What's All the Buzz About Bees?

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Student Inquiry Grades 6-8 What’s all the buzz about bees?

Inquiry Questions  Why do we need honey bees?  What is happening to honey bees?  Should we do more to help save the honey bees?  What might help the situation?

Meet Your Guides

Background Info Write Read Create Be Active Take Action 2

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Should we do more to help save the honey bee? Welcome to the inquiry – Plight of the Honey Bees. An inquiry gives you the opportunity to learn about something new, take a stand, and take action. The focus of the Plight of the Honey Bees is the global issue of the decline of the honey bee population.

Should governments do more to help save the honey bee?

Good question. We need bees for the survival of seeds and a tremendous number of our fruits and vegetables, but we also need to protect the food supply from pests. Feeding a hungry world is a huge job; likewise, commercial farming and chemical pesticides are big business. However, the economic impact of bee devastation is already being felt throughout the world. For example, in parts of China, the government has told farmers to hand-pollinate apples and pears.

Colony Collapse Disorder is a global problem, and different governments are responding-- but should governments do more? Should we, as citizens, do more?

In this Inquiry, you will spend a week (approximately one hour a day) learning the science about pollinators, pollination, and honey bees. The science experiences are designed to give you background knowledge to help you understand Colony Collapse Disorder.

After completing your investigation of pollinators you have the opportunity to research the global issue of the decline of the honey bee by:

● Focusing on a supporting question. ● Using evidence to answer the question. ● Writing an argument. ● Taking action.

The inquiry focusing on the compelling question – Should we do more to help save the honey bee? – will also take about a week (approximately one hour a day).

In addition you can read a novel (or novels) and articles related to the topic. Another way you can contribute to your community is to write a review of the book for your local library. Look for instructions for writing a review at the end of the inquiry.

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Part I: The Secret Lives of Bees What’s all the buzz about bees? Time: Approximately 1 Hour a Day (Five Days)

Let’s learn about bees. The following activities are adapted from the National Park Service’s Biodiversity – Bee Week. Each investigation will take about an hour. For each investigation you will: ● Write the topic and the question in your Interactive Notebook. (Instructions for creating your Interactive Notebook are on following page.) ● Conduct the experiment and record your notes in your Interactive Notebook

Question 1 Question 2 Question 3 Question 4 Question 5 What adaptations do What adaptations do If you were an bees have to have to flowers have to engineer, how would What can you do to help be effective ensure their What is a pollinator? you create a “bee” to pollinators? pollinators and pollination and help pollinate plants? survive? survival?

Topic 1: External Topic 2: Flower Topic 3: The Topic: 4: Engineering Topic 5: Pollinators in our Observation of a Dissection/Insect Importance of a Bee World Honey Bee Pollination Pollinators

Three different types Source A: Worker of flowers Honey Bee Anatomy Important: If you Source A: The Source B: Honeybee Source A: Source A: Pollinator need to pick them Importance of Slides Researchers are busy Garden from a garden – ask Pollinators developing robo-bees Source B: Making a Bee first! Source B: Pollinator to pollinate plants Hotel Profile: Bees

Source A: Basic

Flower Parts

Interactive Interactive Interactive Interactive Interactive Notebook: Topic 1 Notebook: Topic 2 Notebook: Topic 3 Notebook: Topic 4 Notebook: Topic 5

Source C: Source B: Source B: Source B: Source C: Optional Optional Video Optional Video Optional Video Optional Video Video “Flight of the “Parts of a Flower “PBS: Flight of the “Nat Geo: Tiny, “DIY Bee Hotel” Honey Bee” – Pollination” Honey Bee” Robotic Bees

Could Change the World”

Before you get started, BEE active. How many jumps can you do in 30 seconds?

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The Interactive Notebook The Interactive Notebook is going to be your notebook for all of your learning. For the first week the Interactive Notebook is your science notebook. For the second week the Interactive Notebook is your inquiry journal.  Find a notebook or make one (to make a notebook find 20 sheets of computer paper and staple it down the sides – “Ta Da” Notebook)  If your notebook has a plain cover or you made your own, decorate the cover and put your name on it (When you put your name on the cover, everyone at home will know it is your notebook).  Make a table of contents (make a column for the topic and a column for the page number) o Number the pages in your notebook o If you have a really big notebook – just label the first 20 pages (you can label more later if you need to add more pages)

Table of Contents Topic Page Number Why do bees buzz? 2

● Look for the or the in each investigation or task – that’s your guide to let you know you will be using your Interactive Notebook and what to put in it.

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Topic 1: External Observation of the Honey Bee (Interactive Notebook)

Background Information: Bees need nectar and pollen for their survival and the survival of their broods. Nectar is gathered by honey bees and deposited in honeycomb cells in the hive to be used as a food source. Nectar provides energy (carbohydrates) and pollen provides proteins and fats for honey bee broods. As bees collect pollen to take to their hive, they are also pollinating different plants with pollen that has become attached to hairs on their bodies.

In your Interactive Notebook add the following: . Title: External Observation of the Honey Bee . Question: What adaptations do bees have to have to be effective pollinators and survive? o After you write down the question – write down what you think right now. . Draw a diagram of a honey bee in your notebook. . Label the parts (Examples are below). o What additional information do you need to help you answer the question? Refer to Source A and Source B for more information. o Add the information to your diagram.  In your notebook, write down your thinking on why the parts you labeled might be an important adaption (a change by which a species becomes better suited to its environment) for the honey bee.

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Topic 1: External Observation of the Honey Bee (Source A)

Christopher M. Jernigan. (2017, June 13). Bee Anatomy. ASU - Ask A Biologist. Retrieved (2020, May 26) from https://askabiologist.asu.edu/honey-bee-anatomy

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Topic 1: External Observation of the Honey Bee - Source B

Citation: Ruth Biggs, Danielle Houseman, Amanda Wojtalik. (2018, January 02). Bee Bits. ASU - Ask A Biologist. Retrieved from https://askabiologist.asu.edu/biology-bits/bee-bits

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Citation: Ruth Biggs, Danielle Houseman, Amanda Wojtalik. (2018, January 02). Bee Bits. ASU - Ask A Biologist. Retrieved from https://askabiologist.asu.edu/biology-bits/bee-bits

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Topic 2: Flower Dissection and Insect Pollination (Interactive Notebook)

Background Information: As bees are collecting pollen for their hive, their body hair also picks up pollen from the anther of the plant. As the bee moves to another flower, the pollen from the anther is deposited on the sticky top of the new flower’s stigma, where it travels down to the ovary to fertilize the flower’s eggs.

Flowers are the reproductive parts of many plants. It may surprise you to know that flowers have female and male parts. The female part of the plant is called the pistil. It includes the stigma, style, and ovary (which contains the eggs). The male part is called the stamen. It includes the anther and filament. The anther holds the pollen (sperm) of the plant.

Materials: ● Three fresh flowers ● Scissors ● Tape

In your Interactive Notebook add the following: ● Title: Flower Dissection and Insect Pollination ● Question: What adaptations do flowers have to ensure pollination and survival? ● After you write down the question – write down what you think right now. ● Draw a diagram of the labeled flower in your Interactive Notebook. ● Use Source A to write down the function (what does it do) for each term in the diagram.

● Carefully examine one of the flowers. Locate as many parts of the flower that you can.

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 Draw a table in your Interactive Notebook (make it big enough that you can draw and describe the flower). Complete the table.

Flower 1 Flower 2 Flower 3 Describe the flower (include a sketch)

● Draw seven tables in you Interactive Notebook (make the tables big enough to record the information and to tape the pieces from the flowers).

Function: Flower 1 Flower 2 Flower 3 How many and tape How many and tape How many and tape sample. sample. sample.

To learn about flowers: ● Find and count the sepals at the base of your flower. Why is the sepal important to the development of the flower? (Add to the table in your Interactive Notebook.) ● Find and count the petals of your flower. Why are petals usually brightly colored? (Add to the table in your Interactive Notebook.) ● Find both parts of the stamen on your plant (the male part—anther and filament). Why is it important for the anthers to be towards the top of the flower? (Add to the table in your Interactive Notebook.) 14

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 Find all three parts of the pistil on your plant (the female part—stigma, style, and ovary). Cut open the ovary. How many eggs are inside the ovary? (Add to the table in your Interactive Notebook.)

 Draw Conclusions by answering the question - In your notebook, write down your thinking on What adaptations do flowers have to ensure pollination and survival? Use examples from your dissection to support your response.

