Source: UNIVERSITY OF NEW HAMPSHIRE submitted to
SUSTAINABLE SOLUTIONS TO PROBLEMS AFFECTING BEE HEALTH
Sponsoring Institution
National Institute of Food and Agriculture
Project Status
TERMINATED
Funding Source
HATCH
Reporting Frequency
Annual
Accession No.
1004515
Grant No.
(N/A)
Project No.
NH00628-R
Proposal No.
(N/A)
Multistate No.
NC-_old1173
Program Code
(N/A)
Project Start Date
Oct 23, 2014
Project End Date
Sep 30, 2019
Grant Year
(N/A)
Project Director
Rehan, SA, .
Recipient Organization
UNIVERSITY OF NEW HAMPSHIRE
(N/A)
DURHAM,NH 03824
Performing Department
Biological Sciences
Non Technical Summary
Bees are important pollinators of food crops and natural ecosystems. The value of pollination to agriculture is estimated at over $200 billion/year worldwide. The abundance of and diversity of pollinators are declining in many agricultural landscapes across the United States. Given this importance, widespread declines in pollinator diversity have led to concern about a global pollinator crisis. The National Research Council has called for regional, national and international monitoring programs to allow tracking the status and trends of pollinators. This study will establish the first complete diversity assessment of native bees in the region and will also provide a better understanding of pollinator diversity and ecology. This information will be used to protect native bees in New England and to raise awareness of pollinator health and how human land use practices effect native pollinators and in turn our food supply and ecosystems.This study aims to initiate long term monitoring of bee biodiversity in New Hampshire and identify species in need of more research. By documenting, what species are abundant, common, and rare to the area we can track species habitat and floral preferences. By further developing long term monitoring, we can identify species at risk and changes in pollinator communities. The next step is to elucidate species at risk of extinction or with low genetic variability that may be indicative of possible decline. Population genomic screening will reveal those species in threat of decline due to low genetic variability.Taken together, the aim of the study is to experimentally increase local pollinator populations to restore and rejuvenate healthy plant pollinator habitats. By educating New Hampshire citizens, farmers, and policy makers about native pollinators and habitat preferences, we can encourage the regional and national authorities to create and maintain native bee habitats. Bee boxes, wild flowers, and unmowed pastures are but a few ways to improve healthy pollinator communities.
Animal Health Component
0%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
80%
Applied
10%
Developmental
10%
Classification

Knowledge Area (KA)Subject of Investigation (SOI)Field of Science (FOS)Percent
1363085107050%
2113085104050%
Knowledge Area
136 - Conservation of Biological Diversity; 211 - Insects, Mites, and Other Arthropods Affecting Plants;

Subject Of Investigation
3085 - Other bees (non-Apis bees) - All bees except Apis cerana; includes Bombas, Alfalfa leaf-cutter;

