Progress 03/15/10 to 03/14/15
Outputs
Target Audience: Target audiences include: USDA, USGS and academic communities from universities interested in landscape effects on bee pollinator health; the Almond Board of CA, national, regional and state beekeeping associations, national, regional and state Master Gardener groups and other gardening clubs; Natural Resources Conservation Service, and non-profit groups such as Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation and North American Pollinator Protection Campaign Products Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? Marla Spivak, PI, mentored two PhD graduate students at the University of Minnesota on this project, Matthew Smart and Elaine Evans. M. Smart was responsible for collecting data on honey bee health, and Elaine Evans for collecting data on native bee abundance and diversity. We collaborated with Dr. Ned Euliss of USGS in Jamestown ND and Dr. Alisa Gallant of USGS in Sioux Falls, SD, who provide ecosystem services modeling support for pollinators in the Prairie Pothole Region of ND. We also collaborated with Dr. Jeff Pettis, of the USDA-ARS Bee Research Lab in Beltsville, MD who provided advice and assistance with honey bee colony measurements and analysis of disease and parasitic mite loads in colonies. M. Spivak employed Juan Castro, a civil service employee, to assist with laboratory analysis of individual honey bee measures of bee health and with taxonomic preparation of native bees (pinning and labeling). Also hired was Margaret McDermott-Kubeczko to assist in pollen identification from samples collected from honey bee colonies and from legs of wild bees. In addition, graduate and undergraduate employees in M. Spivak's lab took monthly trips to ND to assist M. Smart and E. Evans with monthly field trips to collect data on honey bees and native bees. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? The results of all studies will be published in peer-reviewed scientific journals. The progress and preliminary results on honey bee and native bee health were actively shared with the entomological and general research community through invited lectures at Entomological Society of America, The National Research Initiative/Agriculture and Food Research Initiative Directors Meeting, and the America's Grasslands Conference. Results were shared with the beekeeping community nationwide through invited lectures and participation in national beekeeping association meetings (the American Beekeeping Federation, American Honey Producers Association and the American Bee Research Conference), state beekeeping associations (invited talks given in over 15 states), the International Conference on Pollinator Biology, Health, and Policy, and at the Honey Bee Health Summit sponsored by Monsanto and Project Apis m. Progress and results related to native bee diversity and abundance were shared with Master Gardener Associations in Minneapolis and St Paul, the MN Fruit and Vegetable Growers Association, the MN Apple Growers Association, the Ely Field Naturalists, the WI Prairie Enthusiasts, and the Region 3 Endangered Species Coordinators' Meeting. Information about both honey bees and native bees was shared at various public venues, including Univ MN Alumni Associations, local watershed districts, neighborhood garden clubs, the MN Garlic Festival Chautauqua, Chippewa County NRCS, Rotary Clubs, and Retiree's Associations. We have developed many extension and outreach materials, which are available on the University of Minnesota Bee Lab web site: www.beelab.umn.edu. M. Spivak teaches many beekeeping courses to the public each year, and E. Evans has taught many courses on native bees to the public. Our results directly assist industry (beekeepers) by giving them information on how to better understand and measure the overall health status of their honey bee colonies, and how the health status of honey bee colonies is affected by, and reflective of, the surrounding landscape. This information can directly translate to greater profits for beekeepers in the form of higher pollination contracts (for larger colonies) and honey yields, contributing to the overall future proliferation and sustainability of the beekeeping industry. Results related to native bee pollinators will provide much needed information on native bee diversity in agricultural and natural landscapes in North Dakota, and will inform land use practices to support native pollinators nationally. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?