Topic 2: Flower Dissection/Insect Pollination (Source A)

U.S. Forest Service, & United States Department of Agriculture. (n.d.). What is pollination? Retrieved May 26, 2020, from https://www.fs.fed.us/wildflowers/pollinators/What_is_Pollination/ 15

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Topic 3: The Importance of Pollinators (Interactive Notebook)

Background Information: Why do we care about entomophily? What is entomophily, anyway? Here is the definition of entomophily:

Word of the Day: “Entomophily en’to-mof-il’e n. Entomophilous en’to-mof’i-lus (Gr. entomos: insect, philos: friend, loved) Definition: Pollination by insects. Including wasps, bees, ants, beetles, moths, butterflies, crickets and flies amongst others.

An entomophilous flower has adaptions that encourage pollination by insects. The flowers are actinomorphic and crowded together. This arrangement allows insects the ability to enter the flower from any direction and encourages the easy spread of pollen.

Pollination of flowers by insects is a critical factor in the food chain. Is it possible for humans to pollinate a field as effectively as the natural process of entomophily? Hmm…let’s find out more.

In your Interactive Notebook add the following: ● Title: The Importance of Pollinators ● Question: What is a pollinator? ● After you write down the question – write down what you think right now.

To learn more about the importance of pollinators read Source A (called…drum roll please…) “The Importance of Pollinators” and Source B (more information about the bee as a pollinator).

In your Interactive Notebook add the following: ● Three things you learned about pollinators. ● Two important ideas you feel like people should know about bees. ● One question you have.

In your Interactive Notebook add the following: ● Write the question “How long does it take humans to pollinate a field?” ● After completing “Busy as a Bee” write your answer to the question.

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Let’s figure out if humans are better pollinators than bees. Locate “Busy as a Bee” and determine if bees or humans are better pollinators

Social Media provides an opportunity for citizens to inform others of the importance of bees in the community. Write a Tweet (140 characters or less) explaining the importance of bees.

● If you have a parent approved Twitter account – post your Tweet (include @DoDEA in your message). ● If you don’t have a parent approved Twitter account – write your Tweet in your Interactive Notebook.

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Topic 3: The Importance of Pollinators (Source A)

What is Pollination?

Pollination is the act of transferring pollen grains from the male anther of a flower to the female stigma. The goal of every living organism, including plants, is to create offspring for the next generation. One of the ways that plants can produce offspring is by making seeds. Seeds contain the genetic information to produce a new plant. Flowers are the tools that plants use to make their seeds. The basic parts of the flower are shown in the diagram below.

Seeds can only be produced when pollen is transferred between flowers of the same species. A species is defined a population of individuals capable of interbreeding freely with one another but because of geographic, reproductive, or other barriers, they do not interbreed with members of other species.

Parts of a flower

This wasp is a specialist pollinator of Penstemon, which is the flower it is visiting, or rather sleeping in here. Photo by Dr. Jim Cane, USDA ARS Bee Biology and Systematics Laboratory, Logan, Utah. How does pollen get from one flower get from one flower to another?

Flowers must rely on vectors to move pollen. These vectors can include wind, water, birds, insects, butterflies, bats, and other animals that visit flowers. We call animals or insects that transfer pollen from plant to plant “pollinators.” 18

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Pollination is usually the unintended consequence of an animal’s activity on a flower. The pollinator is often eating or collecting pollen for its protein and other nutritional characteristics or it is sipping nectar from the flower when pollen grains attach themselves to the animal’s body. When the animal visits another flower for the same reason, pollen can fall off onto the flower’s stigma and may result in successful reproduction of the flower. Referring to the animated image, pollen from the anthers of Flower 1 is deposited on the stigma of Flower 2. Once on the stigma, pollen may “germinate,” which means that a “pollen tube” forms on the sticky surface of the stigma and grows down into the ovule of the plant. ____

U.S. Forest Service, & United States Department of Agriculture. (n.d.). What is pollination? Retrieved May 26, 2020, from https://www.fs.fed.us/wildflowers/pollinators/What_is_Pollination/

This growth can result in: ● Successful fertilization of the flower and the growth of seeds and fruit; or, ● A plant can be only partially fertilized, in which the fruit and/or seeds do not fully develop; or, ● The plant can completely fail to be pollinated, and may not reproduce at all.

Plants can be: ● Self-pollinating - the plant can fertilize itself; or, ● Cross-pollinating - the plant needs a vector (a pollinator or the wind) to get the pollen to another flower of the same species. 19

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Topic 3: The Importance of Pollinators (Source B)

Smithsonian. (2020, March 26). The Why, What, When, Where, Who, How of Pollination.

Retrieved May 26, 2020, from https://gardens.si.edu/gardens/pollinator-garden/why-what-when- where-who-how-pollination/ 20

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Topic 3: The Importance of Pollinators “Busy as a Bee the Math of Pollination”

In this activity, we are going to look at the production of just one food crop—almonds. California produces 82 percent of total almonds in the world. Almond producers depend upon bees to pollinate their almond trees. What would happen if bees were not available and we had to depend on humans to pollinate the trees?

Calculate Some Almond Pollination Numbers from California’s Central Valley:

1. There are approximately 810,000 acres of trees with 112 trees on each acre (810,000 acres of trees X 112 trees = 90,720,000 total trees to pollinate in California’s Central Valley). To make the numbers a little easier to calculate, we are going to just focus on just one farm. The average farm size in California is 64 acres. How many total almond trees are found in the average farm size? Show your work.

2. Without bees to pollinate these trees, you and 3 of your friends have been hired to pollinate the almond trees for one farm. Each tree has 28,000 flowers to pollinate, but only about 25 percent (7,000) of the flowers actually produce almonds. We are only going to pollinate 7,000 flowers per tree. How long would it take you and your friends to pollinate all the trees? In order to solve this problem, we need to get some average pollination times. First we will determine how long it takes each of you to pollinate 50 flowers on a “tree.” Each “bee” (that’s you) will touch the flowers on the almond tree outline, in order by number (from 1-50). You will need to time how long it takes you to do this. You will do four separate trials pollinating your tree and then determine your average time to pollinate fifty flowers. (Ask three family members to be the other bees and have them complete the time trial.) TO GET THE AVERAGE TIME FOR EACH BEE: ADD the four trials together. DIVIDE by four.

Trial 1 Trial 2 Trial 3 Trial 4 Average (secs) (secs) (secs) (secs) Time “Bee” #1

“Bee” #2

“Bee” #3

“Bee” #4 21

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3. What is the average of the times of all four of the practice “bees” in your group? Show your work. (ADD the four Average Time together. DIVIDE by four.)

4. We currently know that you need to pollinate 7,000 flowers on a tree and we have the average time it takes one person to pollinate only fifty of those flowers. How long would it take one person to pollinate one tree? (For your answer, figure the number of seconds and convert to minutes.)

5. If you work an eight-hour day, how many trees can one person pollinate? Show your work. Let’s assume that your group of pollinators has thirty members. That means your group can pollinate trees per day. Show your work.

6. Your group can pollinate ___(answer from #5) trees per day. There are ___(answer from #2) trees total per farm to pollinate. Divide that number to determine how long it would take your group to pollinate one farm.

• We need to pay your group for their work. Minimum wage is about $9.00 per hour in California. How much will you paid per day? Show your work. How much for days? How much for your whole group?

7. Compare that cost to that of renting bees to do the work. Usually two hives are placed on each acre at the cost of $150.00 per hive. A rental colony (two hives) usually has eight frames with 1,500-2,000 bees per frame. Populations might triple in size depending upon how nutritious the crop is being pollinated. The average farm size is 640 acres. How much would the bees cost?

8. What kinds of things would impact the cost of hiring your group to do the work? Think of the conditions—pollinating 50 flowers every seconds for 8 hours a day.

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Busy as a Bee - KEY

Answers are outlined below to help work through this activity.

In this activity, we are going to look at the production of just one food crop—almonds. California produces 82 percent of the total almonds in the world. Almond producers depend upon bees to pollinate their almond trees. What would happen if bees were not available and we had to depend on humans to pollinate the trees?

Calculate Some Almond Pollination Numbers from California’s Central Valley:

64 acres X 112 trees = 7,168 total trees to pollinate

2. Without bees to pollinate these trees, your class has been hired to pollinate the almond trees for one farm. Each tree has 28,000 flowers to pollinate, but only about 25 percent (7,000) of the flowers actually produce almonds. We are only going to pollinate 7,000 flowers per tree. How long would it take your class to pollinate all the trees? In order to solve this problem, you will be placed into groups of 4-5 “bees” to get some average pollination times. First we will determine how long it takes each of you to pollinate 50 flowers on a tree. Within your group, each “bee” (that’s you) will touch the flowers on the almond tree outline, in order by number (from 1- 50). The other members in your group will time how long it takes you to do this. You will do four separate trials pollinating your tree and then determine your average time to pollinate fifty flowers.