Field Of Science
1040 - Molecular biology; 1070 - Ecology;
Goals / Objectives
To determine how land management practices affect pollinator nutrition and how nutrition affects honey bee colony productivity and success To determine the effects of interactions among various factors affecting pollinator and honey bee colony health To develop and recommend "best practices" for beekeepers, growers, land managers and homeowners to promote honey bee and pollinator health
Project Methods
Undergraduate students at the University of New Hampshire will be engaged in summer field research to collect native bees. Bees will be surveyed weekly in nine locations comprising three replicates of urban, agricultural and meadow sites. Bee surveys will be conducted using two standardized methods. Firstly, pan traps (170 ml plastic bowls) will be placed in replicate sites before 0900 hours and collected after 1500 hours. Secondly, bees will be collected from blooms of flowering plants by two people using collapsible aerial nets. Samples will be brought back to the laboratory where bees are to be removed and placed in vials containing 70% ethanol.A postdoctoral research scientist will conduct molecular genetic lab techniques and analyses to develop population genomic and conservation genetic assessments of native bees. Bee specimens from pan trap and floral collections will be used to obtain DNA for sequencing of the barcode region of cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1. Sequencing will be performed at the Hubbard Center for Genome Studies at the University of New Hampshire. Additional sequences from the "Bees of eastern North America" project on barcode of life data system (BOLD; www.barcodinglife.org) will also be used for species identification confirmation and as comparisons for genetic diversity in other populations. The population genetic structure of bee populations will be determined using analysis of molecular variance (AMOVA) and exact tests. Time since most recent common ancestry (TMRCA) will be calculated using coalescent sudden expansion model as implemented in Arlequin 3.1.High school students in southern New Hampshire will be engaged in outreach events to educate on native bees, their natural history and the importance of pollinators. With the help of the postdoctoral scientist we will bring native bee collections and habitats to schools. In spring we will arrange outreach events at local gardens to teach citizens of all ages about bee natural history and showcase pollinators in action.With the help of my undergraduate students I will produce the first comprehensive paper on bee biodversity in southern New Hampshire. We will also create posters and brochures on bee biodiversity and pollination ecology to be distributed to local schools and conservation authorities. Additional publications on bee conservation genetics will examine the role of genetic diversity and land use on bee biodiversity and abundance. With the help of a postdoctoral research scientist we will use next generation sequencing techniques to determine genetic variation in native bee populations and any species with low genetic diversity will be targeted as species at risk.

Progress 10/23/14 to 09/30/19

Outputs
Target Audience:This project targetted stakeholders in the farmers, forestry, landowners, landscapers, school groups, citizen scientists, naturalists, and conservation authorities. We reached these stake holders through public lectures, open access publication of scientific results, lab tours, public outreach and K-12 school group presentations, as well as conference presentations. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?This project has trained 2 postdocs, 2 graduate students and numerous undergrads. Students have learned foundational skills in field collection of wild bees, taxonomic identification of wild bees, plant taxonomy, standard monitoring practices, data management, statistics, data visualization, writing and scientifica communication. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?We have been greatly engaged with the local, regional and national stakeholders through presentations at the Entmological Society of America and public lectures at school groups, pollinator appreciation week celebrations, nature walks, lab and museum tours. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Nothing Reported

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? 1) We conducted long term biomonitoring of wild bees across forest and clearcut habitats as well as organic and conventional farms to determine the brood productivity, survival and body size of wild bees. We can directly attribute bee body size and survival to nutritional state and maternal investment and thus learned that increasingly managed landscapes including clear cut forests and conventional farms harbour small and fewer bees suggested compromised nutrition in these landscapes. 2) We also examined bee abundance, diversity and functional traits across landscapes to determine suitable habitat for wild bees. Taken together over 5 years and six landscapes we determined indicator species for suitable wild bee habitat that can be used for long term pollinator health and sustainability monitoring. Indicator species include bumblebees, carpenter bees, and sweat bees in un-grazed landscapes. Interestingly,we found that grazing pressure negatively influences bee abundance, species richness, and functional trait diversity while management intensity has little effect. 3) Our data combined with outreach events suggest wildflower plantings and wildflower availability are critical for wild bee survival and sustainability. Through detailed long term bee demography and floral association data, we have established plant-pollinator networks and established what species of bees feed on which floral resources, their preferred floral resources and the timing of these floral bloom times and bee foraging activity. Thesedata provide recommendations to gardeners, landowners, and conservation authorities on which plants and land management schemes support which bee species.