Nothing Reported
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
IMPACT: We quantified the effects of agricultural landscapes on honey bee health and native bee abundance and diversity, over three years, in the Prairie Pothole Region of North Dakota. Honey bee studies were conducted by PhD Matthew Smart, advised by Dr. Marla Spivak at the University of Minnesota in collaboration with Dr. Ned Euliss, USGS, and Dr. Jeff Pettis, USDA-ARA. The impact of agricultural landscapes on honey bees was quantified through measurements of honey bee health, including nutrition, immune responses, pathogen and parasite loads and pesticide exposure. The availability and diversity of floral resources within a 2-mile radius of the bee colonies significantly impacted annual colony survivorship and health. Colonies in sites surrounded by "uncultivated land" (including CRP, pasture, grassland, hay land, fallow land, flowering woody plants, and roadside ditches) experienced the highest survival over the summer and through the winter when the colonies were transported to California for almond pollination (88% survivorship). In contrast, colonies surrounded by mostly corn, soybeans and other grains experienced as low as 50% survivorship across the three years of the study. Honey production was not well estimated by the land use data, being more correlated with annual trends in climate (temperature and precipitation affecting plant nectar production). Diseases and the parasitic mite, Varroa destructor, were effectively controlled by the collaborating beekeeper, and not a factor that contributed significantly to colony mortality. No neonictinyl residues were found in pollen loads of bees at any location. Residues of many other insecticides, herbicides and fungicides were found in pollen, but no statistically significant impacts of pesticide exposure on colony survivorship or honey production were found. Elaine Evans, PhD student at the University of Minnesota, also advised by Dr. Marla Spivak, surveyed native bee populations in the same sites in the Prairie Pothole region over three years. Over 14,000 individual bees representing 157 different bee species were collected and identified. Landscape factors were determined using aerial photos and ground-truthing, and fine scale vegetation surveys. Ongoing analyses will determine the landscape factors with the greatest impact on bee diversity and abundance. This information will be used to develop protocols for effectively creating or maintaining habitat that supports native pollinators and can be used to enhance the pollinator module of the USGS Ecoserv model. This study will provide much needed documentation for legislative initiatives on habitat /landscape restoration to support pollinators, and will provide statewide projections (maps) for how landscape suitability for bees may change in response to major drivers, such as shifts in climate, economic incentives (e.g., for bioenergy crops), and conservation programs. The modeling framework will guide decision makers contemplating legislative initiatives by providing solid data on the link between land use patterns that support honey bee health and biodiversity of our nation's pollinators. Objective 1. Quantify diversity, nutritional quality and pesticide residues of pollens available to honey bees. Honey bees collected pollen from 18 plant families, and many of the most commonly collected genera/species of plants were non-native (and some considered invasive under certain conditions). Cultivated plants including alfalfa, green bean, canola, sunflower, and soybean made up relatively little of the total collected pollen (3-17% by site/year). No corn pollen was detected in any samples. Pesticide residues were detected in the fresh pollen collected throughout the season across all sites and years, but no statistically significant impacts of pesticide exposure on colony survivorship or honey production were found in this study (relationship between pollen hazard quotient and survival: F1,16=0.68, r2=0.04, p=0.42, and honey production: F1,16=0.03, r2=0.002, p=0.86). Notably, no neonicotinyl insecticides were detected at any sites over the three years in the pollen. Objective 2. Determine nutritional status, immune system expression, disease and parasite loads, of honey bees. No differences were detected in average colony health among sites, including measures of adult bee population, Varroa mite levels, Nosema fungal levels, and viruses. Statistical modeling of all data (R version 3.1.1 2014-07-10, and the lme4 package) revealed that the most critical colony measures for predicting overwinter survival were 1) the amount of brood in September, and 2) average kg pollen collected per day over the summer (both positively associated with survival). At the individual honey bee level, three measures were predictive of overwinter survival: 1) vitellogenin (nutritional) gene expression in September, 2) abdominal lipid levels (fat stores) in August (both positively related to survival) and 3) lysozyme-2 (immune) gene expression in September (negatively associated with survival). These results pave the way for more detailed physiological studies toward development of a "bee blood test" that beekeepers could employ to better estimate colony health given large-scale land use around apiaries. Objective 3. Determine over-wintering survivability and colony strength of honey bee colonies transported to pollinate West Coast almond crops Colonies located in sites surrounded by the most "uncultivated land" experienced the highest survival over the summer and through the winter when the colonies were transported to California for almond pollination (up to 88% survivorship). Colonies located in sites surrounded by mostly corn, soybeans and other grains, experienced more drastic declines. The greatest losses occurred from September through the following March. Of the colonies that died, less than 10% appeared to die off suddenly, and 9-31% of the colonies died by dwindling (or failure to thrive). Objective 4. Compare diversity and species richness of native bee pollinators in different landscape settings. Native bee diversity and abundance in the Prairie Pothole Region of ND was studied through collections of bees at 18 sites located near the six honey bee apiaries over three years from May through September each year. A total of 14,182 bees, 157 bee species, were collected. The estimated species richness at the 18 sites ranged from 37 to 110 species. These data are being analyzed to determine what landscape features are important for supporting bee diversity and abundance, as measured by bee species richness, Shannon's entropy index, inverse Simpson's index, beta-diversity and functional diversity. Native bee and honey bee results are being compared to determine if good honey bee habitat is also good wild bee habitat. Land use data from GIS analysis as well as floral abundance and nesting habitat data gathered from vegetation surveys will be examined for their influence on bee diversity and abundance using Canonical Correspondence Analysis. Historical records of bee collections from the area were provided by the American Museum of Natural History. These data will be used to examine changes in bee diversity in this area over time. Objective 5. Project (map) landscape suitability for pollinators in the Prairie Pothole Region of North DakotaWe estimate that approximately 24 acres of flowers per colony within uncultivated land over the entire growing season were required to achieve 80% apiary survival (when Varroa was effectively managed). These data serve as an important initial estimate of the total area of pollinator forage required to support honey bee colonies in the region and will be verified in subsequent studies currently underway by Matthew Smart. In a collaboration with Dr. Eric Lonsdorf we are using data generated from the study to refine and verify an InVEST model quantifying pollinator habitat distribution on the landscape in the region.
