Progress 09/01/14 to 08/31/18
Outputs
Target Audience:Our project has several main target audiences. First, the results we are generating have direct relevance for diversified organic farmers in Washington State and nationally, and individuals who wish to transition to organic production practices. For these individuals we have produced vast amounts of information on bee communities in diversified farming systems, and the impact of landscape intensity on these bee communities. We have also conducted over 50 field days, workshops, and other public events to devliver information to this audience, and we have published two pollination identification guides. Our second target audience is the general public community, particularly individuals interested in the health and conservation of wild bee species. We have offered multiple classes for the public on pollinator conservation and identification, and we have initiated a citizen science program for bees calles CSI:Bees (Citizen Science Initiative for Bees). This program has attracted master gardeners, members of 4-H, and farmers in addition to interested community members. Finally, our project will produce results of immediate relevance for academic audiences who are interested in the ecology and conservation of native bee communities. To reach this audience we have published multiple scientific papers, and delivered talks at national and international conferences. Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?We trainedtwo graduate students during the course of the project, Elias Bloom and Rachel Olsson. They have gotten the chance to develop professionally as scientists by taking the lead on data collection and execution of the grant objectives. They have also taken the lead in the outreach components of the grant, and have received training from the PI on scientific presentation. We have also supported over eightundergraduates with this project, including three co-funded through an internship at Washington State University. These undergrads receiviedtraining on native bee identification and general scientific inquiry. Moreover, we have used the project to train members of the community on bee identification. We have reached over 1,000 individuals this past year through our field days, public lectures, webinars, and website. Many of these individuals are now engaged in our citizen science program. Eli Bloom will graduate in spring 2019 with his PhD, and Rachel Olsson will graduate with her PhD in 2020. Six of our undergraduates have received their BS from Washington State University over the course of the project. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Overthe course of the project we presented results from our study at 20citizen science events, 4webinars, 15 field days, 4 'Town Hall' events, and over 30 public presentations.These events were located throughout the Seattle, Tacoma, and Olympia metropolitan areas, as well as at conferences in Portland, Denver, and Vancouver BC. We targeted the general public as well as diversified organic farmers. In total we had over 5,000 individuals attend our outreach events, including over 2,000 that viewed our webinars and 1,000 users of our website. Second, we developed twoextension guides focused on pollinator identification and wild cavity nesting bees that havebeen disseminated toindividuals in the community. These guide can help individuals characterize the bees on their farm or home garden, and both were published through WSU Extension. Finally, we have published or submitted one book chapter and six scientific publications to disseminate our reseach to academic audiences. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?
Nothing Reported
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
(i) Objective 1a: Sample native bee communities on a network of farms During the project we sampled bees on 36 diversified organic farms over four years. Each site was sampled three times per year, for a total of over 300 site visits (not all sites were sampled in each year). From these surveys we collected and identified over 15,000 bees to morphospecies. We found that over 100 morphospecies of bees visit diversified organic farms in the Puget Sound region. (ii) Objective 1b: Evaluate pollination services At each of site visit, we measured pollination services provided by observining visits by bees to flowers for 2 hours at each visit, to determine which species of plants were being pollinated by which bees. We also collected pollen from bees to determine what they were collecting, an indirect measure of pollination services. These data are currently being analyzed to construct plant-pollinator networks. (iii) Objective 1c: Measure characterists of each farm and surrounding landscapes We collected data on farming practices at each site, such as the time in organic production, the diversity of crops, tillage practices, use of honeybees, and livestock integration. We also calculated metrics to characterize landscapes surrounding crop fields, including the percent of crop production and urbanization, and the overall landscape diversity. (iv) Objective 1d: Determine effects of farm characteristics and landscape intensity on native bee community health and pollination services Our work shows that plant diversity on farms is the single most important factor that affect bee communities. Factors such as the length of time in organic production had little effect; this suggests that farmers may see relatively immediate gains from transitioning to organic farming. Increased floral diversity on farms promoted bee diversity by decreasing competition among bee species and by promoting niche partitioning. Interestingly, increasing diversity of crop landscapes around farms mitigated losses of diversity on farms. This suggests that organic farms embedded in diverse landscapes are likely to see the greatest benefits from wild pollinators. Our work detailing these phenomena have been submitted to Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences and Ecology Letters. We have also dissiminetated these results