Trial 1 Trial 2 Trial 3 Trial 4 Average (secs) (secs) (secs) (secs) Time “Bee” #1

“Bee” #2

“Bee” #3

“Bee” #4

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3. What is the average of the times of all four of the practice “bees” in your group? Show your work.

Averages of Bee #1 + Bee #2 + Bee #3 + Bee #4 = divided by four Answers highlighted below are the answers to this problem with an average of 15 seconds for one person to pollinate 50 flowers.

4. We currently know that you need to pollinate 7,000 flowers on a tree and we have the average time it takes one person to pollinate only fifty of those flowers. How long would it take one person to pollinate one tree? For your answer, figure the number of seconds and convert to minutes.

7,000 flowers divided by 50 = 140

15 Seconds X 140 times = 2100 seconds average time of one person to pollinate 7000 flowers (one tree) 2100 seconds divided by 60 = 35 minutes for one tree

5. If you work an eight-hour day, how many trees can one person pollinate? Show your work. Let’s assume that your group has thirty members. That means your group can pollinate trees per day. Show your work.

8 hours x 60 = 480 minutes of work per day

480 minutes divided by 35 minutes per tree = 13.71 trees per day per student

13.71 trees per day X 30 students = 411.30 trees per day per class

6. Your group can pollinate (answer from #8) 411.30 trees per day. There are 7,168 (answer from #2) trees total per farm to pollinate. Divide that number to determine how long it would take your class to pollinate one farm.

7,168 divided by 411.30 trees per day = 17.42 number of days for your class to pollinate all the trees.

7. We need to pay your group for their work. Minimum wage is about $9.00 per hour in California. How much will you paid per day? Show your work. How much for 17.42 days? How much for your whole class?

$9.00 per hour X 8 hours = $72.00 per day $72.00 x 17.42 days = $1254.24 per student $1254.24 x 30 students = $37,627.20 pay for the whole class 24 Summer Learning

8. Compare that cost to that of renting bees to do the work. Usually two hives are placed on each acre at the cost of $150.00 per hive. A rental colony usually has eight frames with 1,500-2,000 bees per frame. Populations might triple in size depending upon how nutritious the crop is being pollinated. The average farm size is 640 acres. How much would the bees cost?

64 acres x 2 bee hives/per acre = 128

128 x 150.00 = $19,200 total

9. What kinds of things would impact the cost of hiring your group to do the work? Think of the conditions— pollinating 50 flowers every 15 seconds for 8 hours a day.

(National Park Service – Bee Week – Middle School)

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Topic 4: Engineering a Bee (Interactive Notebook)

Background Information: Robert Wood is an electrical engineer participating in National Geographic Emerging Explorers program. His work demonstrates the potential of how robotics can impact our lives in the future. Recently the Wyss Institute has developed RoBoBees that are inspired by the biology of a bee, the goal is to create electronic insects that could perform myriad roles in agriculture or disaster relief.

Today, you are going to engineer a bee using household items. Your bee must have the proper parts to be able to accomplish pollination.

Materials (stuff you find in the “junk drawer” – the following are examples) ● Pipe Cleaners, Toothpicks, Paper Clips, Wax Paper, Birthday Candles

In your Interactive Notebook add the following: ● Title: Engineering a Bee ● Question: If you were an engineer, how would you create a “bee” to help pollinate plants? ● After you write down the question – write down what you think right now.

Read Source A: Engineers are busy developing robo-bees to pollinate plants.

● In your Interactive Notebook create a chart to record the “pros” and “cons” of the robo-bees identified in the article.

Now it’s time for you to Engineer a Bee: When thinking about engineering a bee, you must consider the phrase “form follows function.” ● What adaptations (form) do bees have to move from plant to plant gathering nectar and in the process pollinating plants (function)? ● In order to pollinate plants, bees need: ▪ a power source to provide energy for movement, ▪ ability to move from plant to plant (wings, legs, etc…), ▪ ability to see a flower in ultraviolet light to see the flowers, ▪ ability to land on that flower, and ▪ the ability to collect the pollen to carry from plant to plant for pollination.

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In your Interactive Notebook ● Sketch out how an engineered bee will look. ● Label all the parts they will need to accomplish the functions listed above. ● Using the materials you collected, construct your bee so that it looks as close to your sketch as possible. ● Use the rubric to assist you in constructing your bee.

Social Media provides an opportunity for citizens to inform others of the importance of bees in the community. Take a picture of your engineered bee that could be shared on Instagram, Snap Chat or Facebook. Include three things your “engineered bees” need to be effective pollinators; two problems with releasing engineered bees into nature; and one way to solve a problem that may result from releasing engineered bees into nature. ● If you have a parent approved account – post your photo and info (include @DoDEA in your message). ● If you don’t have a parent approved account – write your response in your Interactive Notebook.

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Topic 4: Engineering a Bee (Source A)

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Topic 5: Pollinators in our World (Interactive Notebook)

Background Information: You’ve heard the saying, “Think globally; act locally.” Well, here’s your chance. Pollinators are vital to the production of many of the foods we eat. In fact, it’s estimated that a third of the crops we grow depend on pollinators. But many pollinators, including honeybees and native bees, are in trouble. Populations are in sharp decline due to pesticide use, disease and parasite problems, and loss of food and nesting habitat. How can you help? Great question. Let’s find out!

Materials: If you choose to create a pollinator garden and/or make a bee hotel…the materials needed are included in Source A (pollinator garden) and Source B (honey bee hotel).

In your Interactive Notebook add the following: ● Title: Pollinators in our World ● Question: What can you do to help pollinators? ● After you write down the question – write down what you think right now.

Read Source A: A Pollinator Garden and Source B: DIY Building a Bee Hotel

Now, that you’ve looked at two options to help pollinators, take a moment to review “Bee a Hero.” Place a checkmark next to the actions you can take to protect pollinators at your home.

In your Interactive Notebook add to your response to “what can you do to help pollinators?” with information from the two sources and “Bee a Hero.”

Take Action: 1. Create a pollinator garden. a. Research the type of plants pollinators are attracted to in your local community. b. Research the possibility of the plants being donated and/or where you can purchase the plants. c. Make a map of the garden in your Interactive Notebook. d. Discuss creating the garden with your parents or reach out to your school principal to see about creating the garden at your school. 2. Build a Bee Hotel (follow the instructions in Source B). 3. Use Social Media (if parent approved) and share “Bee a Hero” to spread the word about saving the honey bees to your local community. Remember to include @DoDEA in your post.

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Congratulations! You’ve finished “What’s all the buzz about bees?” Now you have the background knowledge to explore the big question, “Should we do more to help save the honey bee?”

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Topic 5: Pollinators in our World (Source A)

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Topic 5: Pollinators in our World (Source B)

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Bee a Hero

How can you help the honey bee (and other pollinators) at home? Review the list of possible ways you can help the honey bee. Check all that apply.

1. Provide Food and Water

Choose plants that flower at different times. Plant in clumps rather than single plants.

Provide a variety of colors and shapes.

Choose plants that attract pollinators. Choose native plants.

Provide a source of clean water in your garden or backyard.

2. Provide Shelter

Build bee nesting boxes. Build butterfly houses.

Leave dead limbs on trees (if not safety hazard). Leave natural habitat in your yard.

3. Avoid or Limit Pesticides

Remove pests by hand.

_____ Encourage native predators.

Accepts pests in your garden. Apply pesticides only when needed and where needed. Choose the least toxic pesticide.

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Should we do more to help save the honey bees?

Now you are prepared to begin your inquiry to create an argument in support or opposition to the compelling question: Should we do more to help save the honey bees?

Each Task will take about an hour. For the compelling question and each supporting question you will complete a variety of evidence based tasks: ● Write the question in your Interactive Notebook. ● Follow the instructions for task. ● Use the evidence provided to support your response. ● Record your response to the task in your Interactive Notebook.

After completing the tasks you will have the opportunity to: ● construct an evidence-based argument and ● take informed action.

You can make a difference for your local and global community – let’s do this!