Publications
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Submitted
Year Published:
2015
Citation:
Smart, M.D., Pettis, J.S., Euliss, N., and M.S. Spivak.The Influence of agricultural land use on the survival and productivity of commercial honey bee colonies in the Northern Great Plains region of the U.S.
- Type:
Theses/Dissertations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2015
Citation:
Smart, M.D. 2015. The Influence of mid-continent land use on the health and survival of commercially managed honey bee colonies. (Published doctoral dissertation) University of Minnesota.
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Progress 03/15/13 to 03/14/14
Outputs
Target Audience: Target audiences include: USDA, USGS and academic communities from universities interested in landscape effects on bee pollinator health; the Almond Board of CA, national, regional and state beekeeping associations, national, regional and state Master Gardener groups and other gardening clubs; Natural Resources Conservation Service, and non-profit groups such as Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation and North American Pollinator Protection Campaign Changes/Problems: I am requesting a no-cost extension from March 2014- March 2015 to complete the data analysis and publications resulting from this research. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? Marla Spivak, PI, is mentoring two PhD graduate students at the University of Minnesota on this project, Matthew Smart and Elaine Evans. M. Smart is responsible for collecting data on honey bee health, and Elaine Evans for collecting data on native bee abundance and diversity. We are collaborating with Dr. Ned Euliss of USGS in Jamestown ND and Dr. Alisa Gallant of USGS in Sioux Falls, SD, who provide ecosystem services modeling support for pollinators in the Prairie Pothole Region of ND. We are also collaborating with Dr. Jeff Pettis, Research Leader of the USDA-ARS Bee Research Lab in Beltsville, MD who provides advice and assistance with honey bee colony measurements and analysis of disease and parasitic mite loads in colonies. M. Spivak employed Juan Castro, a civil service employee, to assist with laboratory analysis of individual honey bee measures of bee health and with taxonomic preparation of native bees (pinning and labeling). Also hired was civil service employee Margaret McDermott-Kubeczko to assist in pollen identification from samples collected from honey bee colonies and from legs of wild bees. In addition, graduate and undergraduate employees in M. Spivak's lab took monthly trips to ND to assist M. Smart and E. Evans with monthly field trips to collect data on honey bees and native bees. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? The progress and preliminary results on honey bee and native bee health were actively shared with the entomological and general research community through invited lectures at Entomological Society of America, The National Research Initiative/Agriculture and Food Research Initiative Directors Meeting, and the America’s Grasslands Conference. Results were shared with the beekeeping community nationwide through invited lectures and participation in national beekeeping association meetings (the American Beekeeping Federation, American Honey Producers Association and the American Bee Research Conference), state beekeeping associations (invited talks given in MN, ND, WI, ID, VT), the International Conference on Pollinator Biology, Health, and Policy, and at the Honey Bee Health Summit sponsored by Monsanto and Project Apis m. Progress and results related to native bee diversity and abundance were shared with Master Gardener Associations in Minneapolis and St Paul, the MN Fruit and Vegetable Growers Association, the MN Apple Growers Association, the Ely Field Naturalists, the WI Prairie Enthusiasts, and the Region 3 Endangered Species Coordinators’ Meeting. Information about both honey bees and native bees was shared at various public venues, including Univ MN Alumni Associations, local watershed districts, neighborhood garden clubs, the MN Garlic Festival Chautauqua, Chippewa County NRCS, Rotary Clubs, and Retiree’s Associations. Our results directly assist industry (beekeepers) by giving them information on how to better