afraid of bees. In fact, a single bee can ruin an entire summer day. But should we be so scared of these important insects? Let's learn some fun bee information for kids.

There are about 20,000 different types of bees in the world.

Only female bees sting!

A bee's stinger is part of their reproductive design. Only the queen can use it for reproduction, but all female bees can sting.

A queen bee can be hard to distinguish from the colony, but has distinct features like size, color, pollen baskets, and antennae.

Bee venom is stored in a sack attached to the singer.

Bees can see all colors except the color red.

Their sense of smell (along with their sight) helps them find flowers they need to collect pollen, which is their preferred food source.

They carry pollen on their legs and body from flower to flower.

Bees can drop pollen while they're flying, which helps pollinate other flowers and plants. This creates symbiosis and allows plants to keep growing, which keeps our air breathable. We need bees in order to survive!

Some bees of course also eat honey! Honey bees make honey and use it to feed their young and so they have something to eat during the winter, when they can't get pollen from flowers as easily.

Honey bees make honey by following a lengthy 10-step process!

The buzz you hear around a bee is the sound of their wings beating thousands of times per minute.

Smoke can calm bees. Beekeepers use this to keep bees calm when collecting honey or moving a hive.

Hives have queen bees, worker bees, and drone bees.

Queens and worker bees are all female. Drone bees are all male.

A drone bee's only job is to mate with the queen to create new bees.

Worker bees clean the hive, collect pollen and nectar to feed to the whole colony, and take care of the babies.

Bumblebee Facts for Kids

Bumblebees can be scary, but they are very beneficial for the planet. They pollinate crops and plants, which allow plants to continue growing, which allow us to have air to breathe. No bumblebees, no humans.

They are very social bees. They live in large "families". Unlike honey bees, bumblebees can sting more than once, because their stingers are smooth and do not get caught in the skin when they fly away. Read on to learn more facts about bumblebees for kids. You can also learn how to make a paper plate bumblebee!

What Do Bumblebees Eat?:

Bumblebees eat pollen and nectar. Worker bees gather this from flowers and bring it back to the colony to feed to the other bees and to the .

Where Do Bumblebees Live?:

Bumblebees live around patio areas, decks, attics, or under roof beams. But would it surprise you to know that bumblebees often instead nest in the ground?

If you see a hive in a tree, it is probably not bumblebees. But just like other bees, if they are disturbed, bumblebees will buzz loudly, and they will defend their nests. That means stings.

Can Bumblebees Harm You?:

The bumblebee sting is one of the most painful types of stings. Swelling and irritation can last for days after you are stung. Additionally, they can sting multiple times in a row, versus other bees that die after stinging.

Bumblebees will defend their nests if disturbed. They can chase nest invaders for long distances, following you until they attack.

What to Do If a Bumblebee is Near You:

Don't panic when you see a bumblebee. Trying to squish it or shoo it away could cause it to sting you to protect itself. Instead, stay still and hope that it goes away.

If you see a number of bumblebees near you, observe from a safe distance and be sure to tell an adult. No one in your household should try to remove a bumblebee nest on their own. It's better to contact a pest control professional who knows how to rid you of bumblebees safely. More information can be found about bumblebees and how to get rid of them at the official National Pest Management Association website.d be sure to tell an adult.

Honey Bee Facts for Kids

Honey bees live in large "families" and can be found all over the world. The honey bee is the only social insect whose colony can survive many years. This is because they have a plan to survive winter months. They huddle together and eat honey when its cold out and most flowers are dead.

Honey bees pollinate flowers and plants to feed themselves and help those plants grow. They pollinate more than 100 crops in the U.S.

Unlike bumblebees, which can sting multiple times, honey bees can only sting once. Their stingers are barbed and tear off when they try to get away. This kills them. They also flap their wings 11,000 times per minute. This is why it sounds like they are "buzzing".

What Do Honey Bees Eat?:

Honey bees eat honey! They make honey from the pollen and nectar they collect from plants and bring back to their colony. They store the honey in honeycombs in their nests, which they use in the colder months.

Where Do Honey Bees Live?:

Honey bees typically live in tree crevices, but will occasionally build nests in attics or chimneys. Nests vary in size depending on how big the colony is.

How Do Honey Bees Impact Humans?:

Honey bees do sting. They can only sting once, but the stings can be extremely painful if the stinger is not immediately removed from the skin. People who are allergic to insect stings will have an even more severe reaction.

There is a chance that honey bees could build their nest in your home, likely somewhere high. This can pose a real threat if not immediately dealt with by a pest control professional.

What to Do If a Bumblebee is Near You:

Don't panic or make sudden movements if you are near a honey bee. Yelling, moving suddenly, or trying to hit a bumblebee can actually cause it to sting you. Staying still might allow it to explore and then leave without issue.

If you find a nest in or near your home, contact a pest control professional immediately. You don't want someone in your house trying to handle it on their own and getting hurt. You can visit the honey bee page of the official National Pest Management Association website to learn more.

Carpenter Bee Information for Kids

Carpenter bees get their name from their habit of working with wood. But instead of building things with wood like human carpenters, these bees destroy wood by drilling holes into them to make their homes. Unlike some other types of bees, carpenter bees prefer to live alone instead of in big colonies and hives. Their stingers are not barbed like honey bee stingers are, which means they can sting over and over again.

What Do Carpenter Bees Eat?:

While carpenter bees are known for chewing wood, they don't actually eat any of that wood. Like other bees, carpenter bees eat pollen and nectar from flowers and plants.

Where Do Carpenter Bees Live?:

Carpenter bees drill through and live in soft woods to lay eggs and protect their larvae as they develop. Female carpenter bees will chew a tunnel into a piece of wood to build a nest gallery. The bits of wood she chews and deposits outside the nest are called "frass".

The tunnel openings usually look about one or two inches deep, but they can be up to 10 feet long! These tunnels usually have several rooms where the bees hold their eggs and food. It's like little homes within your home! But while that's certainly cool, it can also cause damage to your structure.

What Do Carpenter Bees Do to Humans?:

Carpenter bees are helpful to humans because they pollinate plants that can be ignored by honey bees, allowing for the spread of more pollen. However, drilling into the wood in your home is harmful to humans since it can potentially cause damage. Therefore, as soon as you see a carpenter bee, you want to make sure you tell a grown-up so they can call a pest control professional to make sure everything is safe.

What to Do If You See a Carpenter Bee:

The good news is, since carpenter bees like to be alone, seeing one doesn't mean you have a hive in or near your home. But you still want to have a pest control professional inspect the area to make sure there aren't any problems. You may want to study the bee, but be sure to keep a safe distance and avoid scaring it, since they do sting. You can learn more about carpenter bees at the official National Pest Management Association website.

Killer Bee Facts for Kids and Adults

You could easily mistake an Africanized "killer" bee for a regular honey bee, as they look very similar. But they do have different wing measurements. Also, though the name "killer" bee sounds scary, their venom is no more dangerous than a honey bee's. However, they do tend to attack in larger numbers, which does make them more dangerous to humans, especially those who are allergic to bee stings.

Africanized killer bees can only sting once because their stingers are barbed and tear off when they try to get away. Despite their name, they can be found in South America and the Western and Southern United States.

What Do Killer Bees Eat?:

Like all bees, killer bees eat pollen and nectar from flowers and plants. They carry it from flower to flower and bring it home to their colonies.

Where Do Killer Bees Live?:

Killer bee colonies are fairly small. This allows them to build nests in some unique places. Killer bees can live inside tires, crates, boxes and empty cars.

What Does a Killer Bee Do to You?:

A single killer bee poses the same threat as a honey bee. They can sting you once, and the sting may be painful, but unless you have an allergy, there likely won't be any serious or lasting concern. Where the greater risk comes in, especially those who are allergic, is that killer bees can attack in greater numbers, resulting in more stings.

What to Do If You Find Killer Bees:

If you see one, there's a chance there are more. If you are chased by killer bees, run in a zigzag pattern and seek shelter in a house or car. Do not jump in the water! These bees can be very patient, and will wait around until you come up for air.

To learn more about Africanized killer bees or for information on how to get rid of killer bees in your home, review the additional information available on the Africanized killer bee page of the official National Pest Management Association website.

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Most of us are afraid of bees. In fact, a single bee can ruin an entire summer day. But should we be so scared of these important insects? Let's learn some fun bee information for kids. There are about 20,000 different types of bees in the world. Only female bees sting!

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Developing the Connection: After everyone had a chance to look at all the books and the researching seemed to come to an end, I gathered everyone around the SB and shared this fun website to add 10 more things to the information they had gathered. We read them aloud together and then turned our discussion to the important question that we needed to address as students returned to their desks.

Why are bees important to Wisconsin Agriculture?

I asked first: What do you know about agriculture? I wanted to be sure all students understood that bees in agricultural science/engineering were both directly and indirectly I drew attention to the question was pointed to again and I asked: How can we answer this question in an essay by using our class discussion and our notes? How can we use our prior knowledge that we have displayed on the board to argue that bees are important to our agriculture? This set the stage and readied them to write well.

We also discussed other the crops. that specifically grow in Wisconsin. We made another list on the whiteboard and discussed everything from cranberries to how bananas are not a Wisconsin grown fruit. I taught them that each of the plants listed were directly dependent and related to bees. At this point, we talked about alfalfa. It grows nearby in a field near the school, and children noticed it, but didn't know what it was. We talked about indirect relationships, bees, alfalfa and cows.

For tonight, I told them that I wanted them to organize their information using Simple Mind app entitling it: Why Are Bees Important to Wisconsin? I wanted them to come up with a good hook that would grab our attention. I wanted them to find three reasons from their research and make a simple web: Title, Hook, Reason 1,2, & 3, and then leave it at that for tomorrow's scientific argument writing lesson.

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Developing the Connection: After everyone had a chance to look at all the books and the researching seemed to come to an end, I gathered everyone around the SB and shared this fun website to add 10 more things to the information they had gathered.

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Lesson Plan: Why Do We Need Bees? (Second Grade)

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Lesson Plan: Why Do We Need Bees? (Second Grade)

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I call the children to the corner. I hold up a plastic linking chain, like those found in math manipulatives.

Who knows what this is called? What is a chain used for?

The children give me all sorts of examples, such as the one on their bike or a chain that their dad uses on the family boat.
What are each of the individual parts of a chain called? A girl answers that it is called a link. I respond, does anyone know why it's called a link? A bright boy raises his hand to tell us it is called a link since they are all linked together. Great thinking! Today we are going to take a look at a chain, but it is going to be one found out in the natural world. Every member of the food chain is linked together in some way.
We take a look at the food chain on this website. It has a great definition. We click on the link on the page to look at a bigger food chain.
Now let's think back to your bike chain. It has lots of links on it, they are a different shape than the links on this chain, but still work the same. What do you think would happen if one of the links were taken out of the chain?
I like to use an example of something they called out and something that most kids can relate to. Probably all of the children in the room can relate to what I am talking about, so a bike chain is a natural choice.
A boy responds that the bike wouldn't work anymore. He said it happened to him once. I ask the children if they agree. They all shake their heads and raise their hands to tell a story about one time when it happened to them.
I try to draw the discussion back to our chain in science.
Even in nature, each of those links are important. If one link is broken, it upsets the whole system. Today we are going to learn about what could possibly happen when if a bee was taken out of the food chain. The book I am going to read will tell about how many things we depend on the bee for and what might happen if we did not have bees. I want you to listen very carefully because when we are done, I am going to ask you to write all the reasons that you can remember of why we need bees.
I try to give the children a purpose for listening to the book. It helps them focus plus they know the expectations up front.

I ask the children what type of book that this is. We look at the cover and then I quickly flip the pages so they can see them as I flip. We discuss that even though the book has pictures, it still looks realistic. They also notice the blue boxes that have extra information in them. They also notice that each page has lots of real information. Then I read the book and talk about the concept of interdependence. Make sure to read the "It's Critical" blue box on each page spread.

When finished, we discuss all of the reasons we depend on bees.
The author was making a specific point about the relationships in nature. What main point do you think the author is trying to make? A boy answers that many things depend on bees for pollination. I add, "Yes, bees are important, as a matter of fact they are vital to an ecosystem. In other words, if we did not have the bee, many things could not survive."

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I call the children to the corner. I hold up a plastic linking chain, like those found in math manipulatives. Who knows what this is called? What is a chain used for? The children give me all sorts of examples, such as the one on their bike or a chain that their dad uses on the family boat.

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Flight of the Bumblebee - Rimsky-Korsakov (arr. Rachmaninoff)

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Lesson Plans from the Honeybee Conservancy

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Lesson Plans from the Honeybee Conservancy

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Inspired by a love for bees and sustainability, our bee charity has created this curated library of free bee lesson plans, activity sheets and educational materials for you and your students. We hope it inspires you to incorporate bees, pollinators and sustainability in your classroom.

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Bee lesson plans - The Honeybee Conservancy

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Inspired by a love for bees and sustainability, our bee charity has created this curated library of free bee lesson plans, activity sheets and educational materials for you and your students. We hope it inspires you to incorporate bees, pollination and sustainability in your classroom.

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Buzz into your study of honeybees by helping children understand the roles within a bee colony. The queen bee lays up to 2,000 eggs per day to populate the hive. Thousands of workers attend the queen, nurse young bees, guard the colony, and supply food. Drones mature and mate with other queens. Draw a large hive on a sheet of brown bulletin board paper. Divide the hive into three sections and label them, from top to bottom, "Queen," "Drones," and "Workers." Then have children research and fill in the roles for each type of bee.

Bee Fact: Worker bees are female. They build the beehive and perform all the jobs necessary for the survival of the hive.

Explain to children that honeybees of the same colony recognize their siblings by scent. When an unrelated bee tries to enter the hive, guard bees detect its foreign scent and sting it to death. To help students understand how bees recognize one another, divide them into groups for this activity. First, gather a class supply of cotton swabs and three clear food flavorings, such as peppermint, coconut, and lemon. Divide the cotton swabs into three groups, dip each group into a different flavoring, and randomly arrange the swabs on waxed paper. Have children pick a cotton swab and form colonies (groups) by finding other "bees" with matching scented swabs. After the children have identified their "bee siblings," invite them to share their experiences.

Bee Fact: A bee smells, tastes, and feels with its two antennae. It also senses things with the hairs on its body and legs.

Busy as a Beehive

With each individual bee dedicated to a specific job, life in a beehive runs very smoothly. Distribute classroom responsibilities with this easy-to-assemble job hive to encourage every child to take part. First, fill a shoebox with toilet-paper tubes, standing the tubes on end. Stand the filled box on its short end to create a tall hive, paint with yellow tempera paint, and let dry. Then insert into each cell a paper strip labeled with a classroom job. Have children help you create jobs based on the different roles of the bees and the way a hive operates. To use, children remove the paper from a cell and perform that specific job. At the end of the day, discuss how each child's efforts helped make the classroom a more organized and efficient "hive."

Bee Fact: A beehive is built with wax produced in special glands in the workers' abdomens.