through the publication of two extension bulletins and over 50 public events. (v) Objective 1e: Develop content for eOrganic related to native bee community health and pollination services in organic farming systems Working with eorganic, we produced four webinars about bees in diversified organic farming systems. These webinars were viewed by over 2,000 individuals in total. (vi) Objective 2a: Establish habitat augmentation treatments on farms In 2016 we established a habitat augmentation experiment involving 22 farms in 11 pairs; farms in each pair used similar practices and were similar in size. One farm in each pair received a diverse suite of habitat augmentation, including a large floral strip of native annual and perennial flowering plants, a large patch of bare ground (to support ground-nesting bees), and two nesting structures (to support cavity-nesting bees). Working with producers, we maintained these treatments throughout 2018. Interestingly, we observed that the floral strips, despite having the same seeding mixture, had variable establishment, and the dominant plant species varied considerably among sites. Maintaining bare ground involved solarization (to kill weeds) and regular maintenance. Maintaining the nesting structures involved checking the structures each fall and replacing tubes used by bees. Overall, this was a collaborative effort that proved successful. (vii) Objective 2b: Evaluate if habitat augmentation promotes native bee community health and pollination services on farms Our habitat augmentation treatments were fully established by 2017 (it takes a year for plants to establish), and we collected bees on each farm in each pair. We also collected pollination service data on each farm with sentinel plants. While these data are still being analyzed, we can make several preliminary conclusions. First, the habitat augmentation treatments did not promote greater abundance of bees. Despite our best efforts, our habitat augmentation treatments were too 'small' to make a marketable difference on bee community abundance. It is likely that floral strips need to be considerably larger than 3 x 6m to produce measurable impacts. Moreover, our nesting structures only recieved about 10% occupancy, or about 25bees per site. However, the habitat augmentation did seem to promote niche partiotioning and pollination services. By providing habitat, more rare species in the broader landscape are attracted to farms. These bees may provide unique pollination services. Further work is being conducted on these questions, and we expect to publish several papers in 2019. Our habitat augmentation experiments were complemented by a large-scale citizen science project examining habitat augmentation for cavity-nesting bees. This "Pollinator Post Project", provided individuals with small 'pollinator mailboxes' that contained nesting habitat for up to 40 solitary bees. We had over 70 volunteers place these mailboxes throughout the Puget Sound region, and report data on our website. (viii) Objective 2c: Develop content for eOrganic related to habitat augmentation strategies We produced two webinars for eOrganic about habitat augmentation. These webinars were viewed by over 1,000 individuals. (ix) Objective 3a: Conduct field-days with farm walks and presentations to train farmers on practices that promote native bees With our partners, we produced 15 field days over the course of the project. Each involved active demonstrations on participating farms regarding strategies to identify bees and promote habitat. We also provided growers with simple tools to sample and monitor bees. By working on farms, we were able to directly demonstrate the impacts of simple practices on bee conservation, and spur the public to adopt these approaches. In total we had over 200 individuals attend our field days. (x) Objective 3b: Produce public lectures on native bee conservation Each year we had a large 'capstone' event at Seattle Town Hall. These events typically involved a major speaker, or a diverse panel of speakers, who could speak on their own work regarding pollinator conservation. We also invited members of the broader community to attend these events, including local groups focused on sustainability. In total we had over 500 individuals attend our Town Hall lectures. (xi) Objective 3c: Develop a webinar series on native bees in organic farming systems As mentioned earlier, we produced 4 webinars for eOrganic that were viewed by over 2,000 individuals. (xii) Objective 3d: Develop a website to link the project team, farmer cooperators, and the broader public Our project website, nwpollinators.org, was developed to link the project team, cooperators, and the broader public. We listed events on this site, and maintained a blog. This site was also used as the hub for our citizen science project. We have over 100 registered users on the site who have published observations of pollinators. This site should provide a nice scaffold for future development of future projects.
Publications
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Submitted
Year Published:
2018
Citation:
Bloom EH, Northfield TD, Crowder DW (2018) Landscape effects on pollinator beta diversity mediated by niche processes. Ecology Letters, submitted.
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Submitted
Year Published:
2018
Citation:
Bloom EH, Northfield TD, Crowder DW (2018) Landscape diversity enhances response of wild and managed bees to floral complementarity. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA, submitted
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Submitted
Year Published:
2018
Citation:
Bloom EH, Crowder DW (2018) Educational courses and passive methods attract citizen scientists and promote data collection. Citizen Science: Theory and Practice (submitted)
- Type:
Other
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2018
Citation:
Bloom EH, Olsson RL, Wine EH, Schaeffer RN, Crowder DW (2018) Managing cavity-nesting wild bees in Western Washington. Washington State University Extension, FS293E, 8 pp.
