Bees 101: Species Diversity and Behavior Pollinator Gardening, 28 April 2012 A “Not-A” Bee Robbin Thorp, UC Davis Another “Not-A” Bee A Bee An Apoid Wasp (“You are what you eat”) The European Honey Bee, Apis mellifera Honey bee on almond Bees 101 Quiz: Fact or Fiction? Bees 101 Quiz: Fact or Fiction? • All bees sting. • Fact? • All bees sting. • Fiction: • Fiction? • Boy bees do not sting • Only female bees are capable of stinging • Not all native bee females can or do sting Bees 101 Quiz: Fact or Fiction? Bees 101 Quiz: Fact or Fiction? • All bees are social and • Fact? • All bees are social and • Fiction: live in hives. • Fiction? live in hives. • Most bees are solitary and live in holes in the ground or tubular cavities. Bees 101 Quiz: Fact or Fiction? Bees 101 Quiz: Fact or Fiction? • All bees make honey. • Fact? • All bees make honey. • Fiction: • Fiction? • Bees with perennial colonies (honey bees and stingless bees) produce honey to survive times of dearth • Native bees survive winters in other ways What are Bees? You Are What You Eat Why are They Important? Food gathering devices • Derived wasps that use pollen (not animal) protein to feed their young • They use nectar as flight fuel • They have branched hairs, and other adaptations to gather food from flowers and transport food back to the nest • They provide an important ecological service to flowering plants (crop and wild): Pollination You Are What You Eat How Diverse are Bees? Food gathering devices (Numbers) • There are about 20, 000 species (maybe 30K) – More diversity than all Mammals + Birds together. • North America: 4,000 species • California: 1,600 species • Yolo County: More than 300 species • Honey Bee Haven: 60+ (and counting) How Diverse are Bees? Bee Diversity (Life Styles) Polyester and Masked Bees • Life styles • Polyester bee – Solitary - 75% female with scopa – Social - 10% on hind legs for – Cuckoos (Cleptoparasites) – 15% pollen transport. • Lines its burrow w/ • Pollen collection membrane-like – Generalists vs. Specialists (Oligoleges) polymer secretion. Bee Diversity Bee Diversity Polyester and Masked Bees Mining Bees • Masked bee, • Mining Bee Female. – Female – Unnamed species • Tiny nearly naked. – Specialist on Sky Blue Transports pollen (Oligolege) internally (in gut). – Some pollen deposited on “safe site” where female bee cannot remove it. Bee Diversity Bee Diversity Mining Bees Sweat Bees • Mining Bee •Sweat Bee – Female – Female – Scopa on hind legs • Sweat Bee –Male –Male – From unfertilized egg • Haplodiploidy – Sexual dimorphism Bee Diversity Bee Diversity Sweat Bees Leafcutting & Mason Bees • Green Sweat Bee • Leafcutting Bee – Female – Female collecting pollen – Scopa under abdomen • Green Sweat Bee –Male • Leafcutting Bee – Female cutting leaf Bee Diversity Bee Diversity Leafcutting Bee Family Cuckoo Leafcutting & Mason Bees • Mason Bee • Female – Female – Cuckoo Bee • Cotton Bee •Male – (Wool carder) – Cuckoo Bee –Male Bee Diversity Bee Diversity Digger, Cuckoo, & Corbiculate Bees • Cuckoo Bee • Digger bees: – Female • Female Long-horn bee • Cuckoo Bee – Female • Male Long-horn bee Bee Diversity Bee Diversity Digger, Cuckoo, & Corbiculate Bees • Squash Bee • Digger Bee – Female (Oligolege) – Visits squash flowers before dawn •Female • Squash Bee – Male Long-horn •Male squash bee – Sleeps in closed flowers Bee Diversity Bee Diversity Digger, Cuckoo, & Corbiculate Bees • Carpenter Bee • Small Carpenter Bee – Male/Female courting –Female – Female nectar robbing –Male Bee Diversity Life Styles: Nesting Habits Digger, Cuckoo, & Corbiculate Bees • Yellow Face Bumble • Most are solitary soil nesters Bee – Sand, clay, sandstone, rock –Queen – Flat ground, birms, vertical cliffs – Many have specialized habitat requirements • Many are tubular cavity nesters • Cuckoo Bumble Bee – E. g., beetle tunnels, hollow stems – Social parasite • Some excavate burrows in wood or pith – Male • Some social bees use large cavities Life Cycle of a Solitary Bee Life Cycle of a Solitary Bee • Nest entrance: • Female Mining Bee on – open with tumulus (excavated soil) Goldfields flower head surrounding it. in spring • Nest architecture: • This bee specializes on – Vertical entry shaft – Lateral tunnels Goldfields for pollen – Brood chambers: (Oligolecty) – 1) Completed with egg – 2) Under construction Life Cycle of a Solitary Bee Life Cycle of a Solitary Bee • Brood chamber with • Cap of brood chamber food mass being (inner view) formed • Brood chamber with • Early larva ready to food mass completed initiate feeding on and egg laid on pollen provisions surface Life Cycle of a Solitary Bee Annual Life Cycle Spring Bees • Post-feeding larva (summer phase) • Pupa (autumnal phase) Life Cycle of a Solitary Bee Bee Nests Polyester & Masked Bees • Early spring bloom of • Polyester Bee brood Goldfields and Yellow chambers Carpet at Jepson – Cellophane-like Prairie Reserve polymer secretion • Female Mining bee on pollen host, Goldfields • Entrance: – “Doggy door” • Synchronized annual cycles • www.vernalpools.org/Thorp/ Bee Nests Bee Nests • Alfalfa Leafcutting • Alfalfa Leafcutting Bee Bee – Female collecting – Cavity nester pollen from alfalfa – Field domicile with bee boards – Female cutting leaf • Female into nest with leaf piece Bee Nests Bee Nests • Alfalfa Leafcutting • Alfalfa Leafcutting Bee Bee • Female in with pollen • Brood chambers with pollen provisions, egg, larvae • Fully developed larvae • Female laying egg on in cocoons pollen provision Blue Orchard Bee Blue Orchard Bee Nests (a Mason Bee) • Blue Orchard Bee • Drilled hole with (BOB) female on mud partitions, almond flower pollen, and larvae • Female with mud • X-ray of mature for nest partitions BOB nests with pupae Carpenter Bee Nests Bumble Bee Life Cycle • Bumble Bee • Large Carpenter Bee – Corbiculate Bees – Mountain Carpenter Bee – Annual societies – Excavates nests in soft wood or pithy stems – Queen emerging from hibernation • Starter nest • Small Carpenter Bee – Honey pot – Excavates nests in pithy – Initial brood stems – Incubated by queen Bumble Bee Life Cycle Bumble Bee Life Cycle • Bumble Bee Nest • Bumble Bees – Egg cups, cocoons – Mating male/queen – Eggs, larvae, pupae – Nectar storage in old cocoons • Queens entering into • Bumble Bee Nest hibernation – Egg cup – Eggs exposed – Cocoons – Pupa exposed Gardening for Bees Credits • Bees need habitat not just gardens: • Photo Credits: • Flowers for food – Dennis L. Briggs – Pollen – Rollin Coville – Nectar – Kathy Keatley Garvey • Nesting habitat • Life Cycle drawing: – Bare soil (avoid “mulch madness”) – Bee condos for tube nesters – Emily Bzdyk – Houses for bumble bees (below & above ground) Questions?.