(KCRA) Honey bees are essential to California’s agricultural industry. However, where to house those bees when they are not working is creating an issue in Placer County. “The county currently has no specific guidelines, it’s real arbitrary.”
(Twitter, Kelsey K. Graham, PhD @kelsey_k_graham) “New paper out showing benefits of wildflower plantings on fruit farms for stem-nesting #bees. Nesting almost exclusively at farms with plantings, though bees often used ‘volunteer’ species for pollen collection (not seeded species!).” The original paper.
(EurekAlert, University of Cambridge) Mammals, birds and amphibians worldwide have lost on average 18% of their natural habitat range as a result of changes in land use and climate change, a new study has found. In a worst-case scenario this loss could increase to 23% over the next 80 years.
(The Trust for Public Land) Following on the heels of unprecedented increases in visitation to public lands – from neighborhood parks to national parks – during the COVID-19 crisis, the 2020 election gave voters in 48 jurisdictions throughout the country an opportunity to weigh in on the value of outdoors spaces to their quality of life.
(Bowling Green State University) Newly-funded research will look at how bees are impacted by climate change and urbanization. The research will focus on bees in five sets of paired cities that represent a wide range of temperatures and precipitation. The researchers have identified six groups of bees that are considered “economically important and in large enough quantities in each of the cities.” They plan to study honey bees, bumble bees, carpenter bees, sweat bees, mason bees and leafcutting bees.
(ScienceDaily, Friedrich-Schiller-Universitaet Jena) A research group has discovered that insects have a decisive influence on the biodiversity and flowering phases of plants. If there is a lack of insects where the plants are growing, their flowering behavior changes. This can result in the lifecycles of the insects and the flowering periods of the plants no longer coinciding. If the insects seek nectar, some plants will no longer be pollinated.
(Twitter, Lynn Dicks @LynnDicks) “One way to ensure that nature thrives in farmland and planted forests is to protect patches of natural habitat throughout. We argue that working landscapes need at least 20% native habitat to preserve” The original paper.
(Colorado State University) When southern Rocky Mountain forests are viewed from a distance these days, it may not look like much is left. Large swaths of dead, standing Engelmann spruce trees tell the tale of a severe regional spruce beetle epidemic in its waning stages. But new research suggests that spruce beetle outbreaks may help create habitat for pollinator communities in wilderness settings. The research team found significant increases in floral abundance and wild bee diversity in outbreak-affected forests, compared to similar, undisturbed forest.