Dancing Directions

When a bee discovers a field of nectar-producing flowers, it communicates its find by dancing on the hive. A circle dance means that the flowers are nearby. A waggle dance, in which the bee wags its abdomen, indicates the flowers are far away. To further direct the colony, the dancing bee waggles in a straight line, to the left, or to the right. Invite children to communicate in a bee's language. First, write the names of different classroom objects on note cards, making sure the objects are visible to students. To play, group children into "colonies." Then secretly show one "bee" in each group the note card. Instruct that bee to perform circle and waggle dances to give its colony clues to the location of the mystery object. When a colony guesses the object, invite the dancing bee to fly to the object to confirm its location.

Bee Fact: A bee has five eyes: two large compound eyes on each side of its head and three smaller eyes on top of its head.

How Much Honey?

On a single flight, a honeybee can visit more than 1,000 flowers, drinking nectar with its proboscis, a tongue that resembles a drinking straw. When its "honey stomach" - which holds only one-eyedropper's worth of nectar - is full, the bee deposits the nectar into hive cells. Group children into "colonies" for this activity. For each colony, place an eyedropper and cup of water at one end of the room and a plastic medicine cup (marked with teaspoon and tablespoon increments) across the room.

To play, children take turns transferring water across the room to the medicine cups - one drop at a time! As the "bees" deposit their "honey" into the "hives," a recorder keeps count of the drops needed to produce the amounts of water, from 1 teaspoon to 2 tablespoons. When finished, explain that the drop count for each measurement equals the number of bee flights taken to produce that amount of honey. Tell children that each bee produces about 1/12 of a teaspoon of honey in its lifetime.

A Hive of Sixes

On strips of paper, write equations representing the factors of six in addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division, including the answer for each on the back. Using the hive described in "Busy as a Beehive," insert each equation into a cell and place in your math center. To use, children choose a slip to solve from each cell. They can check their work by comparing their answers to the back of each strip. Challenge students to solve the whole hive!

A bee uses its stinger to defend itself. Only worker bees sting people and animals (drones don't have stingers, and a queen stings only other queens to take over a colony). A stinger has barbs that anchor it into the victim's flesh. When the bee flies away, the stinger tears away from its body, creating an injury that causes the bee to die. To show how barbs work, give children a Styrofoam block, a screw, and a nail. Have them push the screw and nail into the block. Then ask them to remove each one. Which is easier to remove? Explain that the screw spirals represent stinger barbs. The spirals grip the foam and hold it in place, just as a bee's stinger barbs grip the victim's flesh.

This article was originally published in the March 2003 issue of Instructor.

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Explore the World of Honeybees | Scholastic

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Buzz into your study of honeybees by helping children understand the roles within a bee colony. The queen bee lays up to 2,000 eggs per day to populate the hive. Thousands of workers attend the queen, nurse young bees, guard the colony, and supply food. Drones mature and mate with other queens.

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Flight of the Honey Bee by Raymond Huber  

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Flight of the Honey Bee by Raymond Huber  

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Honey in a Hive (Let's-Read-and-Find-Out Science 2) by Anne Rockwell 

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Honey in a Hive (Let's-Read-and-Find-Out Science 2) by Anne Rockwell 

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The Bees in Your Backyard: A Guide to North America's Bees by Joseph S. Wilson

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The Bees in Your Backyard: A Guide to North America's Bees by Joseph S. Wilson

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Could be modified to be MUCH simpler...

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Educational Print - Printable Nature Art - A4 and 8 x 10 - Native Bees, Montessori, Science, Natural History, Insects, Nature Study

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This listing is for digital 8 x 10 and A4 sized prints of a series of watercolor native bees from around the globe with each insect identified at the base of the print.

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Montessori Art, Printable, Nature Art - A4 and 8x10 - Bee Anatomy, Montessori, Science, Bees, Insects, Nature Study, Entomology

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A great little educational printable art for the school room wall (Montessori or any style)! The anatomy of the honey bee... because the more we know about something, the more likely it is we will to want to protect it.

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School Room Art - A Collection of Bees - Home School Printable, Montessori, Educational Wall Art, Bees, Insects, Nature Study

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As much as I love keeping honeybees, I felt like our native bees could use a little more love. After all, some of them have also begun to struggle in the last several years.

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The Life and Times of the Honeybee by Charles Micucci

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The Life and Times of the Honeybee by Charles Micucci

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Performance Expectations

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The NSTA Next Generation Science Standards Hub offers information, resources, news, professional learning opportunities, and expert advice in understanding and implementing the Next Generation Science Standards - NGSS

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A flower anatomy and honeybee pollination unit incorporates
inquiry and engineering.

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Why Are Bees Disappearing?

Bees are amazing. They have their own language and they do so much for the ecosystem. Many native plants-which grow in your area-and crops you depend on for food require bees for pollination.

Recently, beekeepers in the United States and Europe have become concerned about an unusual loss of bee colonies. Scientists have since discovered several factors related to modern beekeeping that contribute to this phenomenon. Ultimately, it is not one thing but a combination that are impacting bee survival.

1. For the first time in the history of the evolution of bees, people are keeping them in tremendous numbers and mixing them by moving huge truckloads of bee hives every year to pollinate large areas of crops in places like California. Sometimes bees have to spend 2-3 days locked inside their hives while being driven across the country. This can be very stressful for the colony.

2. This mixing of bees that result from these mass pollination efforts increases the bees' exposure to both diseases and parasites, like the varroa mite. We can take vaccines to prevent spreading diseases, but bees do not.

3. Long term exposures to some pesticides that persist in the environment or to antibiotics given to the bees to try to help them have been shown to impact honey bee health.

Ultimately, honey bees will be ok. We are in no danger of losing our favorite pollinator, but we are in danger of losing some of their more rare cousins. Bumblebees and other native bees have been shown to be much more susceptible to both the diseases and pesticides impacting honey bees. So we all need to do our part to protect our local bees.

How Can You Help the Bees?

Plant flowering plants in your gardens that are native to the part of the world you live. This is not only better for the bees but also better for the ecosystem.

Don't spray pesticides or insecticides. If you do have to spray pesticides or insecticides, spray them at night when bees won't be visiting your garden.

Contact your local entomologists and learn more about the native bees in your area. You can plant flowers they love or build structures to encourage them to nest in your garden. For example, orchid bees love native orchids and carpenter bees love soft wooden logs and branches to nest in.

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Bees are amazing. They have their own language and they do so much for the ecosystem. Many native plants-which grow in your area-and crops you depend on for food require bees for pollination. Recently, beekeepers in the United States and Europe have become concerned about an unusual loss of bee colonies.

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What's All the Buzz-How Do Bees Fly? Have you ever wondered why you hear bees buzzing? Buzzing is the sound of a bee's beating wings. Bees have two wings on each side of their body, which are held together with comb-like teeth called hamuli.

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Identifying Bees and Bee Mimics | Ask A Biologist

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Is It a Boy or Girl Bee?How can you tell the difference between a female (worker) and a male (drone) honey bee? There are several things you want to check out when you look for female and male bees.

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Colony Life of a Honey Bee

Life in the colony is entirely dependent upon the time of year. Honey bee colonies can get all of their resources from flowers. As a result, the life cycle of the colony follows the life cycle of flowering plants in the environment. Every spring honey bees start to build up their work force in preparation for the bloom of spring flowers. In the summer, honey bees ramp up resource collection and are at their largest and most active. In the fall, bees start to slow down collection as the temperatures start to get cooler and flowers start to become less abundant. Honey bees survive the winter, without flowers, by eating the honey they made during the spring, summer and fall. A large honey bee colony is an impressive sight. European honey bees, Apis mellifera, common to Europe and North America, can have colonies containing over 60,000 individuals.

Are All Bees Female?

Not all bees are female. There are three types of honey bees within a hive: the queen, the workers, and the drones. A queen bee is the only female bee in the hive that gets to reproduce. Worker bees are all female, and are all offspring of the queen. But there are males in the hive called drones. Drones fly off to reproduce with other young queens who will start a new colony.

Is It Good to be a Honey Bee Queen?

A queen's primary duty is to lay eggs. In order to maintain a large colony a honey bee queen lays on average 1500 eggs per day.

Honey bee colonies only have a single queen, and every bee in the colony is her daughter or son. Queens are easily recognized by their large abdomens and the retinue of workers bees that follow her around. If a second queen appears in the colony the workers will either force the invading queen out of the hive or the two queens will fight until only one is left standing.

Honey bees start out as eggs, which then hatch into larvae and later turn into pupae-similar to caterpillar cocoons. The pupae then develop into the fuzzy adult honey bees you know so well. Developing from a larva to an adult worker honey bee usually takes about 21 days.

What Do Female Bees Do?

All honey bee workers are female. These workers change the tasks they do as they age-kind of how we change what we do as we get older: first we stay at home, then we go to school and then work. Young honey bee workers first do tasks inside the nest like take care of the queen and young larvae. Young bees also produce wax from glands on their abdomens and build all of the structures you see in the nest. How long each bee works at a certain job will change depending upon the needs of the colony. Usually after a few weeks inside the nest, workers will transition to outside tasks and take their first flight. The last task a honey bee worker performs is foraging. Forager bees leave the nest and collect nectar, pollen and water.

Adult honey bee foragers will usually live another 30 days after they begin foraging, about 51 days in total. This is because foraging is one of the most dangerous tasks in the colony. Outside the nest foragers are exposed to all the dangers of the outside world. They could be attacked by predators, lose their way back home, get caught in a wind storm, fall victim to diseases or pesticides in the environment, or any number of other dangers. In the winter when the worker bees huddle inside the nest for warmth, they can live for over 6 months.

The Life of a Male Bee (Drone)

Male bees are called drones and do not have stingers, unlike most of the female bees you see.

Male bees are only around for a few months out of the year. They can look a bit strange with their large eyes, which surround almost their entire head. Their eyes are big in order to spot queens while flying. The male's only job is to spread the genes of their colony. They leave the colony every day in search of potential new queens looking to mate.

What Is a Honey Bee Swarm?

Have you ever seen a honey bee swarm? When a honey bee colony gets too big or runs out of space the colony will swarm. The workers build special wax cells to raise a new queen. This new queen will then inherit her mom's old house, and take over the duties of laying eggs. The original, older queen will take half of the workers and leave the nest.

A honey bee swarm is just the old queen and some of her workers looking for a new home. The bees together with the queen pick a location, usually on a branch or side of a building and all hold onto each other. At the same time, scouts in the swarm are sent out to look for a new place to build a nest. If you see a bee swarm, avoid disturbing it but do not be afraid. It will not be there for very long. Once the scouts come back the bees together will decide which is the best location for their new home, and then all fly to the new home together.

Life Outside the Bee Colony

Most of the bees leaving the nest are collecting resources to bring back to the colony. Bees will fly upwards of 2 kilometers (1.3 miles) to collect nectar and pollen from flowers. The bees use nectar to make honey which is the primary energy source for the adult bees and for growing bee larvae. The bees collect pollen which is fed to bee larvae as a source of protein to help build big strong young bees. In return for the pollen and nectar, flowering plants get pollinated-allowing them to produce fruits and seeds.

Bees also collect water for drinking and cooling the nest. Bees were the first animals to invent air conditioning. They use evaporative cooling and their wings to pump air into and out of the nest to maintain their ideal temperature during hot summers.

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Life in the colony is entirely dependent upon the time of year. Honey bee colonies can get all of their resources from flowers. As a result, the life cycle of the colony follows the life cycle of flowering plants in the environment.

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Bibliographic details:

Article: Bee Anatomy

Author(s): Christopher M. Jernigan

Publisher: Arizona State University School of Life Sciences Ask A Biologist

Site name: ASU - Ask A Biologist

Date published: June 13, 2017

Date accessed: April 20, 2022

Link: https://askabiologist.asu.edu/honey-bee-anatomy

APA Style

Christopher M. Jernigan. (2017, June 13). Bee Anatomy. ASU - Ask A Biologist. Retrieved April 20, 2022 from https://askabiologist.asu.edu/honey-bee-anatomy

Chicago Manual of Style

Christopher M. Jernigan. "Bee Anatomy". ASU - Ask A Biologist. 13 June, 2017. https://askabiologist.asu.edu/honey-bee-anatomy

MLA 2017 Style

Christopher M. Jernigan. "Bee Anatomy". ASU - Ask A Biologist. 13 Jun 2017. ASU - Ask A Biologist, Web. 20 Apr 2022. https://askabiologist.asu.edu/honey-bee-anatomy

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Bee Anatomy Honey bees are insects and have five characteristics that are common to most insects. They have a hard outer shell called an exoskeleton. They have three main body parts: head, thorax, abdomen. They have a pair of antennae that are attached to their head.

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BBC Two - Hive Alive - The buzz about bees

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We decided this time to explain the importance of the Bees in our everyday life. Very few people know what is going on with the world's bee population and the effect they have on our food supply.
So let's talk about it. Here too we need to restrict our desire of wanting everything to look perfect. We will have to welcome a few weeds and chards, pulling them out of the garden by hand; knowing that this is the way to act from now on to protect our ecosystem. Why? This is why.

Common pesticides could be wiping out bee colonies by causing pollen-gathering insects to lose their way home, research suggests. Two studies provide strong evidence that pesticides sprayed on farmers' fields, and used on private gardening threaten bumblebees and honeybees. One team of British scientists showed bumblebee colony growth slowed after exposure to a chemical. Another group of French researchers tracked foraging honeybees and found that pesticide tripled their chances of dying away from the hive. The chemical was thought to disrupt the bees' homing systems. Insecticides called neonicotinoids may fuel Colony Collapse Disorder. The phenomenon, marked by the disappearance of honeybee colonies, is a problem in northern hemisphere countries. Bumblebees are at risk. Professor Dave Goulson, from the University of Stirling, who led the British study, said: "Some bumblebee species have declined hugely. For example, in North America several bumblebee species, which used to be common, have more or less disappeared from the entire continent. In the UK, three species have gone extinct."

Friends of the Earth called the findings "very significant".

Bees feed on pollen and nectar produced by plants. Female bees collect pollen to feed their larvae, storing it in pollen baskets in their legs or on branched hairs on their body. As they go from flower to flower they inevitably lose some of the pollen they have collected. Some of this pollen may land on the female parts of other flowers of the same species, resulting in cross-pollination.

Just as much as bees have a role in ensuring the survival of humanity, we also have roles in ensuring their survival. This way, we can ensure that the symbiotic relationship we have with bees will endure for many more generations.

All elements of an ecosystem are important to the functioning of that ecosystem. It may be positive or negative, from a human standpoint, but we cannot look at nature from a human standpoint only. Why?

Well, ecosystems are complex, possibly too complex for us to be able to understand all the connections and actions and interactions that takes place within them. If we do not know what will happen if something changes, it makes no sense to rush in and make those changes.

Now, with bees and honey bees, in particular we know that over one-third of our food supply relies upon them for pollination services and we know that pollination is essential for the reproduction of the plants the bees service.

