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Pollinator Conservation • Importance of pollinators Overview • Meet the pollinators • Habitat Needs • What you can do

sunflower bee (specialist), Svastra or Eucera sp. Sudie Daves Thomas High quality, well managed natural habitat (Longleaf pine with herbaceous understory Wildlife Biologist maintained by fire), Berkeley County Natural Resources Conservation Service Specialist bees eat pollen only from one genus or family, but may collect nectar from other plants

What is the Xerces Society? The Importance of Pollinators; a review

Endangered species Pollinator conservation Since 1971, the Society has worked to protect wildlife through the conservation of invertebrates and their habitat. Xerces blue butterfly (Glaucopsyche xerces), the first U.S. butterfly to go extinct due to human Aquatic conservation activities. Butterfly conservation

Nancy Lee Adamson Pollinator Conservation Specialist Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation & bumble bee USDA-NRCS East National Technology Support Photos: California on wild bergamot NRCS and Ed Ross Center, Greensboro, NC Photo: Nancy Adamson

The Importance of Pollinators Pollination The Importance of Pollinators Pollination and Human Nutrition Pollination is the transfer of pollen grains from the anther (male) to stigma (female) of the same or another flower. Food that depends on pollination Food that • 35% of crop production, worldwide • Self-pollination: transfer depends on • Over $18 to $27 billion value of crops in U.S. ($217 billion insect between flowers of the worldwide) same plant pollination • One in three mouthfuls of food and drink we consume • Cross-pollination: • Cucumbers transfer between plants • Cantaloupe bumble bees, • Self-fertile: don’t require • Watermelon Bombus impatiens on squash cross-pollination, but • Blueberries quality and yield improve with cross-pollination • Strawberries • Peaches

• Raspberries • Pumpkins • Many more…

Morse RA, Calderone NW. 2000. The value of honey bees as pollinators of U.S. crops in 2000. Bee Culture 128: 1–15.

Photo: Nancy Adamson Klein et al. 2007. Importance of pollinators in changing landscapes for world crops. Proc. R. Soc. B 274: 303-313. Photo: USDA-ARS/Peggy Greb

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The Importance of Pollinators Bugs Drive the System The Importance of Pollinators Multiple Benefits of Pollinator Habitat Benefits to Other Wildlife: Pollinators and other are food for wildlife • Pollinator-produced fruits and seeds comprise 25% of the global bird and 96% percent of terrestrial birds rear their young on insects mammal diets

Photo: Jeff Vanuga, NRCS • Pollinators are food for other wildlife (spiders, reptiles, amphibians, rodents, terrestrial birds)

Photo: Sudie Thomas • Pollinator habitat is directly Photo: Nancy Adamson compatible with the needs of other Photo: Terry Spivey, USFS wildlife, such as songbirds

Good cover, food, & open foraging

• 85% quail chick’s diet is insects • Eat seeds when older

Photo: Reg Daves http://www.tn.gov/twra/pdfs/bwhitebasics.pdf Photo: Reg Daves © Sierra Vision Stock Photo: Nancy Adamson

The Importance of Pollinators Insect Pollinators Are Ecological Keystones Meet the Pollinators: Butterflies and Moths About 700 species of butterflies & 13,000 species of moths in US

More than 85% of flowering plants require an , mostly insects, to move pollen.

long-tailed skipper

Ollerton, J., R. Winfree, and S. Tarrant. 2011. How many flowering plants are pollinated by ? Epargyreus clarus Oikos 120: 321-326. doi: 10.1111/j.1600-0706.2010.18644.x. Potts, S.G., J.C. Biesmeijer, C. Kremen, P. Neumann, O. Schweiger, and W. E. Kunin. 2010. Global pollinator delines: trends, impacts and drivers. Trends in Ecology and Evoluntion. 25(6): 345-353. Photo: Eric Mader Photo: Nancy Adamson

Meet the Pollinators: Butterflies Meet the Pollinators: Butterflies

Photo: Jennifer Hopwood © Douglas Tallamy (Unv of Delaware)

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Meet the Pollinators: Butterflies Meet the Pollinators: Moths

Sip nectar Noctuid moths and hawkmoths significant pollinators

Photo: Sudie Thomas Photo: Reg Daves

Photo: Reg Daves

Photo: Dave Kastner Photo: Nancy Adamson Photo: MJ Hatfield

Lepidoptera food needs: Caterpillars are host specific Meet the Pollinators: Flies

Co-evolution has led to Eat pollen and nectar for energy many specialists. Look for mates around flowers Lay eggs on flowers Incidental pollination

yucca moths, Tegeticula yuccasella Photo: Nancy Adamson Photo: Mace Vaughan (Xerces Society)

Meet the Pollinators: Wasps Whitted Bowers Beetles on Swamp Sunflower (Helianthus angustifolius) Meet the Pollinators: Beetles

Wasps need key resources such as pollen and nectar from a variety of flowers. The true wasps have stingers that they use to capture insects or spiders for food for their larvae.