Supporting Question 1 Supporting Question Supporting Question 2 3 Why do we need honey bees? What might help the What’s happening to our situation? bees? Task #1 Task #3 Task #2 Use information from the multiple Create a poster, Create a diagram with sources to address Supporting pamphlet, or information and Question 1. Record in the educational slide illustrations answering the Interactive Notebook. show to question, “what’s communicate how happening to our bees.” people can help Use at least three of the honey bees. sources to create your diagram. Featured Sources Featured Sources Featured Sources Source A: Silence of the Bees Source A: Buzzing Source A: Honey Bee Source B: Declining bee for Solutions Colony Losses 2018-2019 populations pose threat to global Source B: Saving the Source B: Colony Collapse food security and nutrition bees: Blumenauer Disorder Optional A: The Singing Zoologist. aims to stop use of Source C: Honey Bees are https://www.youtube.com/watch common pesticide Dyeing in Droves ?v=XZQmE0B7gFQ June 24, 2017. linked to colony Source D: Like Sending Optional B: Waggle Dance decline Bees to War https://www.youtube.com/watch Source C: Being Source E: Popular ?v=-7ijI-g4jHg, June 29, 2017. Serious About Saving Pesticides May Harm Bee Bees Flight

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Writing an Argument You will write a letter to your Senator writing an argument using the evidence from Tasks 1 – 3 either in support or opposition to the question – Should we do more to help save the honey bees? Taking Action You will have the opportunity to take civic action based on your findings in the inquiry. #makeadifference

The Compelling Question: Should we do more to help save the honey bees? Compelling Should we do more to help save the honey bee? Question Source A: The Pollinator Project: List of crop plants pollinated by bees Featured Source B: Six Meals We Would Not Enjoy Sources

Background Information: How would your life be different if honey bee devastation continues? Foods you enjoy that might no longer be available to you should honey bees become extinct. Of course, as you learned, human pollinators could become the norm, some of these foods might still be available, but only to the wealthiest people. Regardless of how you answer the compelling question, the plight of the bees and Colony Collapse Disorder are important issues that need public awareness.

In your Interactive Notebook add the following: ● Compelling Question: Should we do more to help save the honey bees? ● After you write down the question – write down what you think right now. ● Brainstorm a list of your favorite foods (write the list in your Interactive Notebook).

To learn more about the impact of the loss of the honey bee on the foods you enjoy read the texts from the featured sources. As you read: ● Highlight or circle the foods on your list that you may not be able to enjoy again with the loss of the honey bee. o Identify the source next to the word on the list you highlighted or circled. ● Example chocolate chip cookies “A” ● Add foods to your list that you enjoy but forgot (circle/highlight and add the source).

38 Summer Learning BEE HEALTHY! Pack a lunch BEE ACTIVE! Now that you’ve using foods that come from used your brain – let’s give it a Bees. Create a list of nutritious break with a quick stretch. foods that you can pack to eat. Use My Plate Hold the stretch for 20 seconds. Food Groups to ensure you have a balanced meal!

Source A: List of Pollinated Foods

ALFALFA: leafcutter bees and honey bees ALMOND: honey bees KIWIFRUIT: honey bees, bumblebees, solitary ANISE: honey bee bees APPLE: honey bees, blue mason orchard bees MACADAMIA NUT: bees, beetles, wasps APRICOT: bees MANGO: bees, flies, wasps AVOCADO: bees, flies, bats MELON: bees BANANA: birds, fruit bats NUTMEG: honey bees, bird BLUEBERRY: Over 115 kinds of bees, including PAPAYA: moths, birds, bees bumblebees, mason bees, mining bees and PEACH: bees leafcutter bees PEAR: honey bees, flies, mason bees CARDAMOM: honey bees, solitary bees PEPPERMINT: flies, bees CASHEW: bees, moths, fruit bats PUMPKIN: squash and gourd bees, CHERRY: honey bees, Bumblebees, Solitary bumblebees bees, flies RASPBERRY and BLACKBERRY: honey bees, CHOCOLATE: midges (flies), stingless bees bumblebees, solitary bees, hover flies COCONUT: insects and fruit bats SESAME: bees, flies, wasps COFFEE: stingless bees, other bees or flies STRAWBERRY: bees CORIANDER: honey bees, solitary bees SUGARCANE: bees, thrips CRANBERRY: Over 40 native bees, including TEA PLANTS: flies, bees and other insects bumble TEQUILA (AGAVE): bats DAIRY PRODUCTS: Dairy cows eat ALFALFA TOMATO: bumble bees pollinated by leafcutter and honey bees VANILLA: bees FIG: 800 kinds of fig wasps Pollinator Partnership. (n.d.). List of Pollinated Food. GRAPE: bees Retrieved May 26, 2020, from https://www.pollinator.org/list-of-pollinated-food GRAPEFRUIT: bees

39 Summer Learning Source B: Six Meals We Would Never Enjoy the Same Way Again

A silent killer has been affecting our food system: The decline of pollinators. According to most available research, bees and other pollinator animals are disappearing due to a complex variety of factors including Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD), a global bee epidemic first identified in 2006. The cause is somewhat unclear, but experts have cited varroa mites, malnutrition, pesticides — including a new class called neonicotinoids–and even cellphones as possible causes.

If the problem persists, our food supply could be in serious jeopardy. Bees (both the honey and native varieties) pollinate seventy out of the top 100 human food crops, which supply nearly 90 percent of the world’s meals. In fact, the Apis mellifera (aka the Western honeybee) is responsible for 1 in every 3 mouthfuls we eat.

Indeed, bees are not only essential for pollinating the likes of almonds, apples, blueberries, cucumbers, and broccoli, but also for the reproduction of alfalfa and clover, which feed cattle and other grazing animals. No bees? Say goodbye to a significant portion of our milk, cheese, butter, yogurt and ice creams.

How does this affect your own personal food supply? We partnered with Cascadian Farm to explain.

1. Thanksgiving Dinner: Without bees, the harvest will be a little less robust. There’d be no cranberries, Brussels sprouts, squash, pumpkin or apple pie.

2. July 4th BBQ: The Fourth of July evokes images of fireworks, the Star Spangled Banner, bug spray and barbecues. But if bees were extinct, there would be no corn, watermelon, berries, or cucumber salad.

3. Cinco De Mayo Fiesta: We love celebrating the 5th of May, but our tortillas, rice, and beans would be incomplete without bee-pollinated avocados and tomatoes, peppers and cheese produced by alfalfa and clover munching cows (both bee pollinated plants).

4. Middle Eastern: Vegetarians love to feast on the likes of Middle Eastern fare. But sans pollinators, most of the classical regional ingredients like eggplant, favas, kale, mint, parsley, and most nuts and spices would be conspicuously missing.

5. Italian Dinner: From the tomato sauce to the vibrant veggies, Italian foods like pasta and pizza wouldn’t look like much without our precious pollinators. Don’t forget to also ditch most of the classic spices like basil and oregano as well!

6. Comfort Foods: At the end of a long day—or even in the middle of one—nothing hits the spot better than chocolate, milk or a cup of coffee. But, without bees, we’d just have cookies to nurse us through tougher times.

40 Summer Learning

The good news is that things might be getting better. Although nearly one out of four American honeybee colonies died this winter, that’s considerably less than the previous year, or the eight year average of 30 percent losses.

Huffington Post. (2014, September 9). Meals We Would Never Enjoy if the Bees Disappeared. Retrieved May 26, 2020, from https://www.huffpost.com/entry/placeholder-for-cascadian_n_5687779

Summer Learning

Supporting Question 1 Supporting Why do we need honey bees? Question Source A: Silence of the Bees Featured Source B: Declining bee populations pose threat to global food security and Sources nutrition Optional A: Honey Bee Life Cycle, The Singing Zoologist. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XZQmE0B7gFQ, June 24, 2017. Optional B: Waggle Dance, YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=- 7ijI-g4jHg, June 29, 2017.

Answer the question “why do we need honey bees?” with evidence from Task Source A and Source B in your Interactive Notebook.

Background Information: In “What’s all the buzz about bees?” you investigated pollinators and pollination. In your week of learning you studied the anatomy of the honey bee, dissected flowers, and engineered a honey bee. In terms of pollinators, honeybees are just one species of many who pollinate plants, including 85% of the world’s flowering plants and more than two-thirds of the world’s crop species. Pollinators, such as insects, birds, and bats, are important for global health and economic security.

A common misconception is that all bees produce honey and live in hives. The reality is that only 10% of the world’s 20,000 known species of bees are social, living in and constructing hives. In North America, which has about 4,000 known species of native bees, only the honeybee (an introduced European species) and the native bumblebee live in colonies. Most bees are solitary and live in individual nests tunneled into the soil. Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) only appears to affect managed honeybee colonies. We do know, however, that populations of native bees are also in decline.

If other pollinators can do the job, why do we need honey bees?

In your Interactive Notebook add the following: ● Supporting Question: Why do we need honey bees? ● After you write down the question – write down what you think right now.

