Bee Basics - USDA Forest Service - US Department of Agriculture

More documents

Recommendations

Info

Excavated nest withbranched tunnels madeby the eastern carpenterbee (Xylocopavirginica) inside woodof a dead log.CarpentersSome bees create burrows, or holes, of their own making. They havepowerful jaws called mandibles with which they can excavate tunnels inwood. Fortunately they prefer soft wood and dislike paint or other finishingmaterials. It is possible to prevent them from doing serious damage to woodstructures by taking simple precautions, such as painting or staining thewood. These gentle giants are called carpenter bees, and very likely you haveseen some of them and their handiwork. There is usually a pile of sawdustbelow the opening of the hole during the early nesting and burrow excavationseason. These bees create “particle board” spiral partitions between adjacentcells. Most bees construct spiral partition cell closures, a trademark of beesrather than wasps.Foraging Needs and Floral SpecializationSome bees are generalists and will use pollen from a wide variety offlowering plants. Bumble bees are generalists as they depend upon a10
succession of plants flowering from early spring when the queen emerges tolate summer – early fall when the colony dies. Other bees have some degreeof specialization in foraging; they resort to using pollen from only one or twofamilies of flowering plants. Fortunately plant reproduction has redundancy infloral visitation already built in. Each flowering plant species usually has a smallguild of bees and other pollinators which coevolved with them to ensure theirpollination. Typically, bees collect nectar from a wider range of blossoms thanthey visit for pollen.One example of floral specialization is squash bees which are efficientvisitors and pollinators of cucurbit plants (squash, pumpkin, and zucchini).Blueberry bees, globe mallow bees, and cactus bees are also floral specialists.Some bee species are active only for a few weeks during the growing seasonand depend on just a few families of flowering plants for theirforaging needs. Bees in the genus Macropis depend onlyon loosestrife flowers (Lysimachia) from which theycollect oil and pollen for their larvae’s food. Loosestrifeflowers however, have no nectar available so beesin the genus Macropis must visit other flowers fortheir nectar needs. One highly specialized bee isAnthemurgus passiflorae. This bee is onlyknown to forage on yellow passionflower(Passiflora lutea).Female Macropis nuda bees collectfloral oils from specialized glands ofthe spotted loosestrife (Lysimachiapunctata).11
Page 1: A USDA Forest ServiceandPollinator
Page 4 and 5: A USDA Forest Service and Pollinato
Page 6: Native Bees: Varied and ValuableNat
Page 9 and 10: 5A male digger bee (Anthophoracentr
Page 11 and 12: longer throat; they are not averse
Page 13: Imagine a bunch of grapes; that is
Page 17 and 18: Families of BeesThere are 4,000 spe
Page 19 and 20: The colony grows rapidly,and it can
Page 21 and 22: to excavate wide tunnel systems in
Page 23 and 24: They show no hesitation when approa
Page 25 and 26: What is Buzz Pollination or as poll
Page 27 and 28: If you happen to see a bee, about t
Page 29 and 30: Another gorgeoussweat bee, a maleAg
Page 31 and 32: their pollen like most flowers, but
Page 33 and 34: Often they succeed infooling the in
Page 35 and 36: It may seem strange, but honey bees
Page 37 and 38: As best as you can, try not to appl
Page 39 and 40: • Build or buy your own bee house
Page 41 and 42: house. Join a pollinator and plant-
Page 43 and 44: • O’Toole, Christopher, Raw, An
Page 47 and 48: The U.S. Department of Agriculture

Bee Basics - USDA Forest Service - US Department of Agriculture

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?