The honey bee is a major pollinator of many of our food crops, almonds, apples, avocados, blueberries, cantaloupes, cherries, cranberries, cucumbers, sunflowers, watermelon and many other crops all rely on honey bees for pollination.

So if honey bees disappear and we do not find replacements that can do the work they do; then foods that we take for granted will decrease in supply and increase in price.

The pollination service provided by insect pollinators, bees mainly, was €153 billion (euros) in 2005 for the main crops that feed the world. This figure amounted to 9.5% of the total value of the world agricultural food production.

The main reason that the honeybees are important for our world is as simple as this; if the honey bee does not pollinate the crops, the crops do not grow and produce the food that gets harvested and brought to the store where we buy it and bring it home to feed ourselves and our families.

In other words, there is a direct connection between the bees pollinating the crops and our ability to provide food for our families.

One of the things about honeybees is the fact that they are important. Important at the human scale - not just important to beekeepers, or me but important to the quality of life enjoyed by beneficiaries of developed economies the world over. This importance does not hang on honey production, but pollination - nothing less than our food supply.

Is it true that human life depends on bee pollination? Or, more precisely, to what extent does the quality of human life depend on bee pollination? These are legitimate questions, and it's in everyone's best interest to promulgate answers based on good biology and economics. Organization (FAO) from 1961 to 2006 reached some divergent conclusions and shed light on the interacting complexity of the question "How important is animal-vectored pollination?"

The authors of the FAO analysis concluded that the proportion of global food production attributable to animal pollination ranges from 5% in industrialized nations to 8% in the developing world.

About 75% of the world's crops benefit to some degree from animal pollination; only 10% of that 75% depend fully on animal pollination. A second explanation is that pollinator-dependent crops tend to have lower average production levels than non-pollinated crops.

But there is another mega-trend at work, and that is that global demand for animal-pollinated crops is increasing faster than the demand for non-pollinated staples. The fraction of total production made up of animal-pollinated crops grew from 3.6% in 1961 to 6.1% in 2006, and even these statistics mask a huge jump in the years since 1990. In other words, more people around Planet Earth want ice cream, blueberry tarts, watermelon, almond chocolate bars, coffee, and yes McDonald's hamburgers - and the trend shows no sign of slowing. So, to what extent does the quality of human life depend on bee pollination? I would say a lot.

We are losing the bees that live naturally in the wild. We depend on these insects for our food, but in an ecosystem where pollution and urbanization are altering nature dramatically, bees are in major trouble.
There are three main reasons for this.

1. Bees are losing their food sources. Rural and forested land is consistently being developed for housing and shopping malls, reducing the flower sources bees feed on. In addition, bees can't find nectar and pollen as easily as they used to because of weed sprays and "better" pasture care. The weeds, from which they gather much wildflower honey, simply aren't there.

2. Bees are adversely affected by conventional agriculture practices. This kind of farming utilizes pesticides, which kill harmful pests, but also beneficial insects like the bees.

3. The varroa mite. This mite is an external parasite of minute proportions that plagues bees. It was first discovered in Indonesia in 1904 and was transported to the Americas by humans. It attaches itself to bees and sucks their blood, significantly reducing their life span. (Commercial beekeepers developed a remedy for the mite, a miticide that keeps their hives alive and able to work. The miticide is, however, yet another poison bees come into contact with.)

Paul de Zylva has said that: "The bee is a cherished icon of the British countryside and our gardens and is the farmer's friend that helps pollinate our food crops, so we cannot afford further decline. "We now need the Government to look seriously at the emerging evidence from here and other countries and consider whether neonicotinoid pesticides should continue to be used freely in the UK and the World."

As a result of the loss of wild bees, farmers in the United States have resorted to renting bee hives from commercial beekeepers for pollination. Indeed, this business has become so important that the beekeeper is often paid more money to haul his or her bees from flowering crop to flowering crop than they are for honey: up to $350 per hive per season. Multiply that by hundreds, even thousands of hives that are needed and that's much more than a beekeeper can make selling honey. Take the California almond industry, for example. In 2007, the California Almond Board stated that almonds are California's number one horticultural export, occupying 550,000 acres of land. In 2006, this important revenue-generating crop required over one million beehives to support its yield, and the Board projects needing over two million hives by the year 2012!

We should all be concerned after all; bees are essential not only for their honey and beeswax but, more importantly, for their roles in food production for humanity's benefit.

Many of our food crops for both man and animals depend on bees for pollination. It is estimated that if the bee population was somehow reduced by at least 30 percent, more than half of the world's food supply will be adversely affected. With droughts, earthquakes and other natural and manmade disasters befalling us nowadays, losing the bees is yet another challenge to our survival as the dominant species on Earth. We may even go the way of the dinosaur and the dodo, no thanks to the elimination of our little striped helpers.

The African bees would find colonies of European bees, kill the European queen, and place an African queen in her place. With this new African queen laying eggs, the genetic makeup of the beehive began to change rapidly. Within about three years, Brazil's gentler bee population was conquered. The African bee moved northward and southward at a pace of about 300 miles per year.

Africanized honeybees first arrived in the US in 1990, where the first Africanized bee hive was reported in Rio Grande, Texas.

Africanized honeybees are slowing their pace as they move northward into the United States. Existing European honeybee populations are becoming further mixed with the Africanized honeybee migration. This is believed to be aiding in the sharing of behaviors and traits from both the Africanized and European honeybee. Meaning the more docile European honeybees becomes slightly more aggressive while the more aggressive Africanized honeybees become more docile. There is said or claimed to be both desirable and undesirable outcomes. One benefit of the mingling of genes and traits is that the weaker populations of European honeybees are becoming healthier, thanks to their African cousins' stronger immune systems. Another factor is that Africanized bees have trouble surviving cold weather. This is because they are traditionally used to warm weather and they keep their hives relatively small, not needing to store large amounts of honey to live on during the winter. Additionally smaller bee hives do not fair so well during the winter season in the more northern continental US, as the cold air gets to the core of the beehive much sooner than a larger hive with a greater mass, this plus a shortage of honey to make it through a longer winter causes Africanized bees to have difficulty surviving in cold weather.

So we now know that there is a bee "situation"; the lesson is to protect our bees. Originating from Africa or Europe we need their "pollination" and we need to stay away from using chemicals and pesticides. We promise and hope that you do too! Please no more pesticides and chemicals! Exercise in the garden and gardening is great and keeps us healthy and we must also keep our ecosystem healthy.

Now we know that Bees are essential to the production of "one third of human food" directly through their role in fertilizing crops. They are also essential to the feed production of "animals that make up another one third of our diet". This most vital process to human survival is threatened by the careless modification of foods carried out by scientists thinking in only one box at a time. The genetically modified plants clearly are highly toxic to bees and moths as well as caterpillars. Something needs to be done urgently, if bees are to survive this toxic intervention in nature. Humans Suffer From The Toxic Environment Too. The chemicals are entering our bodies in increasing quantities. The way that humans excrete toxic substances - sweating through the skin - is also much reduced compared to past times. Many people find that regular Infra Red saunas are helping to improve their general health.

We will no doubt be hearing more depressing news about our own health, our environment and collapse of vulnerable species in future. We need to educate ourselves a whole lot more if we are to survive into the future. One person at the time we will win this battle....That is our commitment at GreenDustries.

"If the bee disappeared off the surface of the globe then man would only have four years of life left. No more bees, no more pollination, no more plants, no more animals, no more man." Albert Einstein

Reference:
College of Agricultural & Environmental Sciences Green Life.
www.hubpage.com
www.beeguardianfoundation.org

Visitors: 222581

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Bees, and Survival of the Human Race. | :: GreenDustries Environmental Blog ::

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We decided this time to explain the importance of the Bees in our everyday life. Very few people know what is going on with the world's bee population and the effect they have on our food supply. So let's talk about it. Here too we need to restrict our desire of wanting everything to look perfect.

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How to Grow the Biggest, Tallest Sunflowers

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How to Grow the Biggest, Tallest Sunflowers

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Renee's Garden - The Garden To Table Seed Company

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Printer Friendly Version

By guest author Alice Formiga
To learn the secret of growing sunflowers to record-breaking sizes and heights, I turned to Dr. Tom Heaton, the world's foremost sunflower breeder and Renee's Garden sunflower seed supplier. Tom has been breeding sunflowers for 30 years and has revolutionized the market by introducing a dazzling array of new sunflower forms and colors to the seed trade. His wholesale seed production company specializes in long-stemmed pollenless cultivars for the cut flower market and home garden. He has developed varieties in a full spectrum from burgundy and ruby red to orange, peach, apricot, bright yellow, to fiery bicolors. Most of Renee's Garden sunflower varieties are from his exuberant collection.

Fortunately for home gardeners with giant sunflower aspirations, Tom has also focused on breeding the ultimate tall competition varieties (" Giant Edible Sunzilla" and " Heirloom Titan"). Each year, Tom saves his longest stalk and largest seed head of this variety in his garage to measure against the following years. He currently prizes a 17-foot stalk and a 24 in. seed head! In this article, Tom has generously agreed to share his method of growing giants like these in your home garden.

First - Choose the Right Variety

Despite the growing popularity of new color introductions, the sunflowers that grow largest are those most of us still imagine first when thinking of sunflowers. These have tall single stalks with big flower faces of golden yellow petals and chocolate brown centers that ripen into heavy heads filled with seeds that birds will love.

I asked Tom why serious competitors should grow his variety instead of traditional varieties of large sunflowers like Mammoth, Russian Mammoth or California Greystripe. He explained that the seeds in Sunzilla are hybrids, developed to be uniform and consistently reliable - so that when you thin seedlings, you needn't worry that you may have just uprooted your most potentially vigorous specimen. While older varieties often become top-heavy and fall over in wet or windy weather, Sunzilla has been selected for a strong, thick stalk to support its heavy head. In ideal growing conditions, it reaches heights of 16 feet or more and produces huge seed heads.

Site and Soil Preparation Are Critical

Sunflowers need full sun; see 6-8 hours of direct sunlight per day - the more the better if you are trying to grow them to their maximum potential. Choose a well-drained location, and prepare your soil by digging an area of about 2-3 feet in circumference to a depth of about 2 feet. Sunflowers are heavy feeders and deplete the soil more than many other crops - especially if you are growing them to reach a massive height so the nutrient supply must be replenished each season.

Work in a slow release granular fertilizer - one that also contains trace minerals - about 8 in. deep into your soil. Tom uses Osmocote, but since I'm an organic gardener and raise rabbits, I plan to mix in a bucketful of composted rabbit manure plus a balanced slow-release granular fish fertilizer. Depending on your soil, you may wish to add, in addition to composted manure and an organic slow-release balanced fertilizer, an organic amendment containing trace minerals such as greensand or dried seaweed.

The Right Way to Sow and Thin For Success

To grow the largest sunflowers, it is essential to direct sow seed directly into the garden, rather than start them in pots of any kind. This is because sunflowers have long taproots that grow quickly and become stunted if confined. Peat pots in particular often dry out and block off root growth. Despite many gardener's best intentions, transplanting often gets postponed - so beat the odds and plan to sow seeds in the ground.

Since sunflowers that are planted in midsummer often flower on shorter stalks, sow your giant sunflowers earlier-as soon as all danger of frost is past and night temperatures are above 50 degrees Fahrenheit both day and night. In the shorter-season, cold winter areas of the U.S., this means late May to early June. The ideal spacing in rows for giant sunflowers with large seed heads is 20 in. apart. If you plant closer, you might get taller stalks but smaller heads. If you plant farther apart, the seed head may be larger, but possibly too heavy for the stalk to bear. If you have limited space, Tom recommends sowing in a small clump that will eventually be thinned to one plant.

To sow seeds, water your soil, and press seeds 1 inch deep in clumps of 5-6 seeds about 6-8 in. apart. Put snail bait in a circle around the clump (I like the product Sluggo because it is non-toxic to humans, pets and wildlife), and cover loosely with netting to protect emerging seedlings from birds. If the soil is kept moist, seedlings will appear within 5-10 days. When the plants grow to 3 inches, thin them to the most vigorous 3 or 4. When they are a foot tall, thin them to 2, and when they reach 2 feet high, select the best, most vigorous candidate. The point of this gradual thinning method is to ensure that you're left with at least one good seedling in the event that predators damage any of the others. Remember, it's critical to thin back to the best single seedling if you're going for giant sunflowers. Leaving even several seedlings growing too close together will keep you from growing a giant in your garden.

Feeding and Care of Your Growing Giant

Feed often and water regularly. While the plant is small, water around the root zone, about 3-4 in. from the plant with about 2 gallons of properly diluted liquid fertilizer solution per week. For larger plants, scrape out a small doughnut-shaped moat about 18 inches around the plant and about four inches deep. Pour several gallons of properly diluted fertilizer into the moat every week. Sunflower roots can grow to 4 feet below the soil surface. Avoid pouring fertilizer directly on the stems, since this can cause them to rot.

Another feeding method for larger plants is to make several holes by driving a steel stake into the ground about 3-4 feet deep and about 1½ feet from the plant. Fill the holes with properly diluted liquid fertilizer. Tom uses Miracle Grow or Schulz's growing solution, but as an organic gardener, you can use properly diluted fish emulsion or other liquid organic fertilizers.

Tom recommends that you care for giant sunflowers as members of your family. Be attentive to weather reports, especially, as your plants become taller and more top-heavy. When heavy winds are predicted, delay watering to reduce their chances of blowing over. Staking isn't usually necessary for sunflowers, but it can be helpful in extremely windy areas or if they must be grown in conditions that are too crowded or in too much shade.

Harvesting and Enjoying Giant Seed Heads

As the petals fall off, the center florets dry up and the seed kernels begin to swell in the disks, carefully climb a stepladder and cover your flower head with a mesh onion bag or loose burlap or paper bag. This keeps marauding birds from robbing your seeds so that the heads look perfect and complete when you are ready to show them off to friends or proudly display them on their long stalks at your local county fair. Cut the stalks at the base when the ripened seeds develop a hard shell. If you plan to preserve them for your bird feeder, wait until the seeds are completely dry; then remove them by hand or by rubbing them over wire mesh into a basket. Store in tightly closed containers to keep rodents away.

Giant Fun for All Ages

Growing giant Sunzilla sunflowers is a great way for getting children inspired to enjoy the garden. The seeds, which make tasty snacks for songbirds, are large and easy to handle. Like Jack's beanstalk, the plants grow quickly skyward, and the flower heads look cheerful and lion-like. Tall sunflowers can be planted in formation: as forests, playhouses or teepees. You can even grow colorful vines like scarlet runner beans up the stalks if you give the sunflowers several weeks head start. It's easy to get children involved in the excitement of watching how tall a family sunflower grows each day, or let them compete on their own! I plan to give seeds to several neighbors, and compare stalks at the end of the season!