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2018
Citation:
Bloom EH, Olsson R, Crowder DW (2018) Beacon Food Forest Field Day
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2018
Citation:
Bloom EH, Olsson R, Crowder DW (2018) An introduction to cavity-nesting bees. Koppel Community Garden (Pullman, WA)
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2018
Citation:
Bloom EH, Crowder DW (2018) Build pollinator habitat in 1 year or less: Augmenting pollinator habitat in the Puget Sound Region of Washington State, USA. Pollinator Week (Seattle, WA)
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2018
Citation:
Bloom EH, Crowder DW (2018) Introduced pollinators mediate breakdown in wild plant pollination. Centre for Tropical Environmental and Sustainability Science (Cairns, QLD, AU)
|
Progress 09/01/16 to 08/31/17
Outputs
Target Audience:Our project has several target audiences. First, the results were are generating have direct relevance for diversified organic farmers in Washington State and nationally, and individuals who wish to transition to organic production. For these individuals we are producing vast amounts of information on bee communities in diversified farming systems, and the impact of landscape intensity on these bee communities. We have conducted multiple field days to deliver information to this audience, as well as a pollinator identification guide. Our second target audience is the general public community, particularly individuals interested in the health and conservation of wild bee species, We have offered multiple classes for the public on pollinator conservation and identification, and we have initiated a citizen science program for bees. This program has attracted master gardeners, members of 4-H, and farmers in addition to interested community members. Finally, our project will produce results of immediate relevance for academic audiences who are interested in the ecology and conservation of native bee communities. Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?We have two graduate students working on the project, Elias Bloom and Rachel Olsson. They have gotten the chance to develop professionally as scientists by taking the lead on data collection and execution of the grant objectives. They have also taken the lead in the outreach components of the grant, and have received training from the PI on scientific presentation. We have also supported two undergraduates with this project, including one funded through an internship at Washington State University. These undergrads are receiving training on native bee identification and general scientific inquiry. Moreover, we have used the project to train members of the community on bee identification. We have reached over 1,000 individuals this past year through our field days, public lectures, webinars, and website. Many of these individuals are now engaged in our citizen science project on native bee conservation. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?As mentioned above, during the reporting period we presented results from our study at 13 citizen science events, 1 webinar, and 5 public presentations.These events were located throughout the Seattle, Tacoma, and Olympia metropolitan areas, as well as at conferences in Portland and Denver. We targeted the general public as well as diversified organic farmers. In total we had over 1000 individuals attend our outreach events, including over 750 that viewed our webinar and 700 users of our website.Second, we developed a extension guide focused on wild cavity nesting bees that has been dissemination to individuals in the community. This guide can help individuals characterize the bees on their farm or home garden. This guide has been published through WSU Extension. We also delivered the third webinar in our series through our partnership with eOrganic. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?For Objective 1, our major goal in the coming year is to complete our identification of bees and non-bees on each of ourfarms. We expect this to be done in early 2018. With these data we will complete our analysis of the effects of farming practices and landscape conditions on bee populations. We expect to have an extremely rich dataset to examine how bee communities are influenced by farming practices once the identifications are complete. We hope to publish this paper in 2018. For Objective 2, in 2018 we will collect the second year of data on the effects of habitat augmentation on our bee communities and pollination services. Once these data are collected we hope to prepare manuscripts detailing the impacts of habitat augmentation on our bee communities. We are also preparing a manuscript on the impact of nesting structures in promoting cavity nesting bees, which we expect to submit in the summer of 2018. For Objective 3, we are planning to offer a capstone extension event to correspond with National Pollinator Week. We plan to invite a series of speakers who will come to Seattle Town Hall and present seminars, and participate in a panel, on native bee conservation. We hope to attract between 300-500 individuals to these events. We also plan to continue our courses, and offer 10+ citizen science classes in 2018.We are also continuing to develop content for our website, nwpollinators.org, which will serve as the major clearinghouse of information for our project.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Objective 1: Evaluate farm characteristics that promote healthy native bee communities on long-term organic and transitioning farms (i) Sub-objective 1a: Sample native bee communities on a network of farms In 2017 we sampled native bee biodiversity on 22 small-holder diversified farms, representing over 3,000 bee specimens. These bees are in the process of being identified. We also continued to identify bees from prior years of the study, and have completed our analysis of all bees collected in 2014 to 2016 by identifying bees to morphospecies. These data will be incorporated into statistical models in our last year of the project to explore the effects of farming practices influencing bee populations. We also published an extension bulletin on cavity-nesting bees (in a previous year we published a bulletin on wild bee diversity) to aid growers in identifying bees on their own forms and gardens. We also held over 10 citizen science classes to train members of the community in conducting bee biodiversity research. (ii) Sub-objective 1b: Evaluate pollination services on each farm On each of the 22 farms where bees were sampled in 2017 we also measured pollination services using sentinel squash and strawberry plants. We measured fruit set as a proxy for pollination services, and two data points were taken for each crop. Our results show that farms that are transitioning to organic production generally have lower pollination services than long-term organic. This indicates that pollination services may stabilize given enough time in organic production. ?