Publications

  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Tucker EM, Rehan SM (2019) Wild bees (Hymenoptera: Apoidea) of the Ossipee Pine Barrens. North Eastern Naturalist. 26:379-391
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Shell WA, Rehan SM (2019) Invasive range expansion of the small carpenter bee, Ceratina dentipes (Hymenoptera: Apidae) into Hawaii with implications for native endangered species displacement. Biological Invasions. 21:1155-1166
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Odanaka KA, Rehan SM (2019) Impact indicators: effects of land use management on functional trait and phylogenetic diversity of wild bees. Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment. vol. 286: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agee.2019.106663
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Nooten SS, Rehan SM (2019) Agricultural land use yields reduced foraging efficiency and unviable offspring in the wild bee Ceratina calcarata. Ecological Entomology. 44:534-542
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: McFrederick QS, Rehan SM (2019) Wild bee pollen usage and microbial communities covary across landscapes. Microbial Ecology. 77:513-522
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Mathiasson ME, Rehan SM (2019) Status changes in the wild bees of northeastern North America over 125 years revealed though museum specimens. Insect Conservation and Diversity. 12:278-288
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Dew RM, Silva DP, Rehan SM (2019) Range expansion of an already widespread bee under climate change. Global Ecology and Conservation. e00584.


Progress 10/01/17 to 09/30/18

Outputs
Target Audience:During the past year. we reached K-12 school youth, university and college young adults, families and seniors through our education and outreach efforts. We also worked with a broad range of stakeholders includingconservation authorities, landowners, farmers, and gardeners. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?This project provided training for one postdoc, one graduate student, and one undergraduate student. The postdoc focused on bee taxonomy and community ecology, the graduate student focused on plant-pollinator networks and bee status assessments, and the undergraduate student focused on pollen collection and learned basic insect preservation and identification skills. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?The results have been disseminated through 4 published journal articles and also available through our lab and educational websites. Students in the lab have participated in the New Hampshire Agriculture Experiment Station Farm Days, Seacoast Science Center Bioblitz, Audubon Society Earth Day, Dover Middle School Project STEAM, and guest lectures at area universities. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?For the final year of this project we plan to continue with pollen collection and identification, continued long term monitoring of wild bee populations in New England, taxonomic revisions of problematic wild bee groups for species identification, morphometric analyses or wild bee across farm and forest landscapes, and population demography to determine the reproductive output and survival of wild bees across agricultural, urban, roadside and undisturbed habitats.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? This past year we have continued our wildbee surverys for the state of New Hampshire as well as bee taxonomy identification outreach and eduction events. We have also contributed important insights into the effects of land use on wild bee population stability. Now with three years of data, we wereable to examine seasonal, annual, and landscape effects on wild bee population response to floral availability and land use change. In addition we continue to curate bee species lists and have conducted timely status assessments for rare and declining bumble bee species. 1)To determine how land management practices affect pollinator nutrition and how nutrition affects honey bee colony productivity and success For this aim we determined the floral resources used by wild bees in New Hampshire through sweep netting bees from focal plant species. We also examined pollen using molecular approaches to determine the nutritional value and diversity of wild bee-collected pollen from nests. 2)To determine the effects of interactions among various factors affecting pollinator and honey bee colony health We examined landscape effects on wild bee reproduction and survival and determined that conventional farms have negative effects on bee foraging efficiency and brood productivity as well as brood body size and overwinter survival. In addition, we examined the microbiome of bees and found that wild bees in our region harbor many beneficial bacteria thought to be probiotics, but also many potential pathogens. 3)To develop and recommend "best practices" for beekeepers, growers, land managers and homeowners to promote honey bee and pollinator health We provided floral association data for recommendations for wild bee pollinator gardens and also suggestions for best practices for pollinator sustainability including reduced mowing, planting wildflowers, reduced pesticide, herbicide and fungicide use by land managers and homeowners

Publications

  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: Jacobson MM, Tucker EM, Mathiasson ME, Rehan SM (2018) Decline of bumble bees in northeastern North America, with special focus on Bombus terricola. Biological Conservation 217:437-445
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: McFrederick QS, Rehan SM (2018) Wild bee pollen usage and microbial communities covary across landscapes. Microbial Ecology. DOI https://doi.org/10.1007/s00248-018-1232-y In press.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: Shell WA, Rehan SM (2018) Invasive range expansion of the small carpenter bee, Ceratina dentipes (Hymenoptera: Apidae) into Hawaii with implications for native endangered species displacement. Biological Invasions. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10530-018-1892-z In press.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: Tucker EM, Rehan SM (2018) Farming for bees: annual variation in pollinator populations across agricultural landscapes. Agricultural and Forest Entomology 20:541-548