Want more sunflower tips? How To Grow Summer Long Sunflowers

Fortunately for home gardeners with giant sunflower aspirations, Tom has also focused on breeding the ultimate tall competition varieties (" Giant Edible Sunzilla" and " Heirloom Titan"). Each year, Tom saves his longest stalk and largest seed head of this variety in his garage to measure against the following years. He currently prizes a 17-foot stalk and a 24 in. seed head! In this article, Tom has generously agreed to share his method of growing giants like these in your home garden.

First - Choose the Right Variety

Despite the growing popularity of new color introductions, the sunflowers that grow largest are those most of us still imagine first when thinking of sunflowers. These have tall single stalks with big flower faces of golden yellow petals and chocolate brown centers that ripen into heavy heads filled with seeds that birds will love.

I asked Tom why serious competitors should grow his variety instead of traditional varieties of large sunflowers like Mammoth, Russian Mammoth or California Greystripe. He explained that the seeds in Sunzilla are hybrids, developed to be uniform and consistently reliable - so that when you thin seedlings, you needn't worry that you may have just uprooted your most potentially vigorous specimen. While older varieties often become top-heavy and fall over in wet or windy weather, Sunzilla has been selected for a strong, thick stalk to support its heavy head. In ideal growing conditions, it reaches heights of 16 feet or more and produces huge seed heads.

Site and Soil Preparation Are Critical

Sunflowers need full sun; see 6-8 hours of direct sunlight per day - the more the better if you are trying to grow them to their maximum potential. Choose a well-drained location, and prepare your soil by digging an area of about 2-3 feet in circumference to a depth of about 2 feet. Sunflowers are heavy feeders and deplete the soil more than many other crops - especially if you are growing them to reach a massive height so the nutrient supply must be replenished each season.

Work in a slow release granular fertilizer - one that also contains trace minerals - about 8 in. deep into your soil. Tom uses Osmocote, but since I'm an organic gardener and raise rabbits, I plan to mix in a bucketful of composted rabbit manure plus a balanced slow-release granular fish fertilizer. Depending on your soil, you may wish to add, in addition to composted manure and an organic slow-release balanced fertilizer, an organic amendment containing trace minerals such as greensand or dried seaweed.

The Right Way to Sow and Thin For Success

To grow the largest sunflowers, it is essential to direct sow seed directly into the garden, rather than start them in pots of any kind. This is because sunflowers have long taproots that grow quickly and become stunted if confined. Peat pots in particular often dry out and block off root growth. Despite many gardener's best intentions, transplanting often gets postponed - so beat the odds and plan to sow seeds in the ground.

Since sunflowers that are planted in midsummer often flower on shorter stalks, sow your giant sunflowers earlier-as soon as all danger of frost is past and night temperatures are above 50 degrees Fahrenheit both day and night. In the shorter-season, cold winter areas of the U.S., this means late May to early June. The ideal spacing in rows for giant sunflowers with large seed heads is 20 in. apart. If you plant closer, you might get taller stalks but smaller heads. If you plant farther apart, the seed head may be larger, but possibly too heavy for the stalk to bear. If you have limited space, Tom recommends sowing in a small clump that will eventually be thinned to one plant.

To sow seeds, water your soil, and press seeds 1 inch deep in clumps of 5-6 seeds about 6-8 in. apart. Put snail bait in a circle around the clump (I like the product Sluggo because it is non-toxic to humans, pets and wildlife), and cover loosely with netting to protect emerging seedlings from birds. If the soil is kept moist, seedlings will appear within 5-10 days. When the plants grow to 3 inches, thin them to the most vigorous 3 or 4. When they are a foot tall, thin them to 2, and when they reach 2 feet high, select the best, most vigorous candidate. The point of this gradual thinning method is to ensure that you're left with at least one good seedling in the event that predators damage any of the others. Remember, it's critical to thin back to the best single seedling if you're going for giant sunflowers. Leaving even several seedlings growing too close together will keep you from growing a giant in your garden.

Feeding and Care of Your Growing Giant

Feed often and water regularly. While the plant is small, water around the root zone, about 3-4 in. from the plant with about 2 gallons of properly diluted liquid fertilizer solution per week. For larger plants, scrape out a small doughnut-shaped moat about 18 inches around the plant and about four inches deep. Pour several gallons of properly diluted fertilizer into the moat every week. Sunflower roots can grow to 4 feet below the soil surface. Avoid pouring fertilizer directly on the stems, since this can cause them to rot.

Another feeding method for larger plants is to make several holes by driving a steel stake into the ground about 3-4 feet deep and about 1½ feet from the plant. Fill the holes with properly diluted liquid fertilizer. Tom uses Miracle Grow or Schulz's growing solution, but as an organic gardener, you can use properly diluted fish emulsion or other liquid organic fertilizers.

Tom recommends that you care for giant sunflowers as members of your family. Be attentive to weather reports, especially, as your plants become taller and more top-heavy. When heavy winds are predicted, delay watering to reduce their chances of blowing over. Staking isn't usually necessary for sunflowers, but it can be helpful in extremely windy areas or if they must be grown in conditions that are too crowded or in too much shade.

Harvesting and Enjoying Giant Seed Heads

As the petals fall off, the center florets dry up and the seed kernels begin to swell in the disks, carefully climb a stepladder and cover your flower head with a mesh onion bag or loose burlap or paper bag. This keeps marauding birds from robbing your seeds so that the heads look perfect and complete when you are ready to show them off to friends or proudly display them on their long stalks at your local county fair. Cut the stalks at the base when the ripened seeds develop a hard shell. If you plan to preserve them for your bird feeder, wait until the seeds are completely dry; then remove them by hand or by rubbing them over wire mesh into a basket. Store in tightly closed containers to keep rodents away.

Giant Fun for All Ages

Growing giant Sunzilla sunflowers is a great way for getting children inspired to enjoy the garden. The seeds, which make tasty snacks for songbirds, are large and easy to handle. Like Jack's beanstalk, the plants grow quickly skyward, and the flower heads look cheerful and lion-like. Tall sunflowers can be planted in formation: as forests, playhouses or teepees. You can even grow colorful vines like scarlet runner beans up the stalks if you give the sunflowers several weeks head start. It's easy to get children involved in the excitement of watching how tall a family sunflower grows each day, or let them compete on their own! I plan to give seeds to several neighbors, and compare stalks at the end of the season!

Want more sunflower tips? How To Grow Summer Long Sunflowers

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Renee's Garden - The Garden To Table Seed Company

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Fortunately for home gardeners with giant sunflower aspirations, Tom has also focused on breeding the ultimate tall competition varieties ("Giant Edible Sunzilla" and "Heirloom Titan"). Each year, Tom saves his longest stalk and largest seed head of this variety in his garage to measure against the following years. He

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.provider_name
Renee's Garden - The Garden To Table Seed Company

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Printer Friendly Version

By guest author Alice Formiga
To learn the secret of growing sunflowers to record-breaking sizes and heights, I turned to Dr. Tom Heaton, the world's foremost sunflower breeder and Renee's Garden sunflower seed supplier. Tom has been breeding sunflowers for 30 years and has revolutionized the market by introducing a dazzling array of new sunflower forms and colors to the seed trade. His wholesale seed production company specializes in long-stemmed pollenless cultivars for the cut flower market and home garden. He has developed varieties in a full spectrum from burgundy and ruby red to orange, peach, apricot, bright yellow, to fiery bicolors. Most of Renee's Garden sunflower varieties are from his exuberant collection.

Fortunately for home gardeners with giant sunflower aspirations, Tom has also focused on breeding the ultimate tall competition varieties (" Giant Edible Sunzilla" and " Heirloom Titan"). Each year, Tom saves his longest stalk and largest seed head of this variety in his garage to measure against the following years. He currently prizes a 17-foot stalk and a 24 in. seed head! In this article, Tom has generously agreed to share his method of growing giants like these in your home garden.

First - Choose the Right Variety

Despite the growing popularity of new color introductions, the sunflowers that grow largest are those most of us still imagine first when thinking of sunflowers. These have tall single stalks with big flower faces of golden yellow petals and chocolate brown centers that ripen into heavy heads filled with seeds that birds will love.

I asked Tom why serious competitors should grow his variety instead of traditional varieties of large sunflowers like Mammoth, Russian Mammoth or California Greystripe. He explained that the seeds in Sunzilla are hybrids, developed to be uniform and consistently reliable - so that when you thin seedlings, you needn't worry that you may have just uprooted your most potentially vigorous specimen. While older varieties often become top-heavy and fall over in wet or windy weather, Sunzilla has been selected for a strong, thick stalk to support its heavy head. In ideal growing conditions, it reaches heights of 16 feet or more and produces huge seed heads.

Site and Soil Preparation Are Critical

Sunflowers need full sun; see 6-8 hours of direct sunlight per day - the more the better if you are trying to grow them to their maximum potential. Choose a well-drained location, and prepare your soil by digging an area of about 2-3 feet in circumference to a depth of about 2 feet. Sunflowers are heavy feeders and deplete the soil more than many other crops - especially if you are growing them to reach a massive height so the nutrient supply must be replenished each season.

Work in a slow release granular fertilizer - one that also contains trace minerals - about 8 in. deep into your soil. Tom uses Osmocote, but since I'm an organic gardener and raise rabbits, I plan to mix in a bucketful of composted rabbit manure plus a balanced slow-release granular fish fertilizer. Depending on your soil, you may wish to add, in addition to composted manure and an organic slow-release balanced fertilizer, an organic amendment containing trace minerals such as greensand or dried seaweed.

The Right Way to Sow and Thin For Success

To grow the largest sunflowers, it is essential to direct sow seed directly into the garden, rather than start them in pots of any kind. This is because sunflowers have long taproots that grow quickly and become stunted if confined. Peat pots in particular often dry out and block off root growth. Despite many gardener's best intentions, transplanting often gets postponed - so beat the odds and plan to sow seeds in the ground.

Since sunflowers that are planted in midsummer often flower on shorter stalks, sow your giant sunflowers earlier-as soon as all danger of frost is past and night temperatures are above 50 degrees Fahrenheit both day and night. In the shorter-season, cold winter areas of the U.S., this means late May to early June. The ideal spacing in rows for giant sunflowers with large seed heads is 20 in. apart. If you plant closer, you might get taller stalks but smaller heads. If you plant farther apart, the seed head may be larger, but possibly too heavy for the stalk to bear. If you have limited space, Tom recommends sowing in a small clump that will eventually be thinned to one plant.

To sow seeds, water your soil, and press seeds 1 inch deep in clumps of 5-6 seeds about 6-8 in. apart. Put snail bait in a circle around the clump (I like the product Sluggo because it is non-toxic to humans, pets and wildlife), and cover loosely with netting to protect emerging seedlings from birds. If the soil is kept moist, seedlings will appear within 5-10 days. When the plants grow to 3 inches, thin them to the most vigorous 3 or 4. When they are a foot tall, thin them to 2, and when they reach 2 feet high, select the best, most vigorous candidate. The point of this gradual thinning method is to ensure that you're left with at least one good seedling in the event that predators damage any of the others. Remember, it's critical to thin back to the best single seedling if you're going for giant sunflowers. Leaving even several seedlings growing too close together will keep you from growing a giant in your garden.

Feeding and Care of Your Growing Giant

Feed often and water regularly. While the plant is small, water around the root zone, about 3-4 in. from the plant with about 2 gallons of properly diluted liquid fertilizer solution per week. For larger plants, scrape out a small doughnut-shaped moat about 18 inches around the plant and about four inches deep. Pour several gallons of properly diluted fertilizer into the moat every week. Sunflower roots can grow to 4 feet below the soil surface. Avoid pouring fertilizer directly on the stems, since this can cause them to rot.

Another feeding method for larger plants is to make several holes by driving a steel stake into the ground about 3-4 feet deep and about 1½ feet from the plant. Fill the holes with properly diluted liquid fertilizer. Tom uses Miracle Grow or Schulz's growing solution, but as an organic gardener, you can use properly diluted fish emulsion or other liquid organic fertilizers.

Tom recommends that you care for giant sunflowers as members of your family. Be attentive to weather reports, especially, as your plants become taller and more top-heavy. When heavy winds are predicted, delay watering to reduce their chances of blowing over. Staking isn't usually necessary for sunflowers, but it can be helpful in extremely windy areas or if they must be grown in conditions that are too crowded or in too much shade.

Harvesting and Enjoying Giant Seed Heads

As the petals fall off, the center florets dry up and the seed kernels begin to swell in the disks, carefully climb a stepladder and cover your flower head with a mesh onion bag or loose burlap or paper bag. This keeps marauding birds from robbing your seeds so that the heads look perfect and complete when you are ready to show them off to friends or proudly display them on their long stalks at your local county fair. Cut the stalks at the base when the ripened seeds develop a hard shell. If you plan to preserve them for your bird feeder, wait until the seeds are completely dry; then remove them by hand or by rubbing them over wire mesh into a basket. Store in tightly closed containers to keep rodents away.

Giant Fun for All Ages

Growing giant Sunzilla sunflowers is a great way for getting children inspired to enjoy the garden. The seeds, which make tasty snacks for songbirds, are large and easy to handle. Like Jack's beanstalk, the plants grow quickly skyward, and the flower heads look cheerful and lion-like. Tall sunflowers can be planted in formation: as forests, playhouses or teepees. You can even grow colorful vines like scarlet runner beans up the stalks if you give the sunflowers several weeks head start. It's easy to get children involved in the excitement of watching how tall a family sunflower grows each day, or let them compete on their own! I plan to give seeds to several neighbors, and compare stalks at the end of the season!

Want more sunflower tips? How To Grow Summer Long Sunflowers

Fortunately for home gardeners with giant sunflower aspirations, Tom has also focused on breeding the ultimate tall competition varieties (" Giant Edible Sunzilla" and " Heirloom Titan"). Each year, Tom saves his longest stalk and largest seed head of this variety in his garage to measure against the following years. He currently prizes a 17-foot stalk and a 24 in. seed head! In this article, Tom has generously agreed to share his method of growing giants like these in your home garden.

First - Choose the Right Variety

Despite the growing popularity of new color introductions, the sunflowers that grow largest are those most of us still imagine first when thinking of sunflowers. These have tall single stalks with big flower faces of golden yellow petals and chocolate brown centers that ripen into heavy heads filled with seeds that birds will love.

I asked Tom why serious competitors should grow his variety instead of traditional varieties of large sunflowers like Mammoth, Russian Mammoth or California Greystripe. He explained that the seeds in Sunzilla are hybrids, developed to be uniform and consistently reliable - so that when you thin seedlings, you needn't worry that you may have just uprooted your most potentially vigorous specimen. While older varieties often become top-heavy and fall over in wet or windy weather, Sunzilla has been selected for a strong, thick stalk to support its heavy head. In ideal growing conditions, it reaches heights of 16 feet or more and produces huge seed heads.

Site and Soil Preparation Are Critical

Sunflowers need full sun; see 6-8 hours of direct sunlight per day - the more the better if you are trying to grow them to their maximum potential. Choose a well-drained location, and prepare your soil by digging an area of about 2-3 feet in circumference to a depth of about 2 feet. Sunflowers are heavy feeders and deplete the soil more than many other crops - especially if you are growing them to reach a massive height so the nutrient supply must be replenished each season.