In our introduction to the Compelling Question: Should we more to help save the honey bees? You learned about the impact of extinction of honey bees on your favorite foods. Now you are going to learn more about the loss of honey bees would impact food supply in commercial farming, and how the loss would impact survival of species (plant and animal) in the wild.

Summer Learning

First, to get a slightly different perspective, read Source A: Silence of the Bees. As you read, underline or highlight reasons we need honey bees stated in the article.

Next, read Source B: Declining bee populations pose threat to global food security and nutrition. Do the same thing – underline or highlight reasons we need honey bees as stated in the article.

If you have internet access and like music – check out the Honey Bee Life Cycle (Optional Source A) rap song by the singing Zoologist. It’s fun to watch and you learn a lot about the importance of the honey bee https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XZQmE0B7gFQ. Another great video (Optional Source B) is the “waggle dance” which demonstrated how bees communicate to other bees in the hive the location of a food source. The video also provides important background information to help you understand the role of neonicotinoids in disrupting the bee’s delicate radar. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=- 7ijI-g4jHg

In your Interactive Notebook go back to your Supporting Question: Why do we need honey bees? ● Make a bulleted list of the reasons we need honey bees. o Write (Source A) after evidence from Silence of the Bees. o Write (Source B) after evidence from Declining bee population pose threat to global food security and nutrition.

BEE ACTIVE! Hold a plank for at least 30 seconds. Repeat this exercise three different times.

Summer Learning

Source A: Silence of the Bees

In the winter of 2006/2007, more than a quarter of the country’s 2.4 million bee colonies — accounting for tens of billions of bees — were lost to CCD, Colony Collapse Disorder. This loss is projected have an $8 billion to $12 billion effect on America’s agricultural economy, but the consequences of CCD could be far more disastrous.

The role honeybees play in our diet goes beyond honey production. These seemingly tireless creatures pollinate about one-third of crop species in the U.S. Honeybees pollinate about 100 flowering food crops including apples, nuts, broccoli, avocados, soybeans, asparagus, celery, squash and cucumbers, citrus fruit, peaches, kiwi, cherries, blueberries, cranberries, strawberries, cantaloupe, melons, as well as animal-feed crops, such as the clover that’s fed to dairy cows. Essentially all flowering plants need bees to survive. A daunting question is: If honeybee colonies were so severely affected by CCD that pollination stopped, could we lose these crops from our markets and our diets forever? Honeybees pollinate about 100 flowering crops.

“We’re not there yet,” says Jeff Pettis of the USDA. Pettis says there are steps researchers and beekeepers can take to ensure that the bee population doesn’t plummet to catastrophic levels. “One measure beekeepers have been taking is to keep bees as healthy as possible — improve nutrition and reduce stress,” says Pettis. Consumers have become more demanding and expect to have fruits and vegetables available to us all year round. In order to achieve this, commercial beekeepers haul colonies of honeybees across the country so their pollination services can serve all growing seasons. The season may start with almonds in California, then move on to apples in the Northwest, cranberries in New Jersey and Maine blueberries. The constant moving about places stress on the bees. In addition, certain crops that may be in the pollination circuit, like cranberries and cucumbers, are not very nutritious for bees. To keep the bees healthy, beekeepers may need to ease up on their schedules. It may be necessary for them to retire bees for a particular season or skip some less nutritious crops entirely.

Of course, nature has its own safeguards to keep crops pollinated. Honeybees aren’t our only pollinators. Other insects and birds pollinate fruits and vegetables as well. The problem with other natural pollinators picking up the bees’ slack is that today’s agricultural industry has simply grown too large for them to keep up. The leviathan that is U.S. agriculture creates a huge demand for pollination. Because honeybees are relatively mobile and can pollinate a generous number of crops, they have been the ideal recruits to meet our crop needs. But honeybees don’t perform such feats naturally without help — lots of it. Commercial beekeepers keep colonies nourished and healthy and move their hives from state to state in semis, selling their pollination services to farmers at a premium.

Summer Learning

With the threat of CCD looming, researchers are starting to study how other pollinators like the larger bumble bees could step in for honeybees. “The Dutch have figured out how to use bumblebees,” says Pettis. Bumblebees share many similarities with honeybees. Both are social nesters, although the bumblebees’ society is not as highly ordered as that of honeybees. Also, bumblebees make a new nest each spring by solitary queens, who hibernate through the winter. Honeybees remain in the old nest.

Perhaps the biggest consideration is an economic one. Bumblebees last just 2 months and cost $200 per colony, whereas honeybees can last several months in the summer with colony rentals running only $100 to $140. As a result, the use of bumblebee pollination is usually confined to high-value crops like tomatoes. Clearly, the use of bumblebees is a step in the right direction, but not a final solution.

“There’s nothing waiting in the wings that can replace honeybees at this time,” says Pettis, “but we can solve the problem in honeybee health.” Pettis says that by focusing on reducing stress and improving nutrition, beekeepers can limit some of the factors that potentially lead to disastrous conditions like CCD, thereby keeping bees — and our diets — healthy.

Source: https://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/silence-of-the-bees-impact-of-ccd-on-us- agriculture/37/

Summer Learning

Source B: Declining bee population pose threat to global food security and nutrition

20 May 2019, Rome - The global decline in bee populations poses a serious threat to a wide variety of plants critical to human well-being and livelihoods, and countries should do more to safeguard our key allies in the fight against hunger and malnutrition, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations stressed today as it marked UN World Bee Day.

Bees and other pollinators are declining in abundance in many parts of the world largely due to intensive farming practices, mono-cropping, excessive use of agricultural chemicals and higher temperatures associated with climate change, affecting not only crop yields but also nutrition. If this trend continues, nutritious crops such as fruits, nuts, and many vegetables will be substituted increasingly by staple crops like rice, corn, and potatoes, eventually resulting in an imbalanced diet.

"Bees are under great threat from the combined effects of climate change, intensive agriculture, pesticides use, biodiversity loss and pollution," said FAO's Director-General José Graziano da Silva in a video message recorded for this year's World Bee Day. "The absence of bees and other pollinators would wipe out coffee, apples, almonds, tomatoes and cocoa to name just a few of the crops that rely on pollination. Countries need to shift to more pollinator-friendly and sustainable food policies and systems."

In his message, Graziano da Silva urged every single person to make pollinator-friendly choices. "Even growing flowers at home to feed bees contributes to this effort," he added. The World Bee Day ceremony at FAO headquarters in Rome saw the participation of Slovenia's Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Food Aleksandra Pivec, President of the Slovenian Beekeepers' Association Boštjan Noč, and Vice President of Apimondia Peter Kozmus.

Slovenia, together with FAO, was instrumental in establishing the international day through a UN General Assembly resolution in 2017, with support from Apimondia, the International Federation of Beekeepers' Associations.

Small creatures, huge benefits

Bees are among the hardest working creatures on the planet providing the important ecosystem service of ensuring pollination and thus reproduction of many cultivated and wild plants, which is crucial for food production, human livelihoods and biodiversity. Bees and other pollinators such as birds and bats, affect 35 percent of the world's crop production, increasing outputs of 87 of the leading food crops worldwide, plus many plant- derived medicines.

Summer Learning

About two-thirds of the crop plants that feed the world rely on pollination by insects or other animals to produce healthy fruits and seeds for human consumption. Pollination benefits human nutrition - enabling not only the production of an abundance of fruits, nuts and seeds, but also more variety and better quality.

FAO carries out various activities to encourage pollinator-friendly practices in agricultural management, including the Global Action on Pollination Services for Sustainable Agriculture and the International Pollinators Initiative.

FAO's recent State of the World's Biodiversity for Food and Agriculture report also stresses that many species, associated with biodiversity, including bees, are under severe threat, and calls on governments and the international community to do more to address the core drivers of biodiversity loss.

Another study entitled Assessment of Pollinators, Pollination and Food Production issued by the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), with input from FAO experts, highlights a number of ways to effectively safeguard pollinator populations to ensure food security and preserve biodiversity.

This year marks the second observance of World Bee Day and today's event in Rome, aiming at raising awareness of the role of bees and pollinators in food and agriculture, was organized by FAO in partnership with the Government of the Republic of Slovenia and Apimondia. This event took place in parallel with an observance at the UN headquarters in New York.

Source: http://www.fao.org/news/story/en/item/1194910/icode/

Summer Learning Supporting Question 2 Supporting What’s happening to our bees? Question Task #2 Create an infographic with information and illustrations answering the question, “what’s happening to our bees?” Use at least three of the sources to create your diagram.