Progress 10/01/16 to 09/30/17

Outputs
Target Audience:In the past year we have reached a broad audience through combined efforts of active community engagement, meeting with local beekeepers, presentations at the NH Farm and Forest Expo, NHAES twilight meetings, open houses, and farm days, conservation authorities,as well as through our online platform www.nativebeesofnewengland.com. We have met with hundreds of middle and high school children through after school programs such as Dover Middle School Project STEAM and UNH's sponsored program Project SMART. We have also informed federal and regional conservation planning through wild bee status assessments now under consideration with USFish and Wildlife Service (USFW). Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Ovet the past year, this project has provided trainging for two postdocs, 2 graduate students and 8 undergraduate research students in the UNH Bee Lab. The postdocs have lead projects on 1) landscape and biodiversity scales and 2) nutrition and pathogen questions, respectively. The postdocs have learned scientific publication, public dissemination, community education and outreach efforts. The graduate students have learned field biosurvelliance, taxonomic identification, museum curation, plant-pollinator association statistics, community ecology, and public outreach efforts through this project. They are currently completing their theses on wild bee diversity and status assesments across NH and we plan to publish these data in the coming year. The undergraduate students have learned a wide variety of skills in data management, field biology, specimen processing, scientific nomenclature, public lectures, web design, wildlife photography, and community engagement. Undergraduate researchers are vital to these projects to collect invaluable data and assist graduate students and postdocs with data processing and lab based research. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?This year we hosted the third annual bee bioblitz in Ossipee NH. This is a special education and outreach event in which we gather families, naturalists, scientists and students from 5 states to collect bees one weekend in an understudied or potentially threatened region. This year we had 30 participants and were able to train volunteers wild bee diversity, collection and identification techniques, and I gave a public lecture on wild bees in NH to outline to status, habitat requirements and action that local citizens can participate in to ameliorate bee declines. We have also presented our data annually at the Entomological Society of America meeting and this past year in Orlando, FL. Students gave talks and posters to share their unpublished work. In addition we publish all of our research findings in scientific publications to further research in this field. Lastly, we are actviely engaged with the community and provide numerous public lectures each year at the NH beekeepers association meetings, NH Farm and Forest Expo, NHAES twilight and farm day open houses, and theUNH Bee Lab hosts and pollinator apprecation day on the NHAES Woodman farm. We are also active with school groups and community outreach through presentations for 4H, Project SMART, Project STEAM, Seacoast Science Center, Harris Center for Conservation Education, Squam Lakes Natural Science Center, Plymouth State and UNH lectures on wild bee diverstiy, status and sustainability. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?This year we plan to continue the long term surveys of wild bees in our area to develop strong habtiat preference and species status data. We also plan to continue with experimental manipulation of wild bee nutrition to examine the affects of microhabitat, land use, and floral availablility on wild bee brood productivity and survivorship. We also plan to assess the status of wild bees across NH using a now completed 150 year, 21000 bee record data base to determine species ranges, persistence, floral assocations, changes in the wild bee community, and to make conservation recommendations for federal authorities for species at risk.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? This year we have made great progress in documenting wild bee diversity and habitat requirements. Through ongoing land use surveys we have been able to determine optimal land use practises for bee abundance and biodiversity and long term studies are underway to assess the sustainability of our pollinator populations.Through historic studies of wild bee populations we have been able to identify species in decline as well as critical host plants, many of which are also threatened. We have provide plant-polliantor association data for our local wild bee communities and dissemintated this information broadly through scientific publication, public lecutures, and online forums. (1)To determine how land management practices affect pollinator nutrition and how nutrition affects honey bee colony productivity and success: We have established the base line of wild bees in NH (Tucker and Rehan 2016, 2017a) as well as examined how wild bee communities vary across agricultural landscapes (Tucker and Rehan 2017b). We have found