understand and measure the overall health status of their honey bee colonies, and how the health status of honey bee colonies is affected by, and reflective of, the surrounding landscape. This information can directly translate to greater profits for beekeepers in the form of higher pollination contracts (for larger colonies) and honey yields, contributing to the overall future proliferation and sustainability of the beekeeping industry. Results related to native bee pollinators will provide much needed information on native bee diversity in agricultural and natural landscapes in North Dakota, and will inform land use practices to support native pollinators nationally. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? We will be completing data analysis, and writing up results for at least four publicaitons based on this research.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Honey bee results: Monthly measurements were made on 144 colonies distributed among six apiary sites in the Prairie Pothole Region of ND. Site differences were found to exist with respect to average colony honey yields, size, sealed brood area, pollen stores, pesticide exposure, and colony mortality, indicating that availability and diversity of surrounding floral resources are significantly impacting overall colony health. Additionally, individual bee nutritional measures of lipid stores and total hemocyte counts (indicators of nutritional status), were found to vary significantly by site, exhibiting a similar trend between sites as seen in the colony level measurements. Background expression of vitellogenin and anti-microbial peptides were found to differ significantly, and sites with overall better colony and individual health/nutrition responses also had higher levels of vitellogenin. Pollen identification indicates agricultural land use affects the availability of honey bee-collected pollen. The diversity and abundance of flower species across agricultural landscapes could therefore affect the nutritional status of honey bees both during and after the growing season. These data are currently being processed and analyzed, and the results written up by the graduate student. The results of this study will lead to changes in beekeeping management practices; beekeepers can assess and predict colony health at critical times of year to decrease colony losses, increase economic profits to their business, and assure adequate pollination services for commercial fruit and vegetable crops. Native bee results: Bees were collected at 18 sites in the same Prairie Pothole Region of ND using a combination of sweep net sampling, passive bowl traps, and trap nests. GIS analysis using aerial photos from NAIP was used to assess the percent cover of bare soil, grazed land, roadside vegetation, ruderal and mixed grassland, seasonally flooded land, tilled land, or wooded land within 1 km of each site. To date 10,554 bees have been identified from the collections. 299 have been identified to the level of sub-genus, and 10,255 have been identified to the level of species. Species richness ranged between 29 and 41 for all sites except for one site that had a species richness of 54. The areas surrounding the study sites have been categorized for proportions of 14 different landscape factors such as roadside vegetation, bare soil, wooded cover, tilled, and grazed. This information will be used to look for relationships between bee biodiversity and landscape factors once bee species identification is complete. The results will be used to inform the public, state and federal agencies on best management practices to increase floral habitat and nesting sites to support native bee pollinators.
Publications
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2013
Citation:
Smart, M.D., and M. Spivak. 2013. Assessing the health of commercial honey bees (Apis mellifera) across
varying agricultural landscapes (ABSTRACT). Proceedings of Americas Grasslands 2013: The Future of Grasslands in a Changing Landscape, Manhattan, KS
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2013
Citation:
Smart, M.D. 2013. Assessing the health of commercial honey bees (Apis mellifera) across varying agricultural
landscapes (ABSTRACT). Honey bee Health Summit Summary and Key Takeaways, Chesterfield, MO.