Work in a slow release granular fertilizer - one that also contains trace minerals - about 8 in. deep into your soil. Tom uses Osmocote, but since I'm an organic gardener and raise rabbits, I plan to mix in a bucketful of composted rabbit manure plus a balanced slow-release granular fish fertilizer. Depending on your soil, you may wish to add, in addition to composted manure and an organic slow-release balanced fertilizer, an organic amendment containing trace minerals such as greensand or dried seaweed.

The Right Way to Sow and Thin For Success

To grow the largest sunflowers, it is essential to direct sow seed directly into the garden, rather than start them in pots of any kind. This is because sunflowers have long taproots that grow quickly and become stunted if confined. Peat pots in particular often dry out and block off root growth. Despite many gardener's best intentions, transplanting often gets postponed - so beat the odds and plan to sow seeds in the ground.

Since sunflowers that are planted in midsummer often flower on shorter stalks, sow your giant sunflowers earlier-as soon as all danger of frost is past and night temperatures are above 50 degrees Fahrenheit both day and night. In the shorter-season, cold winter areas of the U.S., this means late May to early June. The ideal spacing in rows for giant sunflowers with large seed heads is 20 in. apart. If you plant closer, you might get taller stalks but smaller heads. If you plant farther apart, the seed head may be larger, but possibly too heavy for the stalk to bear. If you have limited space, Tom recommends sowing in a small clump that will eventually be thinned to one plant.

To sow seeds, water your soil, and press seeds 1 inch deep in clumps of 5-6 seeds about 6-8 in. apart. Put snail bait in a circle around the clump (I like the product Sluggo because it is non-toxic to humans, pets and wildlife), and cover loosely with netting to protect emerging seedlings from birds. If the soil is kept moist, seedlings will appear within 5-10 days. When the plants grow to 3 inches, thin them to the most vigorous 3 or 4. When they are a foot tall, thin them to 2, and when they reach 2 feet high, select the best, most vigorous candidate. The point of this gradual thinning method is to ensure that you're left with at least one good seedling in the event that predators damage any of the others. Remember, it's critical to thin back to the best single seedling if you're going for giant sunflowers. Leaving even several seedlings growing too close together will keep you from growing a giant in your garden.

Feeding and Care of Your Growing Giant

Feed often and water regularly. While the plant is small, water around the root zone, about 3-4 in. from the plant with about 2 gallons of properly diluted liquid fertilizer solution per week. For larger plants, scrape out a small doughnut-shaped moat about 18 inches around the plant and about four inches deep. Pour several gallons of properly diluted fertilizer into the moat every week. Sunflower roots can grow to 4 feet below the soil surface. Avoid pouring fertilizer directly on the stems, since this can cause them to rot.

Another feeding method for larger plants is to make several holes by driving a steel stake into the ground about 3-4 feet deep and about 1½ feet from the plant. Fill the holes with properly diluted liquid fertilizer. Tom uses Miracle Grow or Schulz's growing solution, but as an organic gardener, you can use properly diluted fish emulsion or other liquid organic fertilizers.

Tom recommends that you care for giant sunflowers as members of your family. Be attentive to weather reports, especially, as your plants become taller and more top-heavy. When heavy winds are predicted, delay watering to reduce their chances of blowing over. Staking isn't usually necessary for sunflowers, but it can be helpful in extremely windy areas or if they must be grown in conditions that are too crowded or in too much shade.

Harvesting and Enjoying Giant Seed Heads

As the petals fall off, the center florets dry up and the seed kernels begin to swell in the disks, carefully climb a stepladder and cover your flower head with a mesh onion bag or loose burlap or paper bag. This keeps marauding birds from robbing your seeds so that the heads look perfect and complete when you are ready to show them off to friends or proudly display them on their long stalks at your local county fair. Cut the stalks at the base when the ripened seeds develop a hard shell. If you plan to preserve them for your bird feeder, wait until the seeds are completely dry; then remove them by hand or by rubbing them over wire mesh into a basket. Store in tightly closed containers to keep rodents away.

Giant Fun for All Ages

Growing giant Sunzilla sunflowers is a great way for getting children inspired to enjoy the garden. The seeds, which make tasty snacks for songbirds, are large and easy to handle. Like Jack's beanstalk, the plants grow quickly skyward, and the flower heads look cheerful and lion-like. Tall sunflowers can be planted in formation: as forests, playhouses or teepees. You can even grow colorful vines like scarlet runner beans up the stalks if you give the sunflowers several weeks head start. It's easy to get children involved in the excitement of watching how tall a family sunflower grows each day, or let them compete on their own! I plan to give seeds to several neighbors, and compare stalks at the end of the season!

Want more sunflower tips? How To Grow Summer Long Sunflowers

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Renee's Garden - The Garden To Table Seed Company

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Fortunately for home gardeners with giant sunflower aspirations, Tom has also focused on breeding the ultimate tall competition varieties ("Giant Edible Sunzilla" and "Heirloom Titan"). Each year, Tom saves his longest stalk and largest seed head of this variety in his garage to measure against the following years. He

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Dominating the exhibition is The Beekeeper, a floor to ceiling kinetic sculpture. Heaton built her eight primary chakras (centers of spiritual power in the body) to create what she refers to as "an energetic self-portrait." At the heart of the sculpture, bees fly around an illuminated honeycomb rooted in a landscape of floral electronics.

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3.Interdependent Relationships in Ecosystems: Environmental Impacts on Organisms

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3.Interdependent Relationships in Ecosystems: Environmental Impacts on Organisms

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Students who demonstrate understanding can:

3-LS2-1.

Construct an argument that some animals form groups that help members survive.

3-LS4-1.

Analyze and interpret data from fossils to provide evidence of the organisms and the environments in which they lived long ago. [Clarification Statement: Examples of data could include type, size, and distributions of fossil organisms. Examples of fossils and environments could include marine fossils found on dry land, tropical plant fossils found in Arctic areas, and fossils of extinct organisms.] [ Assessment Boundary: Assessment does not include identification of specific fossils or present plants and animals. Assessment is limited to major fossil types and relative ages.]

3-LS4-3.

Construct an argument with evidence that in a particular habitat some organisms can survive well, some survive less well, and some cannot survive at all. [Clarification Statement: Examples of evidence could include needs and characteristics of the organisms and habitats involved. The organisms and their habitat make up a system in which the parts depend on each other.]

3-LS4-4.

Make a claim about the merit of a solution to a problem caused when the environment changes and the types of plants and animals that live there may change.* [Clarification Statement: Examples of environmental changes could include changes in land characteristics, water distribution, temperature, food, and other organisms.] [ Assessment Boundary: Assessment is limited to a single environmental change. Assessment does not include the greenhouse effect or climate change.]

The performance expectations above were developed using the following elements from the NRC document A Framework for K-12 Science Education:

Science and Engineering Practices

Analyzing data in 3-5 builds on K-2 experiences and progresses to introducing quantitative approaches to collecting data and conducting multiple trials of qualitative observations. When possible and feasible, digital tools should be used.
Engaging in argument from evidence in 3-5 builds on K-2 experiences and progresses to critiquing the scientific explanations or solutions proposed by peers by citing relevant evidence about the natural and designed world(s).
Disciplinary Core Ideas

Crosscutting Concepts

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Connections to Engineering, Technology, and Applications of Science

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Connections to Nature of Science

Scientific Knowledge Assumes an Order and Consistency in Natural Systems

Science assumes consistent patterns in natural systems. (3-LS4-1)

Common Core State Standards Connections:

Students who demonstrate understanding can:

3-LS2-1.

Construct an argument that some animals form groups that help members survive.

3-LS4-1.

Analyze and interpret data from fossils to provide evidence of the organisms and the environments in which they lived long ago. [Clarification Statement: Examples of data could include type, size, and distributions of fossil organisms. Examples of fossils and environments could include marine fossils found on dry land, tropical plant fossils found in Arctic areas, and fossils of extinct organisms.] [ Assessment Boundary: Assessment does not include identification of specific fossils or present plants and animals. Assessment is limited to major fossil types and relative ages.]

3-LS4-3.

Construct an argument with evidence that in a particular habitat some organisms can survive well, some survive less well, and some cannot survive at all. [Clarification Statement: Examples of evidence could include needs and characteristics of the organisms and habitats involved. The organisms and their habitat make up a system in which the parts depend on each other.]

3-LS4-4.

Make a claim about the merit of a solution to a problem caused when the environment changes and the types of plants and animals that live there may change.* [Clarification Statement: Examples of environmental changes could include changes in land characteristics, water distribution, temperature, food, and other organisms.] [ Assessment Boundary: Assessment is limited to a single environmental change. Assessment does not include the greenhouse effect or climate change.]

The performance expectations above were developed using the following elements from the NRC document A Framework for K-12 Science Education:

Science and Engineering Practices

Analyzing data in 3-5 builds on K-2 experiences and progresses to introducing quantitative approaches to collecting data and conducting multiple trials of qualitative observations. When possible and feasible, digital tools should be used.
Engaging in argument from evidence in 3-5 builds on K-2 experiences and progresses to critiquing the scientific explanations or solutions proposed by peers by citing relevant evidence about the natural and designed world(s).
Disciplinary Core Ideas

Crosscutting Concepts

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Connections to Engineering, Technology, and Applications of Science

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Connections to Nature of Science

Scientific Knowledge Assumes an Order and Consistency in Natural Systems

Science assumes consistent patterns in natural systems. (3-LS4-1)

Common Core State Standards Connections:

Students who demonstrate understanding can:

3-LS2-1.

Construct an argument that some animals form groups that help members survive.

3-LS4-1.

Analyze and interpret data from fossils to provide evidence of the organisms and the environments in which they lived long ago. [Clarification Statement: Examples of data could include type, size, and distributions of fossil organisms. Examples of fossils and environments could include marine fossils found on dry land, tropical plant fossils found in Arctic areas, and fossils of extinct organisms.] [ Assessment Boundary: Assessment does not include identification of specific fossils or present plants and animals. Assessment is limited to major fossil types and relative ages.]

3-LS4-3.

Construct an argument with evidence that in a particular habitat some organisms can survive well, some survive less well, and some cannot survive at all. [Clarification Statement: Examples of evidence could include needs and characteristics of the organisms and habitats involved. The organisms and their habitat make up a system in which the parts depend on each other.]

3-LS4-4.

Make a claim about the merit of a solution to a problem caused when the environment changes and the types of plants and animals that live there may change.* [Clarification Statement: Examples of environmental changes could include changes in land characteristics, water distribution, temperature, food, and other organisms.] [ Assessment Boundary: Assessment is limited to a single environmental change. Assessment does not include the greenhouse effect or climate change.]

The performance expectations above were developed using the following elements from the NRC document A Framework for K-12 Science Education:

Science and Engineering Practices

Analyzing data in 3-5 builds on K-2 experiences and progresses to introducing quantitative approaches to collecting data and conducting multiple trials of qualitative observations. When possible and feasible, digital tools should be used.
Engaging in argument from evidence in 3-5 builds on K-2 experiences and progresses to critiquing the scientific explanations or solutions proposed by peers by citing relevant evidence about the natural and designed world(s).
Disciplinary Core Ideas

Crosscutting Concepts

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Connections to Engineering, Technology, and Applications of Science

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Connections to Nature of Science

Scientific Knowledge Assumes an Order and Consistency in Natural Systems

Science assumes consistent patterns in natural systems. (3-LS4-1)

Common Core State Standards Connections:

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3.Interdependent Relationships in Ecosystems: Environmental Impacts on Organisms

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Students who demonstrate understanding can: 3-LS2-1. Construct an argument that some animals form groups that help members survive. 3-LS4-1. Analyze and interpret data from fossils to provide evidence of the organisms and the environments in which they lived long ago.

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3-LS4-3 Biological Evolution: Unity and Diversity

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3-LS4-3 Biological Evolution: Unity and Diversity

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3-LS4-4 Biological Evolution: Unity and Diversity

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3-LS4-4 Biological Evolution: Unity and Diversity

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Bees could build flat honeycombs from just three shapes: squares, triangles or hexagons. But for some reason, bees choose hexagons. Always “perfect” hexagons. Why?

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Behind the Beehive - The Code - Episode 2 - BBC Two

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http://www.bbc.co.uk/code In episode two of The Code, Marcus du Sautoy explains why bees choose to use a hexagon to build their honeycomb structure rather than a triangle or a square.

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Stacey Churchill Could you describe your "To Bee or Not to Bee" lesson? What did your students do, and what were your goals for the activity? , this week's Educator of the Week, led a project called "To Bee or Not to Bee" in which her students researched threats to bee survival, designed an art project to present their findings, and displayed their works in several locations in their town.
Students researched the importance of saving the bees and used art to showcase their findings to the public.

Inspired by National Geographic photographer Joel Sartore's film " Rare: Creatures of the Photo Ark ," in which Sartore photographs endangered species from around the world, students worked in three teams to conduct research on the essential role pollinators play in maintaining our food supply. Each team member focused on one of the parts of STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art, and math) and presented their findings to the class by creating an art project of their own choosing. Having a choice in the aspect of STEAM through which they looked at the issue helped engage students in the lesson and allowed them to focus on their own personal strengths while making the project more meaningful to them. I think students gained a sense of ownership in their learning by making their own choices.

We then displayed their art in our school library, in a community exhibit at our town's public library, and on the students' web portfolios. Having students work in teams helped create a sense of community as they collaborated on their presentations. Students provided problem-solving examples of how to help mitigate the bee crisis, and we hope that we empowered community members to take action.

My goal for this lesson was to have students learn how such a small creature has such a large impact on our world. I wanted students to empathize with the problem and show responsibility for the planet while they created their art.
Educators: download the full lesson plan here! What advice would you give educators who want to incorporate more art into their science lessons?
Soon after teaching this lesson, the rusty patched bumble bee gained protection under the Endangered Species Act, the first bumble bee in the U.S. to receive this designation. This news allowed us to continue this lesson by discussing the timeliness of the news and emphasizing that just because our lesson was finished didn't mean that we should stop caring.

Adding the "A" to STEM can help reach all students in your classroom by making material more relatable to students with varying interests. Many STEM lessons effortlessly welcome art into the mix.

Art provides students the opportunity to communicate in an authentic way, so I would suggest teachers incorporate art to help students demonstrate their learning. Have students create their own solutions to STEM issues and present their learning in innovative and artistic ways.
How did infusing art into a project about bees and conservation inspire students to be changemakers?
Looking to nature was a wonderful way for me to develop a STEAM lesson, so I would suggest that teachers use the environment as a starting point.

In reflections after the project, students spoke of how proud they were of their creations, how their groups came together to make a great presentation, overcoming the challenge of taking photos, and working more productively than usual. They would like to do more research to find the exact cause of colony collapse disorder, how the people making bee robots came up with such an amazing idea, how they can continue to spread the word about their research, and how they can translate this project into the real world.
This interview has been edited and condensed. Do you know a great educator who teaches about our world? Nominate a colleague or yourself as the next Educator of the Week!
I was impressed by my students' engagement in the activity, enjoyment of creating art, and genuine concern for bees. They took pride in their work, and I think that the STEAM components of this project helped make a lasting impression on my students.