(iii) Sub-objective 1c: Measure characteristics of each farm and surrounding landscapes We have obtained data on the landscape surrounding each of our farms from 2014 to 2016. Data from 2017 will be collected in early 2018 when the National Agricultural Statistics Service Cropland Datalayer maps are produced in January. We collected landscape data using 20concentric 250 meter buffers surrounding each field (representing the landscape within 5 km of each field). We will use these data, along with information on the farming practices for each farm, to determine how the combined effects of farm management and landscape context affected bee communities. Secondly, we developed a survey for our participating growers to gather information on their management practices over the past 3 years. This survey has been deployed, and we expect results back in early 2018. (iv) Sub-objective 1d: Determine effects of farm characteristics and landscape intensity on native bee community health and pollination services As mentioned above, we have a 4-year dataset on bee communities across 20-30 farms per year. We have also collected landscape data for each site, and we are in the process of gathering farm management data for each site. In 2018 these data will be analyzed fully and we will develop a manuscript on our results. (v) Sub-objective 1e: Develop content for eOrganic related to native bee community health and pollination services in organic farming systems We gave 1 webinar on wild bee communities in organic farms through eXtension in 2017. We reached 300 participants, and increase of over 50% from our webinar in 2016. Moreover, the recorded webinar is available online and has 466 views to date. Objective 2: Determine if habitat augmentation expedites the development of healthy native bee communities on long-term organic and transitioning farms (i) Sub-objective 2a: Establish habitat augmentation treatments on farms In 2016 we established habitat augmentation (cavity-nests, ground nesting sites, and floral buffer strips) on half of the 22 farms sampled in our monitoring network. Each of these 11 farms was paired with a farm of similar characteristics that did not have habitat augmentation treatments. We measured the response of the bee communities to our habitat augmentation (or lack of it) on every farm, as well as variation in pollination services for farms with and without augmentation. We need to identify the bees to species to complete our analysis, and this will be done in early 2018. (ii) Sub-objective 2b: Evaluate if habitat augmentation promotes native bee community health and pollination services on farms We measured pollination services on the 22 farms we sampled, 11 with habitat augmentation and 11 without.Preliminary results indicate that habitat strips increase pollination services with 20m of the installation. This means that we observed strong edge effects of augmentation treatment that may also depend on farm size. For example, smaller farms might get greater benefits from habitat augmentation because the ratio of farm area to edge area is lower, whereas large farms might get lower benefits because the ratio of farm area to edge area is greater. Moreover, data indicate that efficacy of habitat strips may be landscape dependent, with peri-urban farms receiving the greatest boost in pollination over rural and urban counterparts. A second year of data will be collected in 2018 to finalize these analyses and determine if these trends hold across multiple years. (iii) Sub-objective 2c: Develop content for eOrganic related to habitat augmentation strategies We delivered a webinar in 2017 on habitat augmentation through eOrganic. This webinar had over 300 views live, and over 450 have watched it on the archived site. We plan to release an extension bulletin in 2017 through eOrganic. Objective 3: Conduct extension and outreach to educate farmers on practices to promote native bee community health and pollination services in organic farming systems (i) Sub-objective 3a: Conduct field-days with farm walks and presentations to train farmers on practices that promote native bees In 2017 we delivered 13 field days and/or citizen science events in 2017. These events, which were 1-2 hour classes, largely replaced the field days we had delivered in 2014 to 2016, as we have found that individuals in our region are extremely excited not only to learn about wild bees but to put their knowledge into action. As a result of our efforts we leveraged grower citizen scientists to measure bee communities, pollination, and plant diversity on an additional 10 farms. We also used community members to measurecavity-nesting bees at 50 urban gardens and farms in the Seattle area. (ii) Sub-objective 3b: Produce public lectures on native bee conservation We delivered 3 public lectures in 2017 by graduate student Bloom, and 2 presentations by PD Crowder. Through these presentations we reached over 250 individuals. (iii) Sub-objective 3c: Develop a webinar series on native bees in organic farming systems We delivered one webinar in 2017 on habitat augmentation and effects on bee communities (iv) Sub-objective 3d: Develop a website to link the project team, farmer cooperators, and the broader public We have developed a fully functional website: nwpollinators.org. This website has general information on our study and is our site for hosting our citizen scientists. It also is used by our team to network with collaborators. The site also has blog posts from the project team on native bee projects. In total we have over700 website users, which is approximately 7x the number of users from 2016.