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Progress 03/15/12 to 03/14/13
Outputs
OUTPUTS: The progress and preliminary results on honey bee and native bee health were actively shared with the entomological and general research community through invited lectures at Entomological Society of America, USDA National Meeting on the Status of Honey Bee CCD, USAIN National Conference, National Honey Show in UK, University of Illinois, Humboldt State University. Results were shared with the beekeeping community nationwide through invited lectures and participation in national beekeeping association meetings (the American Beekeeping Federation, American Honey Producers Association and the American Bee Research Conference), state beekeeping associations (invited talks given in MN, ND, WI, ID, VT), and at the Annual Seed Savers Exchange Conference. Progress and results related to native bee diversity and abundance were shared with Master Gardener Associations in Minneapolis and St Paul, the MN Fruit and Vegetable Growers Association, the MN Apple Growers Association, the International EcoSummit, the Saint Paul Audubon Society, MN Crop Producers Meeting, and the Minnesota Naturalist Association Annual Conference. Information about both honey bees and native bees was shared at various public venues, including Univ MN Alumni Associations, Chautauqua, Chippewa County NRCS, Rotary Clubs, and Retirees Associations. Our results directly assist industry (beekeepers) by giving them information on how to better understand and measure the overall health status of their honey bee colonies, and how the health status of honey bee colonies is affected by, and reflective of, the surrounding landscape. This information can directly translate to greater profits for beekeepers in the form of higher pollination contracts (for larger colonies) and honey yields, contributing to the overall future proliferation and sustainability of the beekeeping industry. Results related to native bee pollinators will provide much needed information on native bee diversity in agricultural and natural landscapes in North Dakota, and will inform land use practices to support native pollinators nationally. PARTICIPANTS: Marla Spivak, PI, is mentoring two PhD graduate students at the University of Minnesota on this project, Matthew Smart and Elaine Evans. M. Smart is responsible for collecting data on honey bee health, and Elaine Evans for collecting data on native bee abundance and diversity. We are collaborating with Dr. Ned Euliss of USGS in Jamestown ND and Dr. Alisa Gallant of USGS in Sioux Falls, SD, who provide ecosystem services modeling support for pollinators in the Prairie Pothole Region of ND. We are also collaborating with Dr. Jeff Pettis, Research Leader of the USDA-ARS Bee Research Lab in Beltsville, MD who provides advice and assistance with honey bee colony measurements and analysis of disease and parasitic mite loads in colonies. M. Spivak employed Juan Castro, a civil service employee, to assist with laboratory analysis of individual honey bee measures of bee health and with taxonomic preparation of native bees (pinning and labeling). Also hired was civil service employee Margaret McDermott-Kubeczko to assist in pollen identification from samples collected from honey bee colonies and from legs of wild bees. In addition, graduate and undergraduate employees in M. Spivaks lab took monthly trips to ND to assist M. Smart and E. Evans with monthly field trips to collect data on honey bees and native bees. TARGET AUDIENCES: Target audiences include: USDA, USGS and academic communities from universities interested in landscape effects on bee pollinator health; the Almond Board of CA, national, regional and state beekeeping associations, national, regional and state Master Gardener groups and other gardening clubs; Natural Resources Conservation Service, and non-profit groups such as Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation and North American Pollinator Protection Campaign PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: Nothing significant to report during this reporting period.
Impacts
The first goal is to understand how floral resources in agricultural and natural landscapes during the summer in ND affect the health of honey bee colonies when they are transported in winter to CA for commercial pollination of economically important crops. The second goal is to determine the effect of the amount of suitable forage and nesting habitat on native bee diversity and abundance in agricultural and natural landscapes in ND. Honey bee results: Monthly measurements were made on 144 colonies distributed among six apiary sites in the Prairie Pothole Region of ND. Site differences were found to exist with respect to average colony honey yields, size, sealed brood area, pollen stores, pesticide exposure, and colony mortality, indicating that availability and diversity of surrounding floral resources are significantly impacting overall colony health. Additionally, individual bee nutritional measures: lipid stores and total hemocyte counts (indicators of nutritional status), were found to vary significantly by site, exhibiting a similar trend between sites as seen in the colony level measurements. Background expression of vitellogenin and anti-microbial peptides were found to differ significantly, and sites with overall better colony and individual health/nutrition responses also had higher levels of vitellogenin. Native bee results: Bees were collected at 18 sites in the same Prairie Pothole Region of ND using a combination of sweep net sampling, passive bowl traps, and trap nests. GIS analysis using aerial photos from NAIP was used to assess the percent cover of bare soil, grazed land, roadside vegetation, ruderal and mixed grassland, seasonally flooded land, tilled land, or wooded land within 1 km of each site. To date 7,854 bees have been identified from the collections. 270 have been identified to the level of sub-genus, and 7,584 have been identified to the level of species. Species richness ranged between 29 and 41 for all sites except for one site that had a species richness of 54. The areas surrounding the study sites have been categorized for proportions of 14 different landscape factors such as roadside vegetation, bare soil, wooded cover, tilled, and grazed. This information will be used to look for relationships between bee biodiversity and landscape factors once bee species identification is completed
Publications
- Smart. M.D., Pettis, J., Euliss, N.H., and Spivak, M. 2012. Assessing the health of commercial honey bees (Apis mellifera) across varying agricultural landscapes, in the 60th Annual Meeting, Knoxville, TN, 11-14 November, Entomological Society of America.