● Source A: Honey Bee Colony Losses 2018-2019 ● Source B: Colony Collapse Disorder Featured ● Source C: Honey Bees are Dyeing in Droves Sources ● Source D: Like Sending Bees to War ● Source E: Popular Pesticides May Harm Bee Flight

Background Information: Scientists are researching the potential consequences of the rapid decline of the honey bee population in the U.S. and how to lessen its effects before it causes dire problems for crop management and production. The big question – what’s happening to our bees?

In your Interactive Notebook add the following: ● Compelling Question: What’s happening to our bees? ● After you write down the question – write down what you think right now.

To learn more about what is happening to our honey bees read the five sources. ● As you read the five sources create a list in your Interactive Notebook of the possible reasons for the declining bee population.

Now, take your list of the information describing what is happening to our honey bees. Create an infographic to inform people about what is happening to the bees. What’s an infographic? An infographic is a graphic visual representations of information, data, or knowledge intended to present information quickly and clearly. Put your infographic in your Interactive Notebook.

Here are three examples of infographics:

Summer Learning

Source A: Honey Bee Colony Losses 2018-2019 Preliminary Results

Source: https://www.beeculture.com/honey-bee-colony-losses-2018-2019-preliminary- results/ 49

Summer Learning

Source B: Colony Collapse Disorder

INTRODUCTION Colony collapse disorder (CCD) is a syndrome affecting honeybee colonies that threatens honeybee health as well as beekeeping and crop pollination industries. First reported in the United States in 2006, CCD is characterized by sudden colony death, with a lack of adult bees inside the hive. The cause of CCD is not known, though researchers suspect that several factors may be involved. The disorder appears to affect only the European honeybee (Apis mellifera).

Scientists think that CCD affects the ability of adult bees to navigate—the bees leave the hive to find pollen but never return. Honey and pollen are usually present in the hive. In some cases, the queen and a small number of survivor bees may remain in the nest. The presence of honey and of the queen, along with the absence of adult bees, are key signs that distinguish CCD from other causes of bee colony death. Other signs of CCD include delayed robbing of the honey by neighboring bee colonies. Invasion of the dead bee colony by common pests, such as wax moths and small hive beetles, also occurs more slowly than is typical for abandoned hives.

COLONY LOSS AND ECONOMIC IMPACT

The unexplained loss of honeybee colonies that came to be known as CCD was first reported in the United States in the fall of 2006 by a commercial beekeeper from Pennsylvania who was overwintering his colonies in Florida. Though this was the first report of CCD, it may not have been the initial occurrence: later investigations showed that numerous beekeepers had experienced colony losses resembling CCD for at least the previous three years. Similar losses had been reported as far back as the late 19th century.

By February 2007 several large commercial beekeeping operations in the United States had reported cases of CCD. Some operators lost 50–90 percent of their colonies. By the end of 2007, operations in the mid-Atlantic region and the Pacific Northwest of the United States—as well as in Canada, Portugal, Italy, Spain, Greece, Germany, Poland, France, and Switzerland—reported substantial losses of honeybees.

Beekeeping is a critical component of modern agriculture. CCD threatens beekeeping operations that provide pollination services and honey production. Many crops are dependent on honeybees for pollination. In the U.S., beekeepers provide pollination service for more than 90 commercially grown crops, including many fruits and vegetables. With the number of available honeybee colonies for crop pollination in the country in decline, the beekeeping industry faced a tremendous challenge in meeting the demand for pollination services. 50

Summer Learning

SUSPECTED CAUSES OF CCD

Scientists have investigated a variety of possible causes of CCD. These include chemical contamination of the colony food supply; poisoning from pesticides, such as neonicotinoids; possible lack of genetic diversity in colonies; and infection of colonies by parasites or pathogens (disease-causing agents) such as bacteria or viruses. To date no definitive cause has been identified. However, multiple studies have suggested that CCD might result from a combination of causes.

Encyclopedia Britannica. (2020). Colony Collapse Disorder. Retrieved May 26, 2020, from https://kids.britannica.com/students/article/colony-collapse-disorder-CCD/625555

Summer Learning

Source C: Honeybees are dying in droves, and no one knows why yet.

Summer Learning

Source D: Like Sending Bees to War

Summer Learning

Source E: Popular Pesticide May Harm Bee Flight By Lindsey Konkel

June 16, 2017 at 6:10 am Science News for Students Popular Pesticide May Harm Bee Flight

Farmers use pesticides to keep insect pests from destroying their crops. But these chemicals may accidentally harm helpful insects. Some pesticides can hurt a honeybee’s ability to find food and return home. Now scientists show that at least one commonly used insecticide may alter bee flight. In a new study, this chemical made honeybees fly more sluggishly.

Pesticides of this type are called neonicotinoids (Nee-oh-NIK-ih-tin-oidz). Sometimes referred to as neonics, they’re similar to nicotine. That’s the natural, stimulant drug in tobacco. Many studies have concluded that these chemicals could be bad for bees. Now scientists are looking for new ways to get rid of crop pests without harming bees and other beneficial insects, notes James Nieh. A bee biologist, he works at the University of California, San Diego.

Bees are one of several insects that do the important job of pollinating plants. Honeybee workers fly from flower to flower, drinking and collecting a sweet liquid called nectar. (Back at the hive, that nectar is turned into honey.) As the bees take off and land, again and again, they transfer pollen grains from one plant’s male parts to another plant’s female parts. This pollination can fertilize plants. That lets them make seeds — and later, fruit.

Nieh and UC San Diego colleague Simone Tosi had read that honeybee workers exposed to a popular neonic flew away from the hive and never returned. They started wondering why. “Did they drop dead, lose their way — or were they physically unable to fly back?” Nieh wondered.

A honeybee wears a harness in the lab. SIMONE TOSI/UC SAN DIEGO

To find out, they gathered honeybees that were collecting food on flowers near the university. They brought the bees back to their laboratory. Then they made itty bitty harnesses for their tiny research subjects.

Summer Learning

The researchers attached each bee to a spoke on a machine called a flight mill. “Imagine a carousel for bees,” says Tosi. The bees flew in circles on the flight mill while the researchers measured their speed and how long and far the insects flew.

The researchers fed some of the bees a mix of sugar water (a stand-in for nectar) that was laced with pesticide. Then they harnessed the insects to the flight mill. They wanted to mimic how a bee in the wild might encounter a pesticide — through its food. The pesticide was a popular neonic called thiamethoxam (Thy-ah-METH-oh-zam). Plants treated with it take up the chemical into their leaves as they grow. That way the leaves can fight off hungry insects.

But some of the pesticide ends up in the pollen. And that’s where bees can get exposed. They usually won’t get enough pesticide to kill them. But some scientists think small doses of the poison might make bees act a little loopy.

And the new data now suggest that indeed it does.

After one dose of pesticide, bees flew longer and farther than other bees. But if they got more of the pollutant, they now flew shorter distances. The bees also stayed in the air for less time and flew more slowly. The researchers described their findings April 26 in Scientific Reports.

Too much buzz?

Nieh and Tosi aren’t exactly sure why the bees flew more after one dose of pesticide and less after several. Neonics can scramble an insect’s nervous system. That’s the network of nerve cells that carry messages between the brain and other parts of the body. Nieh says it’s possible that the first dose makes a bee hyperactive. Over several doses, however, too much “buzz” might lead to exhaustion.

Flying too much or too little might both be harmful, Tosi worries. Longer flights mean more chances to get eaten by birds or other predators. But shorter flights could mean the bees don’t forage long enough to bring sufficient food back to the hive.

“It’s an interesting finding,” says Dave Goulson, who wasn’t involved in the research. “But the study doesn’t enable us to make any clear predictions about what real-world effects this might be having on bees.” Goulson is a bee researcher at the University of Sussex in Brighton, England.

Summer Learning

Laboratory studies such as this one can be useful. They let researchers test ideas about how things in nature work. Moreover, they can rule out other variables, such as weather or predators. Such factors might interfere with the results if the tests had been conducted outdoors.

Still, there are trade-offs, Goulson points out. Lab conditions don’t capture all real-world conditions. For example, bees in nature are expert navigators. They use visual landmarks, the sun and other cues to find their way home. But there were no navigational landmarks in the flight mill. “Maybe in the real world, bees wouldn’t fly as far, because they’d be able to find their way home,” he says.

Tosi says he’d like to test the effects of the pesticide on other types of bee movements next. “How they move their body and legs while on a flower or inside the hive could also be affected,” he notes.

NGSS: HS-LS2-2, HS-LS2-7, MS-LS2-4, MS-LS2-5

CITATIONS

Journal: S. Tosi et al. A common neonicotinoid pesticide, thiamethoxam, impacts honey bee flight ability. Scientific Reports. Published online April 26, 2017. doi. 10.1038/s41598-017-01361-8.