Publications
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Accepted
Year Published:
2017
Citation:
Bloom EH, Olsson RL, Wine EH, Schaeffer RN, and Crowder DW (2017) An Introduction to Cavity-Nesting Bees in the Puget Sound Region. Washington State University Press. Pullman, Washington. In press
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2017
Citation:
Bloom EH, Crowder DW (2017) The global value of ecosystem services on organic and conventional farms. Entomology Society of America (Denver, Colorado)
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2017
Citation:
Bloom EH, Crowder DW (2017) Pollinators in Organic Farms and Urban Areas. WSU Urban IPM and Pesticide Safety Education (Tacoma, WA)
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2016
Citation:
Bloom EH, Crowder DW (2016) Pollinators in Organic Farms and Urban Areas. WSU Urban IPM and Pesticide Safety Education (Tacoma, WA)
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2016
Citation:
Bloom EH, Crowder DW (2016) Providing Habitat for Wild Bees on Organic Farms. eXtension/eOrganic, Oregon State University (Corvallis, OR)
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2017
Citation:
Lichtenberg EM, Kennedy CM, Kremen C, Batary P, Berendse F, Bommarco R, Bosque-P�rez NA, Carvalheiro LG, Snyder WE, Williams NM, Winfree R, Klatt B, Astrom S, Faye B, Brittain C, Chaplin-Kramer R, Clough Y, Connelly H, Danforth B, Diekotter T, Eigenbrode SD, Ekroos J, Elle E, Freitas BM, Fukuda Y, Gaines-Day HR, Gratton C, Holzschuh A, Isaacs R, Isaia M, Jha S, Jonason D, Jones VP, Klein A-M, Krauss J, Letourneau DK, Macfadyen S, Mallinger RE, Martin EA, Martinex E, Memmott J, Morandin L, Neame L, Otieno M, Park MG, Pfiffner L, Pocock M, Ponce C, Potts SG, Poveda K, Ramos M, Rosenheim JA, Rundlof M, Sardinas H, Saunders ME, Schon NL, Sciligo AR, Sidhu CS, Steffan-Dewenter I, Tscharntke T, Vesely M, Weisser WW, Wilson JK, Crowder DW (2017) A global synthesis of the effects of diversified farming systems on arthropod diversity within fields and across agricultural landscapes. Global Change Biology 11, 4946-4957.
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2017
Citation:
Crowder DW (2017) Conserving pollinator communities in diversified organic farms along an urbanization gradient. Pacific Branch of the Entomological Society of America, Portland, OR.
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2017
Citation:
Crowder DW (2017) The global value of ecosystem services on organic and conventional farms. Annual Meeting of the Entomological Society of America, Portland, OR.
|
Progress 09/01/15 to 08/31/16
Outputs
Target Audience:Our project has several target audiences. First, the results were are generating have direct relevance for diversified organic farmers in Washington State and nationally, and individuals who wish to transition to organic production. For these individuals we are producing vast amounts of information on bee communities in diversified farming systems, and the impact of landscape intensity on these bee communities. We have conducted multiple field days to deliver information to this audience, as well as a pollinator identification guide. Our second target audience is the general public community, particularly individuals interested in the health and conservation of wild bee species, We have offered multiple classes for the public on pollinator conservation and identification, and we have initiated a citizen science program for bees. This program has attracted master gardeners, members of 4-H, and farmers in addition to interested community members. Finally, our project will produce results of immediate relevance for academic audiences who are interested in the ecology and conservation of native bee communities. Changes/Problems:Due to some logistical challenges, we established our suite of augmentation treatments one year later than expected in the original submission. We plan to take a no-cost extension year for the grant to allow us an additional year for data collection, and thus this delay will not affect the overall outputs of the project. The other major changes described earlier are extensions of the original proposal. Major additions we have completed include: (1) evaluating non-bee communities on our farms (not just bees), (2) evaluating individual bee health on our farms, and (3) developing a citizen science initiative for native bees. We believe these extensions of our original proposal will provide significant value added. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?We have two graduate students funded by the project, Elias Bloom and Rachel Olsson. They have gotten the change to develop professionally as scientists by taking the lead on data collection and execution of the grant objectives. They have also taken the lead in the outreach components of the grant, and have received training from the PI on scientific presentation. We have also supported two undergraduates with this project, including one funded through an internship at Washington State University. These undergrads are receiving training on native bee identification and general scientific inquiry. Moreover, we have used the project to train members of the community on bee identification. We have reached over 1,000 individuals this past year through our field days, public lectures, webinars, and website. Many of these individuals are now engaged in our citizen science project on native bee conservation. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?As mentioned above, during the reporting period we presented results from our study at 3 field days, 8 citizen science events, and 11 public workshops. These events were located throughout the Seattle, Tacoma, and Olympia metropolitan areas. We targeted the general public as well as diversified organic farmers. In total we had over 1000 individuals attend our outreach events, including over 100 that attended our large public lecture by Gary Nabhan and over 300 that viewed our webinar. Second, we developed a pollinator extension guide that has been dissemination to individuals in the community. This guide can help individuals characterize the bees on their farm or home garden. This guide has been published through WSU Extension. We also delivered the second webinar in a series of 4 through our partnership with eOrganic. We have a third webinar planned in 2017. Finally, we created a website that will be a clearinghouse for all of our information collected on pollinators (nwpollinators.org). This website also serves as the clearinghouse for our citizen science project What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?For Objective 1, our major goal in the coming year is to complete our