- Spivak, M. 2012. Bee Friendly LandscapesNews from the Ivory Tower. MN Honey Producers Newsletter. November 2012
- Evans, E.C., Spivak, M. Abstract of Oral Presentation: Landscape factors affecting native bee diversity and abundance in mixed agricultural and natural lands 4th International EcoSummit, October 2, 2013, Columbus, OH
- Euliss, N. H., Jr., A. L. Gallant, J. S. Pettis, M. Spivak, E. Evans, M. Smart, R. Bryant, N. Rice, Z. Browning, J. Miller, and D. M. Mushet. 2012. Pollination services from the Prairie Pothole Region. A Conference on Ecosystem Services; Ft Lauderdale, Florida, December 10-14
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Progress 03/15/11 to 03/14/12
Outputs
OUTPUTS: The progress and preliminary results on honey bee and native bee health continue to be actively shared with the entomological and bee research community through invited lectures at Ecological Society of America, 66th Annual Soil and Water Conservation Society Conference, Washington, DC, Minnesota State University in Winona, and St Mary's College in MN. Results were shared with the beekeeping community nationwide through invited lectures and participation in national beekeeping association meetings (the American Beekeeping Federation and American Honey Producers Association and the American Bee Research Conference) and state beekeeping associations (invited talks given in MN, ND, SD, WI, MO, CA, CT, NY). Progress and results related to native bee diversity and abundance were shared with the, Master Gardener groups, field day at Prairie Restorations, Inc. and MN Friends Plant Sale. Our results directly assist industry (beekeepers) by giving them information on how to better understand and measure the overall health status of their honey bee colonies, and how the health status of honey bee colonies is affected by, and reflective of, the surrounding landscape. This can directly translate to greater profits for beekeepers in the form of higher pollination contracts (for larger colonies) and honey yields, contributing to the overall future proliferation and sustainability of the beekeeping industry. Results related to native bee pollinators will provide much needed information on native bee diversity in agricultural and natural landscapes in North Dakota, and will inform land use practices to support native pollinators nationally. PARTICIPANTS: Marla Spivak, PI, is mentoring two PhD graduate students at the University of Minnesota on this project, Matthew Smart and Elaine Evans. M. Smart is responsible for collecting data on honey bee health, and Elaine Evans for collecting data on native bee abundance and diversity. We are collaborating with Dr. Ned Euliss of USGS in Jamestown ND and Dr. Alisa Gallant of USGS in Sioux Falls, SD, who provide ecosystem services modeling support for pollinators in the Prairie Pothole Region of ND. We are also collaborating with Dr. Jeff Pettis, Research Leader of the USDA-ARS Bee Research Lab in Beltsville, MD who provides advice and assistance with honey bee colony measurements and analysis of disease and parasitic mite loads in colonies. M. Spivak has employed Juan Castro, a civil service employee, to assist with laboratory analysis of individual honey bee measures of bee health and with taxonomic preparation of native bees (pinning and labeling). M. Spivak also hired student Yin Ciao to assist with native bee taxonomic preparation. In addition, graduate and undergraduate employees in M. Spivak's lab make monthly trips to ND to assist M. Smart and E. Evans with monthly field trips to collect data on honey bees and native bees. TARGET AUDIENCES: Target audiences include: academic communities from universities interested in landscape effects on bee pollinator health; the Almond Board of CA, national, regional and state beekeeping associations, national, regional and state Master Gardener groups and other gardening clubs; Natural Resources Conservation Service, and non-profit groups such as Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation and North American Pollinator Protection Campaign PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: Nothing significant to report during this reporting period.