The Educator Spotlight series features inspiring activities and lessons that educators are implementing with their students that connect them to the world in bold and exciting ways.

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Educator Spotlight: Saving the Bees with STEAM

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Stacey Churchill Could you describe your "To Bee or Not to Bee" lesson? What did your students do, and what were your goals for the activity? , this week's Educator of the Week, led a project called "To Bee or Not to Bee" in which her students researched threats to bee survival, designed an art project to present their findings, and displayed their works in several locations in their town.

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A colorful native-bee mural on a tiny tool shed in the honey bee garden at UC Davis may indeed be the most bee-utiful shed in the country.

It's informative, educational and artistic, visitors and bee specialists alike agree.

"It's spectacular," said native pollinator specialist Robbin Thorp, emeritus professor of entomology at UC Davis. "It is gratifying to see our native bees get recognition alongside their most famous cousin, the European honey bee."

Squash bee? Check. Leafcutter bee? Check. Sweat bee? Check. Wool carder bees? Check.

They're among the 22 bees portrayed by 22 UCD students recently enrolled in Entomology 1, "Art, Science and the World of Insects."

The art is a new addition to the Häagen-Dazs Honey Bee Haven, next to the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility on Bee Biology Road, west of the central campus.

The haven does quadruple duty: It's a year-round food source for the Laidlaw bees and other pollinators; and it's an educational, artistic and research garden that focuses on the plight and needs of honey bees.

The students are neither entomology nor art majors. In fact, their fields of study span 12 different majors, including engineering and computer science. Many had never heard of a digger bee, longhorned bee or a sweat bee, let alone how to depict it on the mural.

But soon they did. Graduate student/teaching assistant Sarah Dalrymple guided them on an art and science expedition that led to the design, creation and installation of the mural.

"Each student chose a different native bee species to research and then came up with a design to illustrate an interesting aspect of the bee's behavior," said Dalrymple, who served as the graphics project coordinator. She is studying for her doctorate with major professor Rick Karban of the entomology department.

"They painted their own composition onto a hexagonal piece of concrete board and at the end of the quarter these hexagons were assembled into a honeycomb mosaic on the side of the shed," she said.

Most of the bees depicted - including mason, sweat, squash, leafcutter, blue orchard, carpenter and bumble bees - are natives. Also portrayed: the non-native honey bee (Apis mellifera), brought to America in 1622 by European colonists.

"When most people hear the word, 'bee,' honey bee immediately comes to mind," said UCD Extension apiculturist Eric Mussen. "Honey bees do provide 80 to 90 percent of the crop pollination that results in about one-third of our daily dieT. However, other bees contribution to crop pollination and are responsible for the maintenance of flowers, shrubs and trees in our forests, meadows and deserts."

Dalrymple, who received the 2011 UCD Outstanding Graduate Student Teaching Award for her work, "crossed the boundaries between biology, art and culture and provided a high level of expertise and innovation in each area," said course co-instructor Diane Ullman, associate dean for undergraduate academic programs and a professor of entomology.

"This kind of integration takes courage and the will to reach across disciplinary borders to engage students in a new way of thinking," Ullman said.

As for Dalrymple, she said she's always loved art and science and blending them came naturally.

"I took a lot of art classes as a kid and in high school and especially enjoyed working with oil and acrylic paints," she said. "In college I majored in biology (ecology and evolutionary biology) and minored in Spanish at the University of Tennessee and lost my focus on art."

The Häagen-Dazs Honey Bee Haven is open year-round, from dawn to dusk. There is no admission fee.

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Art, science merge in this bee-utiful mural

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A colorful native-bee mural on a tiny tool shed in the honey bee garden at UC Davis may indeed be the most bee-utiful shed in the country. It's informative, educational and artistic, visitors and bee specialists alike agree. "It's spectacular," said native pollinator specialist Robbin Thorp, emeritu

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In 2013, artist Kelly Heaton had a vision of a magnificent bee appearing in the darkness, illuminated by an iridescent aura. Over the next few years, she explored bees from every angle, learning beekeeping, building kinetic sculptures based on hive behavior, crafting perfumes from bee-friendly flowers, and painting an interpretation of that initial insect manifestation. Her multifaceted approach to bees and how they can reflect everything from fertility to technology is on view in Kelly Heaton: Pollination at Ronald Feldman Fine Arts.

Heaton explains in an accompanying catalogue:

I am an artist because I am actively pollinated by the spirit world. Without this, I would have nothing of merit to show you. Pollination is not about bees per se, but about a fertile exchange in which supernatural fertility is a priori.

Accordingly, Pollination hovers across media and themes, but the highlight is the huge sculpture, "The Beekeeper" (2015), that dominates the first of two galleries. In it, a sun made of white hands looms over an illuminated hive orbited by robotic bees, representing the energetic hub of the exhibition, as well as something of a self-portrait with various "chakras" contained in the hive. Nearby, the "Emergency Queen Cell" (2014) shows an inverted outline of the Virgin Mary oozing below a hive, referencing the chaos of a colony when it loses its queen. Opposite, the more abstract "Colony Collapse Disorder" (2015) features a larger-than-life bee and electric transistor, responding to a bee colony in disarray. Other works feel more like experiments than completed ideas, such as "Pollen Nation" (2015), a beekeeping frame, and a crossword puzzle charting endangered pollinators.

The precarious balance of hive colonies and the influence of technology (which may be contributing to the disappearance of honeybees) are ideas also evoked in "Kinetic Studies of Bees" (2013-15). The kinetic bee sculptures activate when viewers come close, inspired by the way honeybees hover at hives when they're newcomers or learning foraging. Then there's a whole wall of perfume, some made from flowers like thistle, mint, and goldenrod, another from dollar bills. Packed into two galleries, it's a lot to take in, but Pollination buzzes with energy and encourages a closer consideration of the humble honeybee as messenger, bearing not only Heaton's initial vision but also a bridge between science and art.

Kelly Heaton: Pollination continues at Ronald Feldman Fine Arts (31 Mercer Street, Soho, Manhattan) through October 24.

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In 2013, artist Kelly Heaton had a vision of a magnificent bee appearing in the darkness, illuminated by an iridescent aura. Over the next few years, she explored bees from every angle, learning beekeeping, building kinetic sculptures based on hive behavior, crafting perfumes from bee-friendly flowers, and painting an interpretation of that initial insect manifestation.

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We've known for a while that honey bees are smart cookies. They have excellent navigation skills, they communicate symbolically through dance, and they're the only insects that have been shown to learn abstract concepts.

Honey bees might also add the title of art connoisseur to their box of tricks. In part one of The Great Australian Bee Challenge, we see honey bees learning to tell the difference between European and Australian Indigenous art in just one afternoon.

Does this mean honey bees are more cultured than we are?

Perhaps not, but the experiment certainly shows just how quickly honey bees can learn to process very complex information.

How the experiment worked

Bees were shown four different paintings by the French impressionist artist Claude Monet, and four paintings by Australian Indigenous artist Noŋgirrŋa Marawili.

At the center of each of the paintings was placed a small blue dot. To make the difference between the artists meaningful to the honey bees, every time they landed on the blue dot on a Marawili painting they found a minute drop of sugar water. Every time they visited the blue dot on a Monet painting, however, they found a drop of dilute quinine. The quinine isn't harmful, but it does taste bitter.

Water Lilies by Claude Monet.

Having experienced each of the Monet and Marawili paintings the bees were given a test. They were shown paintings by the two artists that they had never seen before. Could they tell the difference between a Marawili and a Monet?

All the trained bees clearly directed their attention to the Marawili paintings.

This experiment was a recreation of a study first conducted by Dr Judith Reinhard's team at the University of Queensland. In the original study, Reinhard was able to train bees to tell the difference between paintings by Monet and Picasso.

Bees are quick to learn

This kind of work does not show bees have a sense of artistic style, but it does show how good they are at learning and classifying visual information.

Different artists-be they Marawili, Monet, or Picasso-tend to prefer different forms of composition and structure, different tones, and different pallets in their art. We describe this as their distinctive style. These styles are recognizable to us, even if most of us would be hard pressed to describe exactly what makes a Marawili different from a Monet.

When the honey bees were trained on the paintings, every Monet they visited was a bitter experience, while every Marawili was sweet. This motivated the bees to learn whatever differences best distinguished the set of Marawili paintings from the set of Monets.

Lightning in the Rock by Noŋgirrŋa Marawili.

Bee color vision is excellent, if different from ours. Bees can see ultraviolet wavelengths of light, but not red. Bees can pick up structure and edges in paintings by zipping quickly back and forth in front of them to detect abrupt changes in the brightness of an image.

In our experiment, bees could detect enough differences between the Marawili and Monet paintings to learn to tell them apart. The bees were not memorizing the paintings; instead they were learning whatever information best distinguished a Monet from a Marawili. They could then maximize their collection of sugar, and avoid any bitter surprises.

Learning the visual differences between one set of Monet and Marawili paintings was enough for the bees to correctly choose between Monet and Marawili paintings they had never seen before.

Similarities between art and flowers

This experiment taps into a highly evolved honey bee skill. Bees did not evolve to differentiate between artists, but their survival depends on learning to tell which flowers are most likely to offer the best pollen and nectar they need to feed their hive.

Because of this, bees have evolved the ability to very quickly process complex and subtle visual information. These learning skills are on display when bees forage on flowers. Bees quickly learn to pick up on the subtlest distinction between fresh and older flowers, be it color, odor, or texture, which can betray the blooms that are most likely to contain a drop of nectar.

Honey bees break any stereotypes we may have that insects are dumb, instinct-driven animals. They have an intelligence that is very different from ours, but one that has evolved to be fit for the task of a bee doing what a bee has to do.

It is hard not to admire such clever and discriminating creatures.
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

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Bees can learn the difference between different styles of art in a single afternoon

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We've known for a while that honey bees are smart cookies. They have excellent navigation skills, they communicate symbolically through dance, and they're the only insects that have been shown to learn abstract concepts. Honey bees might also add the title of art connoisseur to their box of tricks.

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Have you noticed a dearth of pollinators in your garden of late? Honeybee numbers are declining due to several factors, and it's finally starting to make headlines. The loss of bee colonies has far-reaching consequences that go well beyond missing the honey on your morning granola. About one third of our crops are pollinated by bees. http://berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2006/10/25_pollinator.shtml Without these busy little bugs, fresh fruit and vegetables will become far more expensive, and less available.

In our last article on the subject of Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD), we discussed how flower choice can make a huge difference to the number of pollinators visiting your garden. Another practical way to help restore bee colonies in your area is to create a bee-friendly garden. By providing shelter, food, and water, you can help the bees in your neighborhood to thrive.

Creating Homes for Your Honeybees

You don't have to keep a hive to have a healthy bee population around your home. Not all bees live in large colonies - in fact, many species of bumblebees and honeybees live solitary lives. http://www.foxleas.com/bee_house.htm You can make these loners feel at home in your garden by creating a little BB&B (bee bed and breakfast)! This will also prevent these pollinators from boring into your carpentry or nesting too close to where you live and play.

When selecting a location for your bee haven, be sure to pick a place away from human activity where bees could cause injury. Place all bee homes where they won't be disturbed by pets or children.

Bee board: Take an old piece of lumber and drill holes up to half an inch wide into the board. http://resonatingbodies.wordpress.com/resources/building-houses-for-native-bees/ Ensure that the lumber has not been treated with chemicals. Now find a sunny spot in the garden like a tree or a fence post where it's dry and cool in the winter. Make sure that your bee board is sheltered from the rain. If you don't have a suitable place, use another old piece of lumber to create a little roof to keep your bees dry.

You can further protect the bee larvae by bringing the bee homes into your garage or shed in the winter to prevent them from getting wet. Be sure to store them in a cool, dry place. If you have woodpeckers, protect the bee board with chicken wire so that they can't peck out the bee larvae.

Stick homes: While bee boards work fine, bees are far more partial to nesting in little tubes. You can use hollowed sticks that have been thoroughly dried and are free of chemicals. Bundle the sticks together and hang in a dry, sunny spot in the garden. If you have an old shelf, you can stack the bundles so they are protected from the rain, or you can fashion a roof from a piece of old lumber to keep your bees dry.

Bamboo bee home: Another great way to provide shelter for bees is to use bamboo. Mason bees are particularly fond of bamboo nests and are among the busiest pollinators. You can get bamboo from any local garden store. Cut the bamboo into six-inch lengths and make sure they are hollowed out. Use a chopstick to remove any debris or vegetable matter that is blocking the tube. http://www.marthastewart.com/272374/bamboo-bee-house

Place the bamboo bee's nest three to six feet off the ground in a warm, sunny spot that is protected from the rain. http://www.xerces.org/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/nests_for_native_bees_fact_sheet_xerces_society.pdf Tree branches or rafters work best, but if you can't find a dry spot in your garden, take an old tin can and drill a hole in the bottom. Now use a screw to secure the can to a wooden fence post, to a shed or tree or the side of your home. Place the bamboo pieces in the tin can and you have the perfect bee home.

Bee Feeder

Your bees may emerge from their winter hibernation well before there are enough flowers for them in your garden. If this is the case, you can easily keep them well fed by creating a DIY Mason jar feeder. Use a medium-sized Mason jar with a metal lid. With a 1/8-inch nail, make four holes in the lid. http://animals.pawnation.com/diy-bee-feeder-8842.html Ensure that the holes are small enough to let the liquid drip out very slowly and just big enough for a bee tongue to fit in. Fill the jar with a water and sugar syrup mixed with a 1:1 ratio. Place the jar upside down, resting on two pieces of wood on top of your bee house, so your favorite bugs have easy access to their bee café. http://mudsongs.org/how-to-install-a-jar-feeder/

Sources of Pollen

Another thing your bees need in order to feel right at home is a source of pollen. Most flowering plants will provide pollen for your bees, but bees are especially fond of flowers in the blue to purple range, as well as white and yellow bouquets. http://www.davidsuzuki.org/what-you-can-do/food-and-our-planet/create-a-bee-friendly-garden/

Make sure your bee buffet is always stocked by planting different crops that flower throughout the spring and summer. Flowering fruit trees and vegetables are also bee favorites: fruit and berry flowers provide pollen in the early season, while squash and pumpkins are good choices for later in the summer.

See our complete guide to gardening and planting for bees for more information on perfect flower selection and other practical tips.

Hydration Station

Bees also need an accessible source of water. The best option here is to fill a shallow bowl or drip tray in the morning with an amount that will evaporate by early evening. Place a few rocks in the tray so the bees have a safe place to land. This is important, because often backyard sources of water contain no landing pads, and as a result bees crash land and drown, or pass up the water source entirely. Replace water daily and leave the tray at ground level near your bee homes and flowers.