identification of bees and non-bees on each of our farms. Without these complete data we cannot determine the overall impacts of the farming systems on bee communities. We are in the process of finalizing our identifications from 2015, and have the full 2014 data completed as well. To identify bees in 2016 we are using a combination of molecular methods (genetic barcoding) and visual identifications. In total, we have a dataset containing over 10,000 bee and non-bee specimens across our 35 farms from 2014 to 2016. We have also collected data from each farm on their organic status (long-term or transitioning) and a suite of other factors we hypothesize may impact bee communities. Thus, we have an extremely rich dataset to examine how bee communities are influenced by farming practices once the identifications are complete. This is our major goal in 2016-2017. For Objective 2, in the coming reporting period we will sample each of our farms again for wild bees and other floral visitors. As half of our farms have received an augmentation treatment, and half serve as controls, these data will allow us to determine the effects of habitat augmentation on bee communities and the services they provide. For Objective 3, we are planning to again offer 3 field days, a webinar through eOrganic, a major public lecture on pollinators at Seattle Town Hall, and 10+ workshops associted with our citizen science classes. We hope to reach another 500-1000 individuals through these means in the coming year. We are also continuing to develop content for our website, nwpollinators.org, which will serve as the major clearinghouse of information for our project.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
To make progress on Objective 1a, we sampled native bee communities on a network of 35 farms in 2016, with each farm sampled three times (May, July, September). Farms were either long-term certified organic farms or diversified farms. Bees were sampled on sunny days with wind speeds below 10 mi/hr using traps, netting, and visual observations. With each method, collected bees are in the process of being identified to species. From these data we will calculate native bee abundance, richness, and evenness at each of our farms. These data, once the bees are identified, will be combined with similar samples conducted in 2014 and 2015 to provide a baseline of bee communities at each site. In addition, we expanded the scope of this objective by sampling non-bee floral visitors (flies, butterflies, moths, etc) on each of our 35 farms three times per year in 2015 and 2016. This provided an additional 2,600 insects that are in the process of being identified These data, when combined with the bee data, provide a comprehensive baseline of bee communities on our participating farms. We also assessed a variety of other factors on our farms, including (1) characterizing the structure of the plant-pollinator network (by making observations of bees visiting flowers and from pollen collected from bees) and (2) measuring individual bee health (body size and condition). To make progress on Objective 1b, at each farm we assessed pollination services provided by native bees. We used fruit set as a metric of pollination services. On each farm fruit set was measured using summer (Cucurbita pepo 'Raven') squash and strawberry. Data on fruit set was collected twice at each farm, once in June (summer squash) and again in Sep (strawberry). These data are in the process of being analyzed for effects of farming systems on bees. We have also collected extensive data from individual bees on pollen transport to a variety of crop species. We are investigating if these data can be used as a measure of pollination services in the future. To make progress on Objective 1c, at each farm we also collected data on crop diversity, farm size, farm age, presence of honey bees, pesticide use, tillage, presence of livestock, landscape factors, and habitat management. We have also mapped out the landscape surrounding each farm using Geographical Information Systems technology. These variables will be used to assess how different farming practices influenced bees, once all our data is collected. This will be part of Objective 1d, which is currently underway and will be finalized when we have finished identification of all the bees and non-bee floral visitors. To make progress on Objective 1e, in 2016 we delivered one Webinar through eOrganic. This was viewed by over 300 individuals in Feburary 2016. We are in the process of making informational videos related to pollinators for eOrganic. To make progress on Objective 2a, in the past year we established habitat augmentation treatments on half of our participating farms. These consisted of nesting structures (which provide habitat for cavity-nesting bees), bare ground (which provide habitat for ground-nesting bees), and floral strips (which provide pollen and nectar resources). These treatments will be fully effective in 2017, as the floral strips will establish over the winter months. We will then measure the impacts of these augmentation treatments in 2017 and 2018 (Objectives 2b and 2c). Additionally, since 2014 we have measured the impacts of a single form of habitat augmentation, nesting structures, on native bee communities. We have found that three genera of wild bees readily use the nesting structures, and upwards of 100 bees per site used the structures to make their nests. We are in the process of determining if this relates to an increase in pollination services, but the preliminary data is promising. To make progress on Objective 3, in 2016 members of our term organized and deliver 3 field days on Native Bees, 8 citizen science outreach talks, and an additional 11 pollinator workshops designed to inform the public and farmers about native bee conservation. We also had a major public lecture with Gary Nabhan at Seattle Town hall. We produced the second of our webinar series through eOrganic in February, and have developed a website for our project (nwpollinators.org). We exceeded our outreach from our original grant in every of these categories, and reached over 1,000 individuals through these events. We have also developed a citizen science project, CSI: Bees (Citizen Science Iniatiative for Bees) in 2016. We offered two classes, one on monitoring wild bee diversity and the other on establishing nesting structures in the home garden/farm. Our classes attracted over 100 individuals, many of which are now contributing data to our project as citizen scientists. This form of outreach has helped us attract more public support and engagement for our project. We have used surveys to continue to refine our content for future years.
