Managing Alternative Pollinators A Handbook for Beekeepers, Growers, and Conservationists ERIC MADER • MARLA SPIVAK • ELAINE EVANS Fair Use of this PDF file of Managing Alternative Pollinators: A Handbook for Beekeepers, Growers, and Conservationists, SARE Handbook 11, NRAES-186 By Eric Mader, Marla Spivak, and Elaine Evans Co-published by SARE and NRAES, February 2010 You can print copies of the PDF pages for personal use. If a complete copy is needed, we encourage you to purchase a copy as described below. Pages can be printed and copied for educational use. The book, authors, SARE, and NRAES should be acknowledged. Here is a sample acknowledgement: ----From Managing Alternative Pollinators: A Handbook for Beekeepers, Growers, and Conservationists, SARE Handbook 11, by Eric Mader, Marla Spivak, and Elaine Evans, and co- published by SARE and NRAES.---- No use of the PDF should diminish the marketability of the printed version. If you have questions about fair use of this PDF, contact NRAES. Purchasing the Book You can purchase printed copies on NRAES secure web site, www.nraes.org, or by calling (607) 255-7654. The book can also be purchased from SARE, visit www.sare.org. The list price is $23.50 plus shipping and handling. Quantity discounts are available. SARE and NRAES discount schedules differ. NRAES PO Box 4557 Ithaca, NY 14852-4557 Phone: (607) 255-7654 Fax: (607) 254-8770 Email: [email protected] Web: www.nraes.org SARE 1122 Patapsco Building University of Maryland College Park, MD 20742-6715 (301) 405-8020 (301) 405-7711 – Fax www.sare.org More information on SARE and NRAES is included at the end of this PDF. Managing Alternative Pollinators A Handbook for Beekeepers, Growers, and Conservationists Written by Eric Mader Pollinator Outreach Coordinator !e Xerces Society Pollinator Conservation Program Marla Spivak Professor of Entomology University of Minnesota Elaine Evans Author of Befriending Bumble Bees With a Foreword by Mace Vaughan Conservation Director !e Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation NRAES–186 February 2010 © 2010 by NRAES (Natural Resource, Agriculture, and Engineering Service) All rights reserved. Inquiries invited. ISBN 978-1-933395-20-3 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Mader, Eric, date Managing alternative pollinators : a handbook for beekeepers, growers, and conservationists / Eric Mader, Marla Spivak, Elaine Evans ; with foreword by: Mace Vaughan. p. cm. -- (SARE handbook ; 11) (NRAES ; 186) ISBN 978-1-933395-20-3 1. Bee culture. 2. Bumblebees. 3. Mason bees. 4. Megachilidae. 5. Pollinators. I. Spivak, Marla. II. Evans, Elaine, 1969- III. Natural Resource, Agriculture, and Engineering Service. IV. Title. V. Series: NRAES (Series) ; 186. SF523.M24 2010 638’.1--dc22 2009021044 Requests to reprint parts of this publication should be sent to NRAES. In your request, please state which parts of the publication you would like to reprint and describe how you intend to use the material. Contact NRAES if you have any questions. Natural Resource, Agriculture, and Engineering Service (NRAES) Cooperative Extension PO Box 4557 Ithaca, New York 14852-4557 Phone: (607) 255-7654 Fax: (607) 254-8770 E-mail: "#$%&@'(#"%)).%*+ Web site: ,,,."#$%&.(#- Contents Foreword ........................................................................................................................... iv To Our Readers ................................................................................................................. vi The Business of Pollination .............................................................................. 1 The Status of the European Honey Bee in the US ...................................... 15 A Brief Natural History of Bees ..................................................................... 25 Pollination Botany ........................................................................................... 34 Bumble Bees ..................................................................................................... 43 Mason Bees ....................................................................................................... 54 The Alfalfa Leafcutter Bee .............................................................................. 75 Other Managed Pollinators ............................................................................ 94 The Search for New Managed Pollinators ..................................................103 Habitat Conservation for Native Pollinators ...........................................106 Managing Parasites and Disease in Solitary Bee Operations .................114 X-Ray Procedures for Cavity-Nesting Bees ...............................................126 Plants for Bee Ranching ..............................................................................127 Reducing Bee Poisoning from Pesticides...................................................130 Hybrid Nest Blocks for Cavity-Nesting Bees ............................................134 Nest Material Comparison for Leafcutter and Mason Bees ...................138 IPM for Beekeepers ......................................................................................143 Additional Resources ...................................................................................145 Bibliography................................................................................................................. 149 Conversions ...................................................................................................................156 Acknowledgments .........................................................................................................159 About the Authors .........................................................................................................160 About NRAES ................................................................................................................161 About SARE ...................................................................................................................162 Foreword his book could not have come at a better time. We losses of 30 percent during the 2006–2007 season and T stand at a crossroads, where honey bee losses and 35 percent during the 2007–2008 season. rental rates for pollination are on the rise, research is With such sustained declines, beekeepers are going expanding our knowledge of native bees’ role in crop out of business. It can no longer be safely assumed that pollination, and growers are looking for pollination honey bees will provide all of farmers’ future pollina- alternatives to improve crop security. Herein lies the tion needs. At the same time, research emerges every heart of this book: It is a technical resource that brings year about the role alternative pollinators, managed together the latest advances in native and introduced and wild, are playing in agriculture. Scientists from bee management with a big-picture perspective on New Jersey to California and Michigan to Texas have how to manage a farm for these pollinators’ greatest demonstrated that wild native bees play a role in crop success. pollination. Other researchers continue to experiment Pollinators are essential to our environment. Sev- with new species of managed native bees and the addi- enty percent of the world’s flowering plants, including tional floral resources needed to support their success- more than two-thirds of the world’s crop species, rely ful reproduction. on pollinators to reproduce. The fruits and seeds from All this work, however, raises concerns about how these crops are necessary for 30 percent of the foods we manage our farm landscapes. The continuing trend and beverages we consume, and include the most nutri- toward larger monocultures, insecticide use, and the tious and interesting parts of our diet: apples, water- concomitant lack of habitat—particularly a decline in melon, blueberries, carrots, broccoli, and almonds to the number and diversity of flowering plants avail- name but a few. We also count on pollinators for the able when crops are not in bloom—creates a landscape beef and dairy products that come from cattle raised on where few crop pollinators can survive. alfalfa. In 2000, growers in the United States were paid To diversify our pollinators, we must better under- close to $20 billion for insect-pollinated crops. Accord- stand how to manage a variety of bee species as well as ing to estimates, managed and wild native bee species, the habitat that supports them and their wild counter- as well as nonnative leafcutter and mason bees, are parts. We cannot expect our natives to perform if we responsible for close to a quarter of this value; honey don’t consider and provide for all of their habitat needs. bees are responsible for the rest. For example, cherry and apple orchards might bloom But now the honey beekeeping industry is in crisis. for only three or four weeks, but mason bees are active During the past 50 years, we have witnessed an almost as adults for six weeks or more. If flowers are not avail- 50 percent decline in the number of managed honey able outside of the crop bloom period, the dense con- bee colonies in the United States. This trend is a result centration of foraging bees will run out of pollen and of stagnant honey prices in the 1970s and 1980s, com- nectar sources. Their reproduction will not be enough bined in the past two decades with a barrage of new to increase their managed populations. pests and diseases introduced from Europe, Asia, and