Golden Digger wasp on indian hemp

Photo: Nancy Adamson Potter wasp on black-eyed susan

it is estimated that there are 52 native plant species pollinated by great golden digger wasp on dogbane beetles in North America north of Mexico. They are responsible delta flower scarab and other tiny beetle for pollinating 88% of the 240,000 flowering plants globally. Photo: Nancy Adamson on mountain mint, Pycnanthemum sp. Photo: Nancy Adamson

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Bees: The Most Important Pollinators Bumble bees: Excellent crop pollinators • Pollinators of red clover, Bombus ternarius on blueberry, tomato, cucurbits Vaccinium sp. Bees are the most effective pollinators bumble bee on blazing star, Liatris spicata • More efficient than honey • Bees actively collect and transport pollen bees for blueberry, cranberry, • Bees exhibit flower constancy cucurbits (squash, melon) • Bees regularly forage in area around nest • Active in cool and wet weather & “buzz” pollinate

Bombus impatiens & B. griseocollis on squash

Bees are the most agriculturally mining bee, sp., on apple important Photos: Nancy Adamson pollinators Photos:, Nancy Adamson, Steve Javorek (AgCanada)

Bees evolved from wasps & became vegetarians! Bees are great pollen movers Bees evolved to better collect pollen & nectar Bee diet (pollen & nectar) & hairiness make them especially effective pollinators

branched hair

leafcutter (aka megachilid) bee long tongues

bumble bee scopa: pollen-carrying hairs bumble bee on squash

Photos: Ralph Hozenthal, Mace Vaughan, Steve Buchmann (on abdomen or hind legs) Photo: Nancy Adamson

Native Bee Crop Specialists Wild Pollinators: Better Quality Pollination

2013 research highlights importance of native bees: Wild bees Squash Bees improved fruit set twice as much as honey bees. • Ground-nesting directly at the base of squash plants Better quality pollination relates to cross-pollination, the ability to buzz pollinate, and other ways bees interact with flowers. • Active in early morning hours (before sunrise) • Pollinate flowers before honey bees begin foraging1 • 67% of 87 sites studied across the U.S. had all pollination needs met by squash bees2 honey andrenid bees bee

We still need honey bees since we can manage them and move them to crops.

1. Tepedino, V. J. 1981. The pollination efficiency of the squash bee () and the honey bee (Apis mellifera) on summer squash (). Journal of the Kansas Entomological Society 54:359-377. Garibaldi, L. A. et al.. 2013. Wild pollinators enhance fruit set of crops regardless of honey bee abundance. Photo: Eric Mader 2. Jim Cane (USDA ARS Logan Bee Lab). 2011. Personal communication Science 339 (6127) : 1608-1611. Photos: Nancy Adamson Photo: Nancy Adamson

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Buzz Pollination by Native Bees Recognize pollinators: Native bee diversity

Example: Cherry tomatoes

When native bees were present, Sungold cherry tomato production almost tripled. Photos: Nancy Adamson Video online highlights buzz pollination: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l_etyEdu9fQ

Greenleaf, S. S.,and C. Kremen. 2006. Wild bee species increase tomato production and respond differently to surrounding land use in Northern California. Biological Conservation 133:81-87. carpenter bee and andrenid bee Perdita minima from desert SW

Photo: Anne Berblinger Photos: Stephen L. Buchmann

Hymenoptera: Bees, wasps, ants, & sawflies Three broad groups of native bees

Rare Behaviors •Social (mostly ants & sawflies, a few wasps & bees) •Honey production (extremely rare) bumble bees (social) >3,600 native bee species in the US—most are solitary species, not colonial ~700 native bee species in the eastern US ~500 in South Carolina ground-nesting (solitary)

Most bees are solitary •No colony or honey stores to defend, therefore not defensive/aggressive- so only sting if grabbed – tell kids!