Summer Learning

Supporting Question 3 Supporting What might help the situation? Question Task #3 Create a poster, pamphlet, or educational slide show to communicate how people can help honey bees.

Source A: Buzzing for Solutions Source B: Saving the bees: Blumenauer aims to stop use of common pesticide Featured linked to colony decline Sources Source C: Being Serious About Saving Bees

Background Information: During “What’s All the Buzz about Bees?” you learned ways that you can help the bees by creating habitats and planting a garden that is pollinator friendly. Citizens can take action to make a difference in their local and global community. Now you are going to learn what other people are doing to save the honey bees and how they (and you) can make a difference at the local, national, and global level.

In your Interactive Notebook add the following: ● Question: What might help the situation? ● After you write down the question – write down what you think right now (think about how a person might be able to make a difference outside of their own backyard). ● Make a two-column table in your Interactive Notebook. The table needs 14 rows and two columns. Label column 1 – Organization and label column 2 - Action.

Read Source A: Buzzing for Solutions. ● As you read, complete the table you created in your Interactive Notebook.

Read Source B and Source C.

Science News for Students. (2016, June 16). Popula Pesticide May Harm Bee Flight. Retrieved May 26, 2020, from In your Interactive Notebook write down the following and complete for each source: https://www.sciencenewsforstudents.org/article/popular-pesticide-may-harm-bee-flight ● Title of Source ● Who? What? When? Where? Why? How?

Summer Learning

Now you are going to create a pamphlet, power point presentation, or poster to inform others on how they can help the honey bees. Use evidence from your sources. ● Create in your Interactive Notebook or create on the computer

● Take action and post or share your information with the local community.

Social Media provides an opportunity for citizens to take action by informing others. Take a photo of your creation and post on Instagram (if you have a parent-approved account) and include @DoDEA and hashtags that support your photo (e.g. #savethebees).

Summer Learning

Source A: Buzzing for Solutions – 13 Organizations and Initiatives Helping to Save Bees

Coming in all shapes and sizes and populating all but the most extreme corners of the globe, bees play a crucial role in agriculture everywhere and represent an irreplaceable link in food production.

From apples and blueberries to almonds and cucumbers, bees help produce more than 30 percent of the world’s food. In fact, according to research from Michigan State University, bees are responsible for one out of every three bites of food we eat. The economic value of pollination services by bees is US$365 billion annually and affects 50-80 percent of the world’s food supply.

Unfortunately, many industrial agricultural practices may endanger the livelihood of these pollinators. The rise of large-scale monoculture crops—including maize, wheat, and rice— can decrease agricultural biodiversity worldwide, according to the American Institute of Biological Sciences. Additionally, the use of pesticides and insecticides, specifically neonicotinoids, can kill individual bees and colonies alike by poisoning nectar and pollen which bees feed to larvae.

Life on Earth without bees would be vastly different, requiring costly and time-intensive manual pollination and leading to skyrocketing prices for a much smaller range of foods, according to Earthjustice.

But countless organizations around the world are offering solutions for saving bees and other pollinators. Food Tank is honored to highlight 13 organizations and initiatives helping to save bees.

Avaaz (“voice” in several languages) is a global web movement calling on U.S. and European Union decision makers to save bees and the global food supply by banning harmful neonicotinoid pesticides. Supporters can sign the petition, which has almost 3 million signatures.

In Argentina, Italy, and the U.S. BeesFree, Inc. is focused on improving the health and well- being of honey bees through offering innovative products such as, the Beespenser, an automated honey bee feeding system.

Bee Raw sells products ranging from raw honeys to bee and honey-related gifts sourced from local, sustainable farmers and beekeepers in order to encourage ecological agricultural practices.

Summer Learning

In addition to producing lip balms and other honey-infused products, Burt’s Bees collaboration with the North American Pollinator Protection Campaign’s Pollinator Partnership Honey Bee Health Improvement Project supports the United States, Canada, and Mexico’s attempts to assuage the depletion of honeybees in the Western Hemisphere. Burt’s Bees also funds sustainable beekeeping efforts through the Burt’s Bees Greater Good Foundation.

The Center for Honeybee Research in Asheville, North Carolina conducts research looking at the effects of pests on modern agriculture and promotes educational opportunities on the importance of bees in the environment.

Similarly, the Environmental Justice Foundation advocates for positive apiculture (beekeeping) practices in Great Britain.

Friends of Honeybees promotes local consumer action as a way to support bee-friendly agricultural practices. Through their Buzz for Bees campaign, Friends of Honeybees advocate for financially supporting, locally sourced, and positively farmed products that will aid beekeepers practicing sustainable techniques. And they have created The New Amber Collection–featuring a glowing drop of honey in a sterling silver necklace–to represent the entire amount of honey produced by one worker bee in her lifetime. The necklaces cost US$12.50 and the proceeds support nonprofits.

In India, Navdanya’s Biodiversity Conservation Farm is a sanctuary for over 1500 seed varieties that attract bees for pollination. And the organization advocates for organic agriculture to eliminate the use of dangerous chemicals which threaten bees.

Run under the auspices of Pennsylvania Apiculture, Inc., National Honey Bee Day allows beekeepers, agricultural and culinary organizations, and ordinary gardeners and citizens of all kinds to learn more about bees, promote educational programs, expand the bee industry, and even lobby Congress. This year’s event will take place on August 16, 2014.

In the United States, Save Honey Bees is a collection of local beekeepers in the farming communities of Oklahoma and Arkansas working towards sustainable farming practices through unpaid volunteer work.

In Europe, Greenpeace’s Save the Bees campaign started a petition to protect bees and ban the use of bee-killing pesticides. The campaign’s goal is one million actions for bees– supporters can sign the petition, order seeds and beehive instructions, or sign up to volunteer.

Save the Honeybee Foundation works to promote sustainable farming practices and educational opportunities for beekeepers and citizens in Oregon and the Pacific Northwest.

Summer Learning

Vanishing of the Bees is a documentary and audiobook set designed to educate about the current peril bees face, with donations aiding honeybee research.

Fortunately, there are many outlets for eaters to support sustainable agricultural practices, the elimination of harmful pesticides and insecticides on farms, and local ecological farming that helps bees thrive. What other projects do you know of that are supporting pollinators?

Summer Learning

Source B: Saving the bees: Blumenauer aims to stop use of common pesticide linked to colony decline

Saving the bees: Blumenauer aims to stop use of common pesticide linked to colony decline

The Oregon congressman has higher hopes for the Save America’s Pollinators Act this time around by Emily Green | 21 Feb 2019

Congressman Earl Blumenauer (D-Oregon) announced plans to reintroduce the Save America’s Pollinators Act this morning during a press conference at Northeast Portland’s Sabin Elementary School, home of the tickle bees.

This will be the fourth time he’s introduced this piece of legislation, which is aimed at saving the nation’s honey bee populations by suspending the use of neonicotinoids. Neonicotinoids are pesticides that have been linked to bee deaths in numerous peer- reviewed studies. Researchers have shown direct over-exposure to neonicotinoids can cause instant bee die-offs and that prolonged exposure causes slow colony deaths. The chemicals are widely used in both agricultural and residential settings.

Blumenauer’s bill would stop the application of these chemicals until the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency can prove through scientific methods that neonicotinoids don’t adversely impact pollinator species.

The past three times he’s introduced the Save America’s Pollinators Act, beginning in 2015, it’s failed to move under Republican leadership in the House. But, he told Street Roots, “This is a different era.”

Not only do Democrats have control of the House, but the act’s co-sponsor, U.S. Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.), is now Chairman of the House Rules Committee. “In the past the Rules Committee wouldn’t give us the light of day. I don’t think that’s the case this time,” Blumenauer said. “The majority in the House being Democrats, who want to get things done, means that we have an excellent chance of moving these things forward.”

The Republican-controlled Senate will be more challenging, but he said he’s confident he will find support among individuals who will help move the bill there as well, citing past bicameral and bipartisan support.

“This is an area of looming crisis. This is something that, in terms of what we’ve seen with bee die-offs, is a problem that appears to be growing,” he said. He pointed to a recent global analysis published in the journal Biological Conservation that indicated the rate of extinction for insects is 8 times faster than that of other species, suggesting they could be completely wiped-out within a century.

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GET INVOLVED: Plant a pollinator garden or become a backyard beekeeper

Neonicotinoids are a class of chemical that is systemic, meaning once a plant or seed is treated, the toxins spread through the plant’s tissues and into the pollen and nectar that attracts pollinators such as bees and butterflies.