As research on what's happening to our bees continues to emerge, it's easy to feel powerless about fixing the problem. But by observing sound planting policies and a few easy green DIY tips, you can make your garden an oasis for our pollinators, who currently need all the help they can get from us!

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Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) is a real threat to our much-needed pollinators, but did you know you could be doing more to help bees thrive in your back yard? Follow our tips for setting up bee homes, feeders, and watering stations and watch bees coming buzzing to your garden.

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We're big fans of bees at Moral Fibres - see how you can plant a bee friendly garden or, if you don't have a garden, how you can help the bees in other ways.

However, it's all well and good when the bees are buzzing around, doing their thing, but have you ever seen a tired, struggling or apparently dying or dead bee in your home or garden? When I've seen bees like this I've always assumed that they were dying or dead (ever the optimist!), but the other day my other half told me they're not dying, just tired, and that you can actually revive these bees quickly and easily using only sugar and water.

It's true, a simple solution of sugar and water helps revive exhausted bees. To create this energy drink for bees to revive tired bees, The RSPB suggests mixing two tablespoons of white, granulated sugar with one tablespoon of water, and placing the mix on a plate or spoon. Do not add any more water otherwise the bee could drown. Place the bee on the plate or spoon, where it will have a little drink, hopefully helping it to gather the energy to fly back to its hive.

You can also add the same quantity of water and sugar to a small container, such as an egg cup, and leave it amongst a patch of flowers in your garden or window box so that bees can have a drink on the go before they get to the exhaustion stage.

Don't be tempted to offer tired bees honey - in most cases, the honey isn't suitable as a lot of honey is imported and may not always be right for native British bees. And only ever offer white granulated sugar - never offer demerara, or any artificial or diet sweeteners.

Thankfully I haven't seen any tired bees since learning this useful tip to try it out, however knowing some very basic "thirst aid" (!) for bees can go a long way in helping out the bees rebuild their population sizes.

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How To Revive Tired Bees | Moral Fibres - UK Eco Green Blog

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We're big fans of bees at Moral Fibres - see how you can plant a bee friendly garden or, if you don't have a garden, how you can help the bees in other ways.

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Have you ever had the opportunity to observe the busy work of a tiny honey bee as it meanders from flower to flower on a clear, sunny day? There's something truly captivating about honey bees that draws us deeper into their world. We see honey bees frequently in books, movies, and television, where they are often associated with making hives filled with delicious, golden honey. You might recall reading about a hungry bear character in search of the honey bee's golden treasures in various children's stories. Honey bees are known for their production of honey and beeswax, as well as the large role they play in the pollination of plants and flowers. Honey bees can also be considered super-organisms due to their complex social systems and dynamic, tight-knit interactions with one another and their environments.

Since early recorded history, humans have been drawn to honey bees and their ability to produce tasty and valuable substances. Indigenous people have been historically culturing or exploiting bees all around the world, eventually leading to the domestication of a select few honey bee species over time. Roffet-Salque et al. (2015) examined the importance of the honey bee in agricultural societies throughout history. They found that people were harvesting bees for their honey and beeswax as far back as the time of Neolithic communities during the very beginnings of farming and agriculture (Roffet-Salque et al. 2015). You can probably imagine the attraction to honey back then when there were hardly any options for food flavoring and sugary treats. Furthermore, beeswax would have been extremely useful as an early form of glue, medicine, and so on. Today, beekeepers raise domesticated honey bee colonies for a variety of reasons, including the extraction of their raw honey, the benefits of their presence for pollinating crops, and as a healthy, environmentally friendly recreational activity.

There are actually seven recognized species of honey bee within the genus Apis, with the most popular and well-known being the Western honey bee (Apis mellifera). Out of the 20,000 different kinds of bees, we often recognize honey bees as the most charismatic representative of the species. However, there are a few other close relatives of the honey bee deserving of our interest and respect. Mason bees (Osmia spp.), the gentle cousins of the honey bee, are also fantastically efficient pollinators native to North America.

Leafcutter bees (Megachilidae spp.) are hard-working, more solitary pollinators with a specialization in carrying pollen for alfalfa, an important crop for livestock. The bumblebee (Bombus spp.), a hairier and more robust cousin of honey bees, are another popular species often associated with spring flowers and lazy, sunny days. All of these species of bees are unique but share one thing in common - they provide incredibly significant ecosystem services with far-reaching effects on their respective habitats and environments.

Honey bees are super pollinators, meaning that they are very good at helping flowers and plants reproduce. When a honey bee lands on the flower of a plant, pollen from the flower's male reproductive organ (the stamen) will stick to the hairs on the bee's body. The honey bee will then carry that pollen to another flower where it comes in contact with the flower's female reproductive organ (the pistil), thus creating the opportunity for fertilization. It's a win-win relationship; the bee gets important nutrients from the flower's nectar and pollen, while the flower gets a chance at reproduction. (Other bees use a pollen basket.) Honey bees are generalists, meaning that they aren't too picky about which flowers they choose to visit. This is great for the bee, because they aren't restricted by the need to find one specific type of flower. This can also be beneficial to plants because bees will likely visit a wider variety of flowers over a longer foraging period.

Do you enjoy eating fresh fruits such as strawberries, blueberries, and apples? Are healthy dietary staples such as broccoli, nuts, and asparagus part of your everyday meals? Without honey bees and other bee species, you can say goodbye to the majority of fresh, nutritious food options. In fact, if it weren't for bees, about one third of the food that humans eat would not be available! If that's not reason enough to capture your interest and concern for bees, consider the wide range of ecosystem services that bees provide. Do you enjoy being out in nature while breathing in the fresh air and immersing yourself in the beautiful scenery? Without the services of bees and other pollinators, our world would look very different. Pollinator-dependent plants would be unable to reproduce and spread across the landscape. Consider the importance of flowering plants and fruit trees for other insects, birds, and wildlife. Without these sources of food, herbivores and frugivores (plant and fruit-eating animals) would have a harder time finding food. This in turn would impact the rest of the food chain, including carnivores and omnivores such as wolves, bears, and humans. Due to these far-reaching, powerful connections, the honey bee is a profound contributor to ecosystems.

Honey bees can play an enormous role in producing the highest quality fruit and vegetables that we grow and consume. In 2000, honey bee pollination in the United States agricultural industry was estimated to have a value of $14.6 billion, which is a 36.3% increase from previous years (Morse and Calderone 2000). However, honey production is valued around $200 million, which is incredibly small in comparison. Out of the 115 leading agricultural crop plants worldwide, 75% or 87 of them depend on, or at least benefit from animal pollination (Klein et al. 2007). The remaining 28 crops rely on self-pollination or wind (Klein et al. 2007). This is a huge portion of important crops that require bees and other animal pollinators for their reproduction! Are you still wondering why honey bees are so important for growing and producing the food that you eat? Bartomeus et al. (2014) looked at how pollinators delivered benefits to different types of common crops that we consume. They found that if bees contribute in the production of fruits and vegetables, the quality improves and the yield will grow by up to 71% (Bartomeus et al. 2014). In other words, bees can help make crops not only look and taste better, but also help increase the amount that can be grown at a given time.

Aside from the abundance of gifts that bees offer for the production and quality of our food, keeping honey bees can also deliver us valuable and nutritional benefits from the materials and substances that they gather and produce. Do you love to use honey as a natural sweetener for your tea or cooking recipes? Honey can also be great for a sore throat or an upset stomach if you are having nausea or indigestion. Honey can be used as an exfoliator as well as an aid in curing acne. According to the U.S. Honey Board, Americans consumed 410 million pounds of honey in 2010. Of that, nearly 70% was imported. You can thank bees and the hard work of beekeepers for this wonderful golden substance!
Pollen, wax, and propolis (a resin-like material from the buds of trees usually obtained from beehives) also offer a wide variety of craft, manufacturing, and medical applications. According to WebMD, bee pollen can be consumed for a wide range of benefits, including appetite stimulation, hay fever, mouth sores, bleeding problems, and gastrointestinal issues. WebMD also discusses the historical use of propolis in the healing of wounds, tumors, canker sores, and the supplementation of other medical problems, as well as its use in cosmetics. Wax or beeswax has a wide range of uses, from oiling furniture and granite polisher to bow string lubricant and lip balm. Clearly, honey bees are more than just producers of a natural sweetener. For centuries, they have offered a myriad of medicinal benefits and practical uses that we can still enjoy to this day. Considering everything that honey bees do for us, what can we do for them?

Unfortunately, bees have been dying at a terrifying rate. Koh et al. (2016) performed a large-scale analysis for the trends and status of wild bees in the United States, with a focus on correlations with impacts on pollination services. They found that, between 2008 and 2013, "bee abundance declined across 23% of US land area" (Koh et al. 2016). Furthermore, their research indicated that farmers in the US may experience increased costs and destabilization in crop production in accordance with the decline of pollinators (Koh et al. 2016). Unfortunately, domestic bees are showing declining trends as well. According to Bee Informed, 44% of beekeeper colonies were lost in the United States between 2015 and 2016. These trends, based on a survey looking at commercial as well as small-scale beekeepers, appear to be getting worse. We know that we need bees, and we know that they're in trouble - so why are bees dying?

The answer isn't simple. There are a number of factors that can result in the decline of bee populations and Colony Collapse Disorder, or CCD. CCD occurs when the majority of worker bees in a colony suddenly disappears, leaving behind the queen and essentially collapsing or breaking up the colony. This is a major concern, because while bees are declining, the demand for pollinator-dependent crops is increasing. In Marla Spivak's TED Talk discussion "Why bees are disappearing", she mentions that there has been a 300% increase in crop production that requires bee pollination. This list includes a large variety of fruits and vegetables that we buy every day at the grocery store, as well as crops, such as alfalfa, that feed the livestock that we also consume. She goes on to mention that having bees naturally pollinate crops results in much higher quality fruit than "unnatural" pollination, such as manually distributing pollen by hand. Despite the massive significance of goods and services that bees provide for us, we now have only half of the number of managed hives in the United States than we did in 1945. This means that the number of managed beehives has declined while crop demand has increased, creating a major imbalance for agriculture as well as ecosystems. Why?

Bees are in danger of disappearing from our environment. With the expansion of human development, wild bees have been losing their natural habitats as the land transitions into industrial agriculture. Additionally, warming climate conditions have caused major shifts in plant communities, and therefore the behavior and survival of bees. Conte and Navajas (2008) studied the impacts of climate change on European honey bees and found that climate change could have a significant impact on factors related to stress and disease, and a combination of human-induced environmental changes could hinder the ability of bees to adapt to these changes. In other words, many bee populations are facing a large amount of endangerment at a greater rate than they can adjust to, despite their great adaptability. In their assessment of pollinator contributions to agricultural crops, Bartomeus et al. (2014) mentioned that the loss of wild bees can partially be mitigated by the presence of managed honey bees; however, wild populations are major contributors and landscape-scale actions should be taken to restore wild bee populations. Ultimately, both domestic and wild bees are important pollinators for industrial agriculture as well as wild ecosystems, and they need our help.

Pesticide use is another major factor that is putting bee populations at risk. Pesticides are meant to keep "bad" bugs, weeds, and fungi out of our crops. However, these pesticides can have unintentional negative side effects on the "good" bugs, including honey bees and other important pollinators. One type of widely used pesticide is called "neonicotinoid", and it's causing major issues for both commercial bred honey bees as well as wild bee populations. When a crop is treated with neonicotinoid chemicals, it becomes toxic to any insects that interacts with it, even non-target species. In an article from Mercola, Dr. Mercola discusses how neonicotinoid pesticides are used on many garden-store plants, even ones that are considered to be "bee-friendly plants". He goes on to say that negative effects on bees can be mitigated by encouraging manufacturers to stop producing toxic neonictinoids and instead focus on using alternative organic weed and pest control options.

Yet another major factor threatening honey bees is the varroa mite (Varroa destructor). This very small, round mite is a terror for honey bees and it can destroy entire colonies if left untreated. A verroa mite outbreak can mean devastating economic impacts for beekeepers, and it is considered to be one of the primary factors involved in CCD. In a recent press release from University of Maryland, honey bee researchers found that varroa mite infestations are more of a serious problem than previously thought, and infestations appear to be worse in stationary hives. What's worse is that varroa mites can act as a vector for severe viruses and they can spread diseases between hives. Only appropriate and consistent treatment and care provided by beekeepers can keep colonies alive, so it's vitally important that beekeepers persistently maintain their bees and stay up-to-date on the latest treatment efforts. Unfortunately, there are many cases where CCD still occurs, despite the beekeeper's best actions for care and treatment.

There is hope! If we dedicate more time and resources to studying bees, spreading awareness, and working toward positive coexistence with bees, we can help both wild and domesticated populations. Brown and Paxton (2009) assessed the major threats to bee diversity and presented a list of strategies for actions we can take to help bees. Some examples of these strategies include the minimization of habitat loss and degradation, adding bee-friendly features to agricultural areas, increasing studies on bees to answer more questions about their decline, and promoting public education (Brown and Paxton 2009). Saving honey bees and other bee species starts with collaborating wild bee habitat restoration efforts, improving methods for keeping domesticated honey bees, reducing the use of harmful pesticides, and spreading knowledge about the importance of bees to ecosystems and our daily lives. Whether you practice beekeeping, enjoy eating food from pollinator-dependent sources, or simply love honey bees - there's always a reason to help bees!
RT if you're concerned about the decline in bee populations #savethebees #sponsorahive Click To Tweet

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Honey Bees: Heroes of Our Planet - The Honeybee Conservancy

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Honey bees can play an enormous role in producing the highest quality fruit and vegetables that we grow and consume. Bees can help make crops not only look and taste better, but also help increase the amount that can be grown at a given time.

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We're crawling with excitement at Earth Rangers and we can't wait to share one of our new Bring Back the Wild animals with you. Come on in and get the buzz on why Bees and other Pollinators are so important to protect!

Hungry bugs visit plants because they provide them with an important resource: nectar. This sweet sugary liquid is produced in flowers and provides their insect visitors with the energy they need to survive. When an insect lands on a flower to feed, it rubs up against the flower's pollen grains, which stick to its body as it travels from flower to flower. The transfer of pollen from one flower to another is called pollination, and it is from this process that seeds are produced so future plant generations can continue to grow.

Besides being nice to look at, plants produce the oxygen we need to breathe, provide habitat for a number of animals, help control the world's water supply, and regulate its climate. Nearly 80% of all flowering plants are pollinated by insects like bees, and without them, many of these plant populations would decline- so it's easy to see just how important these pollinators are!

Bees are the top pollinators in Canada and one of the most important groups of pollinators on Earth. Among the thousands of plant species they're responsible for pollinating are a number of food crops that we enjoy every day, like apples, sweet potatoes, and watermelon, just to name a few!

We know bees are responsible for helping to produce delicious fruits and veggies, but for those of you who have a sweet tooth, they've got you covered too! Honey bees use nectar to make honey, and this honey feeds the colony over the cold winter months when the bees cannot leave their hive and flowers are not blooming. A mature honey beehive can produce over 100 pounds of honey each season!