Impacts
The first goal is to understand how floral resources in agricultural and natural landscapes during the summer in the Prairie Pothole region of ND affect the health of honey bee colonies when they are transported in winter to CA for commercial pollination of economically important crops. The second goal is to determine the effect of suitable forage and nesting habitat on native bee diversity and abundance in same region of ND. Honey bee results: Findings from this project are ongoing, but have begun to give us insights into what "honey bee health" really means, how best to measure it, and where beekeepers can maintain their colonies (on landscapes composed of varying floral composition) to best achieve successful colonies. Monthly measurements continued in 2011 on 246 colonies distributed among six apiary sites around Jamestown, ND. Significant site differences continue to emerge with respect to colony and individual bee measures of nutritional and immunological health; e.g., in average colony honey yields, size, sealed brood area, pollen stores, pesticide exposure, and colony mortality, which indicate that availability and diversity of surrounding floral resources are significantly impacting overall colony health. Changes in land use from the previous year are likely contributing to differences in colony and individual bee measures between years. Quantification of the proportion of abdominal lipids was measured as an additional marker of nutritional status, in addition to hypopharyneal gland size and protein content, which were found to vary significantly by site. Native bee results: Bees were collected at 18 sites in the same region of ND using a combination of sweep net sampling, passive bowl traps, and trap nests. GIS analysis using aerial photos from NAIP was used to assess the percent cover of bare soil, grazed land, roadside vegetation, ruderal and mixed grassland, seasonally flooded land, tilled land, or wooded land within 1 km of each sub-site. From the 2010 collections, 3,835 bees were identified; 653 of the bees were identified to the level of sub-genus, and 3,182 to the level of species. Due to weather conditions (rain and cold temperatures) there were fewer bees collected in 2011. Identifications are ongoing, but for 2011, 579 bees have been identified to species. In all 75 species of bees have been identified; several species are new state records for North Dakota. Based on 2010 data, species richness ranged between 25 and 35 for all sites except for one site that had a species richness of 51. Other than this one site, there were no apparent differences in species richness between sties predicted to be bee-friendly and not bee-friendly sites. The Simpson's Diversity Index shows a similar pattern with sites ranging from 0.77 to 4.88, except one site with an index of 14.17. The areas surrounding the study sites have been categorized for proportions of 14 different landscape factors such as roadside vegetation, bare soil, wooded cover, tilled, and grazed. This information will be used to look for relationships between bee biodiversity and landscape factors once bee species identification is completed.
Publications
- Euliss, N. H., Jr., J. S. Pettis, M. Spivak, A. Gallant, E. Evans, M. Smart, N. Rice, Z. Browning and J. Miller. 2011. Estimating landscape suitability for pollinators: An integrated and interdisciplinary approach. 66th Annual Soil and Water Conservation Society Conference, Washington, DC, July 17-20, 2011.
- Euliss, N. H., Jr., J. S. Pettis, M. Spivak, A. Gallant, M. Smart, N. Rice, Z. Browning and J. Miller. 2011. Influence of agricultural land cover trends in the Northern Great Plains on almond pollination. Almond Board Conference, Modesto, CA, December 8, 2011.
- Smart, M.D. and M.S. Spivak. 2011. Location, location, location: the landscape and honey bee health. Am. Bee J. 151(5): 515-516 (Abstract).
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Progress 03/15/10 to 03/14/11
Outputs
OUTPUTS: The progress and preliminary results on honey bee and native bee health were actively shared with the entomological and bee research community through invited lectures at Entomological Society of America, Minnesota State University in Mankato, Inver Hills Community College in MN, and Iowa State University. Results were shared with the beekeeping community nationwide through invited lectures and participation in national beekeeping association meetings (the American Beekeeping Federation and American Honey Producers Association and the American Bee Research Conference) and state beekeeping associations (invited talks given in MN, ND, WI, NC, CA, VT, CO). Progress and results related to native bee diversity and abundance were shared with the MN Fruit and Vegetable Growers Association, the St Paul Garden Club, and the Young Scientist Roundtable at Plymouth High School in MN. Our results directly assist industry (beekeepers) by giving them information on how to better understand and measure the overall health status of their honey bee colonies, and how the health status of honey bee colonies is affected by, and reflective of, the surrounding landscape. This information can directly translate to greater profits for beekeepers in the form of higher pollination contracts (for larger colonies) and honey yields, contributing to the overall future proliferation and sustainability of the beekeeping industry. Results related to