•Females collect nectar and pollen every trip cavity-nesting sweat bee, Agapostemon sp., on sunflower Photo: Nancy Adamson (solitary) Photos: Mace Vaughan, Rollin Coville, Elaine Evans

Bumble bees, Bombus spp. Life cycle of a bumble bee colony

• 45 species in U.S.,~26 in East (16-17 Winter: Hibernating queen Fall: Mated queens species of bumble bees in SC) seek overwintering • Social colonies founded by single queen sites • Annual colonies--last only one season Spring: Nest • Nest may contain 25-400 workers establishment • Nests in abandoned rodent burrows or and egg laying under lodged grasses Fall: New Conserve brush piles, queens un-mowed areas leave the nest and mate

Bombus vagans on clover Fall: Old queen dies Summer: Colony peak

Photos: Elaine Evans, Nancy Adamson Illustration: David Wysotski

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Ground nesting solitary bees Life cycle of a solitary bee Roughly 70% of bee spp. nest underground

• Resemble ant & ground beetle nests from above • May aggregate nests (some nest communally, but forage alone) Mining bee (Andrena sp.): a year • Nest chambers lined in its underground nest as egg, with waxy glandular larva, and pupa before emerging to spend a few weeks as an adult. secretions that resist flooding Scout for nests, mining bee Andrena barbara conserve sandy soil & bare ground

Photos: Jim Cane, Dennis Briggs, Nancy Adamson Photos: Dennis Briggs, Nancy Adamson

Ground nesting: Southeastern blueberry bee Tunnel/wood/cavity nesting solitary bees

Photos: Jolie Dollar Habropoda laboriosa male female © Edward Ross Roughly 30% of • family yellow •Blueberry specialist, active“nose” native species nest early spring on male in hollow plant •Looks like small bumble bee stems, or old beetle •Coastal plain distribution borer holes •Gregarious nesting Scout for & conserve nesting pale face patch • Nest tunnel sites; avoid deep tilling partitions Plants with pithy (hollow) stems constructed of mud, include sumac, black raspberry, leaf pieces, or blackberry, and elderberry that also provide pollen and nectar long antennae sawdust

• Artificially managed for some crops

Conserve snags, brush piles & pithy- stemmed plants male on redbud, Photo: Nancy Adamson Cercis canadensis Photo: Nancy Adamson Photo: Matthew Shepherd

Tunnel nesting bees (mason bees and leafcutter bees) Cavity or tunnel nesting: Mason or orchard bees

Osmia Hollow stem example: • Small to medium size, robust build • Conserve snags, brush Cross-section of silk cocoons Usually metallic blue or green • Wide bodies and heads piles • Scopa on underside of abdomen & pithy-stemmed plants Pollen mass Egg Mud wall scopa • Active in spring and early summer Larva Pupa Adult photos: Nancy Adamson O. collinsiae on oxalis

Silk cocoons with dormant bees inside Mud cap closure scopa

Bosch, J. and W. Kemp. 2001. How to Manage the Blue Orchard Bee as an Orchard Pollinator. Sustainable Agriculture Network. Beltsville, MD. 88 pp. O. cornifrons or O. taurus (introduced) on blueberry

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Tunnel nesting: Leafcutter bees Some flowers with pollen specialist bees Megachile redbud, Cercis canadensis • Small to large size • asters (various genera) Specialist bees eat pollen only from one genus or • Wide bodies and heads • Cirsium, native thistles family, but may collect nectar from other plants • Dark, typically with pale stripes • Chrysopsis, goldenaster • scopa Scopa on underside of abdomen • Cucurbita, squash • M. rotundata intro’d for alfalfa seed • Helianthus, sunflowers • Hibiscus, rose mallow Conserve snags, M. mendica on • Ipomoea, wild potato vine blackberrry brush piles & • Oenothera, primroses pithy-stemmed • Physalis, ground cherry plants • Pityopsis, silkgrass • Salix, willows scopa • Strophostyles, fuzzy bean (scopal hairs) • Vaccinium, blueberry • Vernonia, ironweed • Viola, violet sunflower bee, Svastra or Eucera sp. …many more http://www.illinoiswildflowers.info/flower_insects/ http://jarrodfowler.com/specialist_bees.html sunchoke, Helianthus tubersosus Photos: redbud, Lara Berkley; nest, Christine Farmer; others, Nancy Adamson Photo: Nancy Adamson

Habitat Needs: Floral Diversity Nectar/pollen: Insect diversity increases with plant Wildflowers spring, diversity. summer, fall, woody forbs Host plants for Lepidoptera– grasses, wildflowers, woodies Refugia, nest sites, Photo: Eric Mader structure, litter Carvell, C., W. R. Meek, R. F. Pywell, D. Goulson and M. Nowakowski. 2007. Comparing the efficacy of agri-environment schemes to enhance bumble bee abundance and diversity on arable field margins. J of Applied Ecology 44: 29-40. Photo: Sudie Thomas Potts, S. G., B. Vulliamy, A. Dafni, G. Ne’eman, and P. G. Willmer. 2003. Linking bees and flowers: how do floral Pesticide free communities structure pollinator communities? Ecology 84:2628-2642. Photo: Nancy Adamson Tscharntke, T. A., A. Gathmann, and I. Steffan-Dewenter. 1998. Bioindication using trap-nesting bees and wasps and their areas natural enemies and interactions. J of Applied Ecology 35:708-719.