Publications
- Type:
Other
Status:
Awaiting Publication
Year Published:
2016
Citation:
Bloom EH, Crowder DW (2016) A Field Guide to Western Washington Wild Bees and Floral Visitors. Washington State University Press, Pullman, Washington, in revision.
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2016
Citation:
Bloom EH (2016) Can Pollinator Monitoring Inform Wild Bee Conservation. Seattle Parks and Recreation, Seattle, WA (invited talk)
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2016
Citation:
Bloom EH, Crowder DW (2016) Advances in Organic Farming. International Congress of Entomology, Orlando, FL (invited talk)
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Awaiting Publication
Year Published:
2016
Citation:
Lichtenberg et al (Crowder last author, 59 authors total)(2016) A global synthesis of the effects of diversified farming systems on arthropod diversity in fields and across regions. Global Change Biology, in revision.
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2016
Citation:
Bloom EH (2016) Wild Bees in the Wild. Scarabs - University of Washington (UW) Insect Society (Seattle, WA) (invited talk)
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2016
Citation:
Bloom EH (2016) Challenging Assumptions with Bee Monitoring in the Puget Sound Region. Kiwanis Club of America, Olympia, WA (invited talk)
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2015
Citation:
Bloom EH (2015) Bee Monitoring and Restoration in the Puget Sound Region. Seattle Parks and Recreation, Seattle, WA (invited talk)
- Type:
Other
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2016
Citation:
Bloom EH, Redmond B, Olsson R (2016) Wild Bee Monitoring, Identification, and Outreach. eXtension/eOrganic webinar, Corvallis, OR.
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2015
Citation:
Bloom EH, Crowder DW (2015) Diverse nest substrate may be essential for bee conservation. Entomology Society of America, Minneapolis, MN.
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2016
Citation:
Bloom EH, Olsson R (2016). Organic Farming & Pollinators: A practical field course. 3 separate field days were offered with this title throughout western Washington.
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2016
Citation:
Bloom EH, Olsson R (2016). CSI Bees: WildBeeSense Biodiversity Project. 5 separate citizen science classes were offered with this title throughout western Washington.
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2016
Citation:
Bloom EH, Olsson R (2016). CSI Bees: Pollinator Post Project. 5 separate citizen science classes were offered with this title throughout western Washington.
- Type:
Websites
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2015
Citation:
http://nwpollinators.org/
- Type:
Book Chapters
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2016
Citation:
Bloom EH, Crowder DW (2016) Biological Control and Pollination Services on Organic Farms. In: Advances in Insect Control and Resistance Management (eds Horowitz AR, Ishaaya I). Springer International Publishing AG, Cham, Gewerbestrasse, Switzerland.