Oregon Department of Agriculture investigations determined neonicotinoids were the cause of massive bumblebee die-offs in several pesticide spraying incidents beginning in 2013. In 2015, the department banned the use of four neonicotinoids on certain tree species, but their use continues to be standard in agriculture. American corn and soybean seeds are commonly coated with these chemicals.

Earlier this month, the Tillamook Beekeepers Association reported 40 percent of honey bee colonies in its region on the Oregon Coast died last year. In the Tillamook Headlight Herald, its president asked the community to help by planting bee-friendly plants and avoiding pesticides.

Lawmakers in Oregon are considering additional limits on the use of neonicotinoids this session. One bill aimed at banning their use, House Bill 2619, has already been introduced, and another that would restrict their use to licensed applicators is expected to drop any day.

“One out of 3 of every forkfuls of food are pollinated,” Blumenauer said. “It’s very important for Oregon agriculture.”

FURTHER READING: Harmful pesticides found in store-brand foods

It’s estimated that one-third of honey bee colonies in the United States have been lost since Blumenauer first introduced his pollinator bill, according to a statement from his office.

“One-third of food produced in North America – including nearly 100 varieties of fruits and vegetables such as almonds, avocados, cranberries, and apples – depends on pollination by bees, contributing over $3 billion to the United States agricultural economy and over $125 billion globally,” it said.

While neonicotinoids are contributing to the decline of bees and other pollinators, they’re not the only cause. Habitat destruction and climate change are also known culprits. Blumenauer said transportation legislation that Democrats plan to advance is one way to address lost habitat.

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“There are hundreds of millions of acres of land that is in right-of-way for transportation corridors,” he said. “How they are designed, and the plant materials that are used, can be pollinator friendly.”

Citizens can help bees, too, by avoiding neonicotinoids and planting pollinator gardens. There are seven chemicals with different names in the neonicotinoid class, and they can be found in dozens of pesticides manufactured for home use, including many popular Bayer and Ortho products. They are: Imidacloprid, Clothianidin, Acetamiprid, Thiamethoxam, Dinotefuran, Nitenpyram and Thiacloprid.

Source: Email Senior Staff Reporter Emily Green at [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter @greenwrites.

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Source C: Being Serious About Saving Bees

Being Serious about Saving Bees Posted by Dr. Ann Bartuska, Acting Chief Scientist and Acting Under Secretary for Research, Education, and Economics inAnimals Research and Science Jun 28, 2019

Secretary Perdue and Karen Pence unveil a honey bee hive at the Vice President’s residence. Steps like this, combined with research, are vital to pollinator health. Pollinators are a vital part of agricultural production. In the United States, more than one- third of all crop production – 90 crops ranging from nuts to berries to flowering vegetables - requires insect pollination. Managed honey bee colonies are our primary pollinators, adding at least $15 billion a year by increasing yields and helping to ensure superior-quality harvests.

However, our beekeepers have been steadily losing colonies. The number of honey bee hives in this country has decreased from 6 million in the 1940s to about 2.5 million today. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue declared June 19-25 as “National Pollinator Week” to help call attention to these losses, which are caused primarily by biological and environmental stressors. Confronting this diverse mix of challenges requires a mix of solutions, and the odds are that we won’t find one magic fix to help our honey bees. On June 6, Secretary Perdue joined Karen Pence, wife of Vice President Mike Pence, to announce the installation of a honey bee hive on the grounds of the Vice President’s residence in Washington (watch video). They encouraged Americans to also consider setting up hives where possible, or at least to plant bee-friendly flowers and flowering herbs in their gardens and yards.

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While these are helpful steps that people can take in their own communities, there is also a need for research to better understand this problem and how we can best address it. USDA was one of the co-leaders of a task force that developed a national strategy that laid out a research and management roadmap that we are busily implementing.

Our Agricultural Research Service is conducting research to improve the nutritional health of bees, to control the Varroa mite and other pests and pathogens, and to understand the effects of pesticides on colonies. We are setting up long-term studies to determine causes and evaluate treatments for Colony Collapse Disorder and other kinds of bee mortality, and we are establishing a bee gene bank to help breed traits such as resistance to pests or diseases and pollination efficiency.

Our National Institute for Food and Agriculture is funding important research at our land- grant universities in this area. For example, University of Nevada researchers have are experimenting with a virus that attacks a bacterial disease that affects honey bees. Meanwhile, Michigan State University scientists are developing sustainable pollination strategies such as enhancing the effect of bee-friendly wildflowers.

Our National Agricultural Statistics Service, working with the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service have begun taking a nationwide survey of bee health that sets baseline values for pest and disease prevalence. The U.S. Forest Service and the Farm Service Agency has been creating and restoring hundreds of thousands of acres of pollinator habitat, while the Natural Resources Conservation Service has provided financial assistance to landowners to protect or restore 30,000 acres of private lands.

Honey bees may be some of the hardest workers you’ll ever see, but they need our help. At USDA, we are making sure that they get it. Source: https://www.usda.gov/media/blog/2017/06/20/being-serious-about-saving-bees

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Writing an Argument Compelling Should we do more to help save the honey bee? Question Should we do more to help save the honey bee? Construct an argument that takes into account different perspectives on the issue. How would helping save honey bees impact Argument The common good? Farmers' rights? The ability for pesticide companies to conduct business? Beekeepers? The natural right for people to live free of harm? Extension Mail the letter to your Senator (with parental permission)

● DoDEA Argument Writing Rubric Additional ● Contact the Senate Materials ● Writing Your Senator

Argument

Write a letter to your Senator in which you take a stand on this issue and provide background information about CCD. ● Present evidence from multiple sources. ● Present information from multiple perspectives (e.g. the common good, farmers’ rights, pesticide companies, beekeepers, foodies). ● Summarize with a call to action. Special Instructions: ● Use the DoDEA Argument Writing Rubric to assist you in writing your letter. (Look in the column with the number “4” to write to your highest level.) ● Write the letter in your Interactive Notebook or type your letter on the computer.

Extension

With your parent’s permission you can send your letter or email to your Senator. Senators are representatives of the people and you are one of the people they represent.

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Source: http://www.ala.org/aasl/sites/ala.org.aasl/files/content/aboutaasl/aaslcommunity/quicklin ks/el/Sample_Letter_to_Elected_Officials.pdf

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Contacting The Senate https://www.senate.gov/general/contacting.htm

By Email All questions and comments regarding public policy issues, legislation, or requests for personal assistance should be directed to the senators from your State. Some senators have email addresses while others post comment forms on their websites. When sending email to your senator, please include your return postal mailing address. Please be aware that as a matter of professional courtesy, many senators will acknowledge, but not respond to, a message from another senator's constituent.

By Postal Mail You can direct postal correspondence to your senator or to other U.S. Senate offices at the following address:

For Correspondence to U.S. Senators:

Office of Senator (Name) United States Senate Washington, D.C. 20510

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DoDEA Argument Writing Rubric

Summer Learning

Taking Informed Action Writing a letter to your Senator is an example of Taking Informed Action. Another example is creating a Public Service Announcement (PSA) that provides the information to a wider audience. ● When you start school in the fall, ask the person who makes the announcements to include your PSA – audio PSA (like the ones on the radio) or video PSA (like the ones on TV) in the school announcements. ● During the summer (with parental permission) you could post on a social media site. ● Write your script (in your Interactive Notebook) ● Make the PSA on an audio or video recording device ● Share with parental approval. ● You can make a difference for your local and global community – let’s do this!

Summer Learning

Science, Literacy, Social Studies

Next Generation Science Standards: NGSS-5-ESS3-1 Obtain and combine information about ways individual communities use science ideas to protect the Earth’s resources and environment. Common Core State Standards Language Arts: RI.5.1 Quote accurately from a text when explaining what the text says explicitly and when drawing inferences from the text. Inquiry RI 5.9 Integrate information from several texts on the same topic in Standard order to write or speak about the subject knowledgeably. W.5.8 Recall relevant information from experiences or gather relevant information from print and digital sources; summarize or paraphrase information in notes and finished work, and provide a list of sources. C3 Framework for Social Studies Standards: D3.3.3-5. Identify evidence that draws information from multiple sources in response to compelling questions. D4.1.3-5. Construct arguments using claims and evidence from multiple sources. D3.4.3-5. Use evidence to develop claims in response to compelling questions.

The Plight of the Bee Summer Learning Adventure utilized ideas and resources from the public resources at C3 Teachers IDM http://idm.c3teachers.org/inquiries/3172 and The National Park Service https://www.nps.gov/teachers/classrooms/beeweek.htm. All print resources give credit to the source. The design template was modified from the design template at C3 Teachers.