Although it might not look like much to us, a bee's mid-air buzzing is much more than just flying freestyle. If a bee on the hunt for nectar, pollen, water, or habitat comes across an awesome spot, it will return home and perform a complex dance to share this location with members of the hive. These "waggle dances" can provide information about the distance, direction, and even quality of a site, all without saying a word!

Unfortunately, some pollinator populations are declining. Pollinators in Canada face many challenges, including habitat loss from human development, which replaces areas of native plants with houses, roads, and even lawns and gardens. Without these native plants, pollinators lose the habitats and food sources they rely on.

To help protect these buzzworthy creatures, Earth Rangers has teamed up with Pollinator Partnership on a project that will create new habitat for bees, butterflies , and other pollinators. By identifying the plant species used by different pollinators, we can put together guides to help people everywhere plant successful pollinator gardens. These new habitats will help support healthy populations of many amazing insects for generations to come.

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Top 5 reasons why you should protect Bees and Other Pollinators | Earth Rangers Wild Wire Blog

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We're crawling with excitement at Earth Rangers and we can't wait to share one of our new Bring Back the Wild animals with you. Come on in and get the buzz on why Bees and other Pollinators are so important to protect! Hungry bugs visit plants because they provide them with an important resource: nectar.

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When you hear the buzzing of a bee, are you scared? Well don't be! Generally, if you don't bother them, they will leave you alone. Besides, bees are actually pretty awesome! Much of what bees do help humans, even if most of the time they just buzz around, feeding from flower to flower and minding their own beezness. Don't believe us? Take a look at these six reasons why bees are your best friends.

Pollination of Wild Plants

Bees are pollinators! Pollination is the movement of pollen from the anthers (male parts of a flower) to the stigmas (female part of a flower). The pollen fertilizes the eggs of a plant, producing the seed that will form the new plant.

Bumble bees, honey bees and other pollinators like wasps, flies, butterflies, birds and bats are responsible for pollinating 75% of the world's food crops and 90% of our wild plants, including many trees! Since plants absorb carbon dioxide and give off oxygen, we need them to breathe. If we want to keep many of our plants around, keeping all bees healthy is a great way to do so.

Pollination of Food Crops

Bees don't just pollinate wild plants, they are also huge contributors to the pollination of many of the plants we eat! Foods like squash, pumpkins, zucchini, kiwi, and watermelon are pollinated by bumble bees, honey bees and solitary bees. Tomatoes are pollinated by bumble bees. Other food plants like Guar beans, lemons and limes are pollinated by honey bees. All these foods and many more would be impacted if bees disappeared. It has been said that for every three bites of food you take, you should thank a bee or other pollinator.

Our bee scientist, Dr. Cory Sheffield, and one of his graduate students at the Royal Saskatchewan Museum are finding out how to make better use of bumble bees as pollinators of some food crops. Haskap, for example, is a plant that produces dark blue berries that are high in anti-oxidants and other healthy nutrients like anthocyanins. Haskap fruit tastes like a mix of raspberries and blueberries (only a bit more sour). The Western bumble bee is a very important pollinator of haskap plants and are one of the main reasons why people are able to enjoy this delicious fruit.

These foods don't just benefit humans. Fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds and plants also provide food for birds, mammals and insects.

Feed our Food

Did you know that bees help put milk in your glass, cheese and eggs in your fridge and meat on your table? Honey bees are important pollinators of alfalfa while bumble bees are one pollinator that pollinates clover, plants that are used to feed dairy and beef cows, rabbits and chickens.

Biodiversity

Bees play an important role in protecting biodiversity. While some bees are generalist pollinators, meaning they will pollinate many different kinds of plants, other bees pollinate specific kinds of plants. In some cases, certain plants are only pollinated by a single species of pollinator called pollinator specialists. These plants may have pollen in places that are hard to reach, but these specialist bees have what it takes.

Animal and plant biodiversity would not exist without bees. Through pollinating a huge variety of plants bees help keep species thriving and their populations growing. Pollination not only promotes healthy and strong plant populations, it also helps keep herbivores (plant eaters) and omnivores (plant and meat eaters) that feed on these plants alive and well.

Honey

Did you know that honey is made through regurgitation and evaporation? Each honey bee carries nectar back to the hive in a special stomach called the crop. In the hive, the bee leaves a mixture of regurgitated nectar and saliva in a cell (a small section of the hive). The bees then work hard to evaporate most of the water from this mixture, turning it into thick honey and then they cover the top of the cell with wax. In other words, honey is a form of honey bee vomit! Gross but delicious!

Think of everything that honey is used for. We use it on sandwiches and to sweeten our drinks. Honey is found in some cosmetics (like lotions, shampoos and soaps), in certain vinegars and in desserts, just to name a few.

In 2013, 34,240,000 kg (75,488,000 lbs.) of honey were made in Canada from the hard work done by nearly 8,500 beekeepers across the country. That's more honey than the weight of 75 Jumbo Jets! Healthy honey bees help to ensure we have all the honey we need.

Other Bee Products

Honey isn't the only thing bees make that humans use. Here are three more:

Royal jelly is made by bees and is used to feed larvae and adult queens. It is found in some of our dietary supplements like vitamins and natural skin care products.

Propolis is produced by bees and is one of the sticky substances bees use to keep their bee hive together. It is found in some of our medicines, gums, car wax and as varnish for stringed instruments. Researchers are also looking into propolis as a treatment for allergies and cancers.

Beeswax is made by honey bees to build their honeycomb cells. It is found in some chewing gum, skin care cosmetics, hair waxes, candles and the waxy coating around cheese.

Working Together to Protect Bees

They might seem like small, insignificant insects, but bumble bees, honey bees, and other bee species are incredibly important for life on the planet. If our bees disappeared, it wouldn't be long before we felt the impact through loss of biodiversity and food. That's why it is so important that we work together to help conserve bees in Canada and around the world, including Western bumble bees.

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References

- Colla SR, MC Otterstatter, RJ Gegear, and JD Thompson (2006). Plight of the bumble bee: pathogen spillover from commercial to wild populations. Biological Conservation 129:461-467.
- Colla SR and L Packer (2008). Evidence for decline in Eastern North American bumble bees (Hymenoptera: Apidae), with special focus on Bombus affinis Cresson. Biodiversity Conservation 17:1379-1391.
- Colla SR and A Taylor-Pindar (2011). Recovery strategy for the rusty-patched bumble bee (Bombus affinis) in Ontario. Ontario Recovery Strategy Series.
- Evans E, R Thorp, S Jepsen, and S Hoffman Black (2008). Status review of three formerly common species of bumble bee in the subgenus Bombus. Pp. 1-63.
- Girling RD, I Lusebrink, E Farthing, TA Newman and GM Poppy (2013). Diesel exhaust rapidly degrades floral odours used by honey bees. Scientific Reports 3. doi: 10.1038/srep02779.
- Grünewald B (2010). In pollination at risk? Current threats to and conservation of bees. GAIA 19:61-67.
- Henry M, M Béguin, F Requier, O Rollin, J-F Odoux, P Aupinel, J Aptel, S Tcha,itchian, and A Decourtye (2012). A common pesticide decreases foraging success and survival in honey bees. Science 336:348-350.
- http://www.beecluster.org/value.html
- http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/druginfo/natural/390.html
- https://matteroftrust.org/5044/101-uses-for-beeswax
- http://www.ccpollen.com/the-importance-of-bees.html
- http://www.uaex.edu/publications/pdf/FSA-4000.pdf
- http://www.feedipedia.org/node/275

Earth Rangers is a non-profit organization that works to inspire and educate children about the environment. At EarthRangers.com kids can play games, discover amazing facts, meet animal ambassadors and fundraise to protect biodiversity.

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6 Reasons Bees are Your BFF | Earth Rangers Wild Wire Blog

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When you hear the buzzing of a bee, are you scared? Well don't be! Generally, if you don't bother them, they will leave you alone. Besides, bees are actually pretty awesome! Much of what bees do help humans, even if most of the time they just buzz around, feeding from flower to flower and minding their own beezness.

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Some of these reasons are widely acknowledged, but perhaps there will be a few in this list you had not yet thought about!

The Importance Of Bees

1. In pollination

Bees are beneficial because of their pollination services, helping to provide food in the form of fruits, berries, nuts - and seeds (thereby providing leaf and root crops too!).

Arguably, it is the most interesting parts of our diet that are reliant on bees (and other pollinators) for cross pollination.

It's not just delicious fruits that enable us to have things like strawberry ice cream, apple pie, blueberry muffins and so on that we should consider here, but also tasty vegetables like peas and beans.

Bees also help to ensure that seeds will set for many kinds of plants, thus enabling a portion to be gathered for sowing a crop for the following year. This is important even for leaf crops such as some brassicas like kale.

It is worth remembering that if we don't have insects like bees to pollinate the plants for us, we may have to resort to other methods!

In areas of China, some crops are hand pollinated by humans who have to climb the trees and use a brush! Imagine that!

But why do they have to do it?

Answer: Because over use of pesticides means there is no longer a healthy bee population to do the work for them for free!

2. Importance of bees within food webs

Bees also pollinate foods eaten by other animals and birds.

Birds and mammals may rely on berries, seeds and also some fruits and nuts that are pollinated by bees and other insects.

It's worth noting that even some domesticated animals benefit from pollination too!

Cows, for example, eat alfalfa which is pollinated by bees ( leafcutter bee species are especially effective). So you see, bees play a vital role in the whole food chain!

3. Financial contribution of bees to the economy

Attempts have been made to quantify the contribution of bees to the food crop industry, but it's very difficult.

In 2009, the value of crops directly dependent on insect pollination was estimated at $15.2bn⁽¹⁾, with most of that value attributed to bees.

However it was also estimated that bees contribute up to $US40 billion per annum⁽²⁾. One study states that in the USA, the production of pollinator-dependent crops is valued at over $50 billion per year⁽³⁾.

Personally, I think there are so many factors to consider, that calculating a figure is impossible. What we do know, however, is that bees are important!

In tandem with pollination, the beekeeping industry provides an income for beekeepers and their families through sales of goods and services that people want to buy (like honey, wax, and pollination services) as well as an income for suppliers of beekeeping equipment.

4. Bees benefit biodiversity

Quite apart from the fact that pollination is important for food production, bees contribute greatly to the countryside, to gardens and general enrichment of landscapes.

Bees are therefore beneficial to the environment generally. They pollinate wild flowers as well as shrubs and trees, thus enhancing and ensuring plant biodiversity and beauty in landscapes and gardens.

5. Trees need bees!

It is not only flowers and food crops that are pollinated by bees.

This point is often neglected, but many trees are pollinated by bees (and other insects).

Horse chestnuts, rowans, hawthorn, whitebeam, wayfaring tree, hazel, holly, alder, the majestic native limes, pussy willow and fruit trees: cherry, pear, plum, quince and apple are just some examples.

Bees of course, also benefit from trees. Trees in turn, support much wildlife, help to stabilize soil structure and landscapes, and are the lungs of the earth!

6. Bees save elephants - and may save human lives!

Some of the practical ways in which bees may help communities in developing countries are somewhat more unusual. For example, bees are helping to save elephants and protect people in Africa, by reducing human-elephant conflict.

Even more surprising is the fact that it has been found that bees (along with wasps) can be trained to sniff out landmines and explosives!

7. Bees help subsistence farmers

Bees help people and communities, especially in developing countries.

An international charity called Bees For Development helps communities to earn a sustainable living and pollinate food crops through beekeeping.

8. Bees are like 'the canary in the coal mine' - they tell us about the health of the wider environment

It is not necessarily the case that the role of bees in pollination could be filled by other insect.

In any event, the factors affecting bees will often impact other pollinators, and have wider consequences for the environment generally.

Honey bees especially provide an opportunity to judge longer term environmental health, since they are one of the few insect species which produce colonies which are meant to survive for multiple years.

They also have a group of people - namely beekeepers - looking out for their wellbeing, and observing their progress (albeit not for wild honey bee colonies).

In addition, the by-products of honey, wax and pollen can also be analyzed easily for pollution, and importantly, these products can be scientifically studied over time (even within a single colony).
See Why Honey Bees Matter.

Bees have inspired scientific and engineering projects such as the use of hexagons in engineering. The study of bees (especially honey bees) has generated huge amounts of scientific research and they are probably the most studied creature after humans.

Bees have also inspired philosophical and poetic ideas.

Bees are awesome because they have much to teach humans about co-operation and industriousness, hence their frequent use in symbolism. Who knows what bees may teach us tomorrow?

10. Bees are part of the earth's wonderful biodiversity!

Bees are important simply because they are a species with a right to their existence, just as any other!

All creatures play a role in this great web of life, and earth's rich biodiversity sustains not only other species, but also humanity.

Conclusion: we need to look after bees and other pollinators...

Many people are doing their bit to help bees, especially in their gardens. Many farmers are taking the issue of biodiversity very seriously too, with pollinator margins around the perimeters of crops fields.

In tandem with these brilliant efforts, we need to cut agrochemical use. Some farmers are again coming to such a conclusion themselves, having increasing concerns about soil fertility.

The overall trend then, is that as more people are becoming aware of the plight of bees and are taking action to help them. I hope you'll be inspired too!

References and resources

1. Calderone NW (2012) Insect Pollinated Crops, Insect Pollinators and US Agriculture: Trend Analysis of Aggregate Data for the Period 1992-2009. PLoS ONE 7(5): e37235. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0037235.

2. Research cited in Bumblebee Behaviour And Ecology, Dave Goulson, Oxford University Press, 2003 ISBN: 9780199553075.

3. Reilly J. R., Artz D. R., Biddinger D., Bobiwash K., Boyle N. K., Brittain C., Brokaw J., Campbell J. W., Daniels J., Elle E., Ellis J. D., Fleischer S. J., Gibbs J., Gillespie R. L., Gundersen K. B., Gut L., Hoffman G., Joshi N., Lundin O., Mason K., McGrady C. M., Peterson S. S., Pitts-Singer T. L., Rao S., Rothwell N., Rowe L., Ward K. L., Williams N. M., Wilson J. K., Isaacs R. and Winfree R. 2020Crop production in the USA is frequently limited by a lack of pollinatorsProc. R. Soc. B.2872020092220200922, http://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2020.0922

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10 Reasons Why Bees Are Important...(and awesome!)

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Some of these reasons are widely acknowledged, but perhaps there will be a few in this list you had not yet thought about! Bees are beneficial because of their pollination services, helping to provide food in the form of fruits, berries, nuts - and seeds (thereby providing leaf and root crops too!).

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Scientists find evidence that pesticides, disease and other threats are devastating bees. And that could hurt farmers big time.

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Bee and Woman Become Best Friends After Garden Rescue | The Dodo Soulmates

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Amazing Time-Lapse: Bees Hatch Before Your Eyes | National Geographic

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* BEE * | Animals For Kids | All Things Animal TV

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Kids Learn Why Bees Are Awesome | National Geographic

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Pollinator Gallery | The Great Sunflower Project