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Progress 09/01/14 to 08/31/15
Outputs
Target Audience:Our project has several target audiences. First, the results were are generating have direct relevance fordiversified organic farmers in Washington State and nationally, and individuals who wish to transition to organic production. For these individuals we are producing vast amounts of information on bee communities in diversified farming systems, and the impact of landscape intensity on these bee communities. We have conducted multiple field days to deliver information to this audience, and are also creating extension bulletins.Our second target audience is the general public community, particularly individuals interested in the health and conservation of wild bee species, We have offered multiple classes for the public on pollinator conservation and identification, and are in the process of starting a citizen science program for bees. Finally, our project will produce results of immediate relevance for academic audiences who are interested in the ecology and conservation of native bee communities in agricultural systems. Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?We have two graduate students funded by the project. They have gotten the chance to develop professionally as scientists by taking the lead on data collection and execution of the grant objectives. They have also taken the lead in the outreach components of the grant, and have received training from the PI on scientific presentation. We have also supported two undergraduates with this project, including one funded through an internship at Washington State University. These undergrads are receiving training on native bee identification and general scientific inquiry. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?As mentioned above, to date we presented results from our study at 3 field days, 8 citizen science events, and 6 public workshops. These events were located throughout the Seattle, Tacoma, and Olympia metropolitan areas. We targeted the general public as well as diversified organic farmers. In total we had over 300 individuals attend our outreach events in the first year, and over 100 attended our large public lecture by Eric Mader. Second, we developed a pollinator extension guide that has been dissemination to individuals in the community. This guide can help individuals characterize the bees on their farm or home garden. We also delivered the first Webinar in a series of 4 through our partnership with eOrganic. We have a second webinar planned in 2016. Finally, we created a website that will be a clearinghouse for all of our information collected on pollinators. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?We plan to resample all of our farms for diversity and stability of wild bees in 2016, as well as the pollination services they provide. This will provide three years of baseline data (2014-2016) on bee communities before habitat augmentation was implemented. Using data collected on the farm-management and landscape intensity variables, at the end of 2016 we plan to analyze which factors influence the diversity of bee communities and their pollination services. This will allow us to complete Objective 1 in early 2017. To complete Objective 2, in 2016 we plan to establish habitat augmentation on half of our study farms. One of our goals is to evaluate if habitat augmenation can improve bee community health on long-term and transitioning organic farms. In the fall of 2016 we will establish nesting structures, bare ground, and flowering strips on our study farms. Data will be collected in 2017 and 2018 to determine if these habitat augmentation treatments improved bee community health (Objective 2). For Objective 3, we are expanding our outreach in the next year. We have over 20 field days, citizen science events or workshops lined up at various locations in 2016. These will offer us an opportunity to directly deliver information to our stakeholders. We also plan to more completely develop our website and work with eOrganic to produce content in the next year.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
To make progress on Objective 1a, we sampled native bee communities on a network of 35 farms in 2015, with each farm sampled three times (May, July, September). Farms were either long-term certified organic farms or diversified farms.Bees were sampled on sunny days with wind speeds below 10 mi/hr using traps, netting, and visual observations.With each method, collected bees were identified to species. From these data we calculated native bee abundance, richness, and evenness at each of our farms. These data will be combined with similar samples conducted in 2014 and 2016 to provide a baseline of bee communities at each site. To make progress onObjective 1b, at each farm we assessed pollination services provided by native bees. We usedfruit set as ametricof pollination services. On each farm fruit set wasmeasured using summer (Cucurbita pepo 'Raven') and winter squash (Cububirta maxima 'Hubbard'). Data on fruit set was collected twice at each farm, once in June (summer squash) and again in Aug (winter squash). These data are in the process of being analyzed for effects of farming systems on bees. To make progress onObjective 1c, at each farm we also collected data on crop diversity, farm size, farm age, presence of honey bees, pesticide use, tillage, presence of livestock, landscape factors, and habitat management. These variables will be used to assess how different farming practices influenced bees, once all our data is collected. This will be part ofObjective 1d, which will begin in 2016 To make progress onObjective 1e, in 2015 we delivered one Webinar through eOrganic. This was viewed by over 300 individuals in March 2015. We are in the process of making informational videos related to pollinators for eOrganic. Objective 2 was not slated to begin until 2016, and we are on target for this objective. To make progress onObjective 3, in 2015 members of our term organized and deliver 3 field days on Native Bees, 8 citizen science outreach talks, and an additional 6 pollinator workshops designed to inform the public and farmers about native bee conservation. We also had a major public lecture with Eric Mader of the Xerces Society at Seattle Town hall. We produced the first of our webinar series through eOrganic in March, and have developed a website for our project (nwpollinators.org). We exceeded our outreach from our original grant in every of these categories.
Publications
- Type:
Other
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2015
Citation:
Bloom E, Redmond B, Crowder D (2015) Bee community ecology and urban fruit production. City Fruit, Seattle, WA.
- Type:
Other
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2015
Citation:
Bloom E, Redmond B, Crowder D (2015) Bee community ecology: Introduction and field study. Seattle Tilth, Seattle, WA.
- Type:
Other
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2015
Citation:
Bloom E, Crowder D (2015) The diversity, abundance, and stability of bees and pollination services. Snow Valley Tilth Grower Meeting, Carnation, WA.
- Type:
Other
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2015
Citation:
Bloom E, Crowder D (2015) Bee community ecology, the importance of pollinator health to pollination services. Sustainable South Sound, Olympia, WA.
- Type:
Other
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2015
Citation:
Bloom E, Crowder D (2015) Science, insects, bees and society. University of Washington, Seattle, WA.
- Type:
Other
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2015
Citation:
Bloom E, Crowder D (2015) Science, insects, bees and society. Seattle University, Seattle, WA.
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2015
Citation:
Bloom E, Crowder D (2015) The community ecology of bees in urban and rural diversified farming systems. Entomological Society of America Annual Meeting, Minneapolis, MN.
- Type:
Other
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2015
Citation:
Bloom E, Redmond B, Crowder D (2015) Citizen Science for bees (offered at 8 different locations in 2015)
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