native bee pollinators will provide much needed information on native bee diversity in agricultural and natural landscapes in North Dakota, and will inform land use practices to support native pollinators nationally. PARTICIPANTS: Marla Spivak, PI, is mentoring two PhD graduate students at the University of Minnesota on this project, Matthew Smart and Elaine Evans. M. Smart is responsible for collecting data on honey bee health, and Elaine Evans for collecting data on native bee abundance and diversity. We are collaborating with Dr. Ned Euliss of USGS in Jamestown ND and Dr. Alisa Gallant of USGS in Sioux Falls, SD, who provide ecosystem services modeling support for pollinators in the Prairie Pothole Region of ND. We are also collaborating with Dr. Jeff Pettis, Research Leader of the USDA-ARS Bee Research Lab in Beltsville, MD who provides advice and assistance with honey bee colony measurements and analysis of disease and parasitic mite loads in colonies. M. Spivak has employed Juan Castro, a civil service employee, to assist with laboratory analysis of individual honey bee measures of bee health and with taxonomic preparation of native bees (pinning and labeling). M. Spivak also hired student Yin Ciao to assist with native bee taxonomic preparation. In addition, graduate and undergraduate employees in M. Spivak's lab make monthly trips to ND to assist M. Smart and E. Evans with monthly field trips to collect data on honey bees and native bees. TARGET AUDIENCES: Target audiences include: USDA, USGS and academic communities from universities interested in landscape effects on bee pollinator health; the Almond Board of CA, national, regional and state beekeeping associations, national, regional and state Master Gardener groups and other gardening clubs; Natural Resources Conservation Service, and non-profit groups such as Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation and North American Pollinator Protection Campaign PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: Not relevant to this project.
Impacts
The first goal is to understand how floral resources in agricultural and natural landscapes during the summer in ND affect the health of honey bee colonies when they are transported in winter to CA for commercial pollination of economically important crops. The second goal is to determine the effect of the amount of suitable forage and nesting habitat on native bee diversity and abundance in agricultural and natural landscapes in ND. Honey bee results: Monthly measurements were made on 246 colonies distributed among six apiary sites in the Prairie Pothole Region of ND. Significant site differences were found to exist with respect to average colony honey yields, size, sealed brood area, pollen stores, pesticide exposure, and colony mortality, indicating that availability and diversity of surrounding floral resources are significantly impacting overall colony health. Additionally, individual bee nutritional measures: hypopharyneal gland size and protein content (indicators of nutritional status), were found to vary significantly by site, exhibiting a similar trend between sites as seen in the colony level measurements. Background expression of vitellogenin and anti-microbial peptides were not found to differ significantly with the relatively small sample size measured, however, trends did emerge in which sites with overall better colony and individual health/nutrition responses also had higher levels of vitellogenin. Native bee results: Bees were collected at 18 sites in the same Prairie Pothole Region of ND using a combination of sweep net sampling, passive bowl traps, and trap nests. GIS analysis using aerial photos from NAIP was used to assess the percent cover of bare soil, grazed land, roadside vegetation, ruderal and mixed grassland, seasonally flooded land, tilled land, or wooded land within 1 km of each sub-site. To date 3,835 bees have been identified from the 2010 collections. 653 have been identified to the level of sub-genus, and 3,182 have been identified to the level of species. Species richness ranged between 25 and 35 for all sites except for one site that had a species richness of 51. Other than this one site, there were no apparent differences in species richness between sties predicted to be bee-friendly and not bee-friendly. The Simpson's Diversity Index shows a similar pattern with sites ranging from 0.77 to 4.88, except one site with an index of 14.17. The areas surrounding the study sites have been categorized for proportions of 14 different landscape factors such as roadside vegetation, bare soil, wooded cover, tilled, and grazed. This information will be used to look for relationships between bee biodiversity and landscape factors once bee species identification is completed
Publications
- Mader, E., Spivak, M., Evans, E. 2010. Managing Alternative Pollinators: A Handbook for Growers, Beekeepers and Conservationists NRAES/ SARE Publication. 250pp.
- Spivak M, Mader E, Vaughan M, Euliss, NH Jr. 2011. The plight of bees. Environ. Sci. & Technol.45: 34-38. Editors Choice Award, ES&T Best Feature Paper.
- Gallant, A.L., Euliss, N.H., Jr., and Pettis, J., 2010, To bee or not to bee: how land-use decisions in the Plains can affect pollination of crops elsewhere in the U.S., in 95th Annual Meeting, Pittsburgh, Pa, 1-6 August 2010, Ecological Society of America.
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