Pollen and Nectar Through the Growing Season Native Milkweeds (Asclepias spp.) Summer Blooming Understory plants • ~80% decline in monarch butterflies since ~2000 in corn/soybean ag regions and ~60% decline in milkweeds • Tremendous diversity in milkweeds--great potential to expand use

purple milkweed, A. purpurascens ↓ swamp milkweed, poke milkweed, A. incarnata A. exaltata ↓

Pollinators, predators, & parasitoids need food (nectar, pollen, or prey) and refuge when crops are harvested or pesticides used. green milkweed, A. viridiflora ↓

fourleaf milkweed, A. quadrifolia

• . Pleasants, J. M., Oberhauser, K. S. 2012.Milkweed loss in agricultural fields because of herbicide use: effect on the monarch butterfly population. Insect Conservation and Diversity. doi: 10.1111/j.1752-4598.2012.00196.x.

Photos: Elaine Haug NRCS, Matthew Shepherd; Mace Vaughan, Eric Mader, Jeff McMillan NRCS, Berry Botanic Garden Photos: Nancy Adamson

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Lepidoptera food needs: Host & nectar plants

Larvae eat only specific host plants Adults sip nectar from many types

Monarch caterpillar and adult on milkweed, Asclepias tuberosa

Photos: Mace Vaughan, Jolie Goldenetz Dollar

Lepidoptera Overwintering Strategies Lepidoptera nesting—as easy to miss as bees nesting…more fire sensitive

Each species has its own strategy to overwinter as an egg, caterpillar, chrysalis, or adult (migrant). mourning cloak butterfly eggs Nymphalis antiopa on elm, Ulmus parviflora

Examples: caterpillars hibernate in rolled leaves on ground, in soil at base of host plant, under loose tree bark…

Photo: Mark Rose, NC Native Plant Society

common buckeye butterfly caterpillar, Junonia coenia Jolie Goldenetz Dollar

Overwintering strategies So, leaving “wild” or “natural” or “weedy” areas alone can help

https://xerces.org/2017/10/06/leave-the-leaves/

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Habitat protection: Reduce pesticide use Management with periodic disturbance is needed—fire, grazing, or mowing. Some seeds needs fire (smoke) to germinate. Rotational disturbance is best, leaving areas of refugia for insect larvae, pupae, Pesticides cause significant and adults. Leave small unburned patches within the burned areas. Burn every 2-3 years. Implement damage to pollinator insect prescribed burns outside the blooming period in foraging habitat (i.e., burn in late fall or early spring; populations March through May best for wild turkey; and early or late in the day). • Use active ingredients with least impact on bees Recommendation to burn areas in 1/3rds. • Consider formulation Blocks of <60 acres best for ground nesting birds including bobwhite and wild turkey • Label guidelines only apply to * honey bees • Don’t spray on plants in bloom • Spray at night and when dry • Scout crops, only use where needed, not on entire cropfield

NCTREX team burning a longleaf pine http://extension.oregonstate.edu/catalog/ab savanna, February 2015 stract.php?seriesno=PNW+591 Photo: Nancy Adamson

What you can do NRCS Conservation Practices Farm Bill Programs: Technical assistance EQIP Environmental Quality Incentives Program CSP Conservation Stewardship Program

Host plants for Provide/encourage plants native to the region Lepidoptera larvae flowering throughout the growing season (butterfly and moth caterpillars)

Nest sites for bees, Spread the word! Shelter and Structure for protection and Don’t Use Pesticides overwintering

Tree & Shrub (612) or Hedgerow (422) Establishment Plant flowering shrubs that bloom in succession. Design for multiple benefits, such as wildlife, IPM, visual screen, aesthetics, and erosion Photo: Katharina Ullmann control. (Hedgerows intended as protection from chemical drift should not be (Xerces Society) designed to attract pollinators), Also for longleaf habitat restoration.

NRCS Conservation Practices NRCS Conservation Practices

Conservation Cover Practice Standard (327): Establish permanent vegetation. Cover Crop Practice Standard (340): Can include diverse flowering forbs such as clover, mustard, buckwheat, phacelia, oilseed radish

Field Border Practice Standard (386): Can include a diverse mix of native and low cost non-native plants

Photo: Lori Bataller, Photo: Eric Mader Photo: NRCS/Toby Alexander

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NRCS Conservation Practices Your Native Plantings Matter! Prescribed Burning Practice Standard (338): Will improve habitat by promoting floral and structural diversity Forest Stand Improvement for wildlife (666): to thin pine stands to low basal area

sunflower bee on brown-eyed Susan, Rudbeckia triloba Photo: Nancy Adamson

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