that convential pesticide farms harbor low bee diversity and abundance while organic farms promote wild bee diversity and abundance. We are currently completing a three year comparison of wild bees in this region to determine the stability of native pollinators as well as their floral associations. In addition, we have characterized the nutritional requirements of wild bees through developing a new technique for pollen analyses (McFrederick and Rehan 2016). We have used next generation sequencing of pollen masses from wild bee nests to determine diet breadth as well as pathogen loads in the nest. Further, we have compared these data to previously publised work in honey bees and bumble bees as well as other wild bee species to determine the differences in the wild bee microbiota (Graystock et al. 2017). Taken together these data reveal that generalist pollinator species are actually specialists foraging on 2-3 plant species to comprise 80-90% of their diet. Lastly, we have also begun experimental manipulation of pollen provisions in wild bee nests to determine the quantity and quality of food required for healthy pollintaor populations. We have found that wild bees prefer to feed offspring high quality pollen, rich in proteins and sugars (Lawson et al. 2016). Moreover, we have found that experimental manipulation of pollen provisions results in vary quality offspring. By reducing and adding nutrients we were able to show marked variation in offspring body size and fat stores (Lawson et al. 2017). These data show that it is not onlythe quantity of pollen provided but also quality of nutrients that are essential to bee overwintering survival and reproductive success. (2)To determine the effects of interactions among various factors affecting pollinator and honey bee colony health As noted above, we have taken a three fold approach to determinin the landscape, floral and nutritient values required for wild bee health. We are currently intergrating these ideas to compare wild bee nests across landscapes to determine if microhabitat and land use have marked effects on brood productivity and survivorship in the wild. Our data to date indicate that wild bees are diverse and show preference for different landscapes and farm land types (Tucker et al. 2016, 2017b). We are now following this up with continued long term surveliance to determine seasonal and annual effects changes of local weather and floral availablilty on the wild bee community. With these data on hand we can make recommendations for wild flower plantings and land use practises to maximize pollinator population sustainability. This information is all readily communicated to the public through our educational outreach website: www.nativebeesofnewengland.com as well as through various public lectures and presentations throughout the year. (3)To develop and recommend "best practices" for beekeepers, growers, land managers and homeowners to promote honey bee and pollinator health Through documenting the wild bee community and floral preferences as well as pathogen load and landscape effects on wild bee health, we have and will continue to advocate for non-pesticide and low mowing practices for farmers, beekeepers and land owners. We have and will continue to document wild bee to flower associations to determine the diet breadth and best nutrition for wild bees year round here in northern New England. Not only are these data published in scientfic journals, but also publically available through websites, brochures, public lectures and we will constantly update our online resources to make these data and recommendations freely available.

Publications

  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Tucker EM, Rehan SM (2017) High elevation refugia for Bombus terricola conservation and wild bees of the White Mountain National Forest. Journal of Insect Science 17:1-10
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Tucker EM, Rehan SM (2017) Wild bee community stability across agricultural landscapes. Journal of Agricultural and Urban Entomology 33:77-104
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Shell WA, Rehan SM (2017) Range expansion of the small carpenter bee, Ceratina smaragdula, across the Hawaiian archipelago with potential ecological implications for native pollinator systems. Pacific Science 71:1-15
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Shell WA, Rehan SM (2017) The price of insurance: costs and benefits of worker production in a facultatively social bee. Behavioral Ecology 29:204211
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Mik�t M, Franchino C, Rehan SM (2017) Sociodemographic variation in foraging behavior and the adaptive significance of worker production in the facultatively social small carpenter bee, Ceratina calcarata. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology 71:135
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Lawson SP, Helmreich SL, Rehan SM (2017) Effects of nutritional deprivation on development and behavior in the subsocial bee Ceratina calcarata (Hymenoptera: Xylocopinae). Journal of Experimental Biology 220:4456-4462
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: Jacobson MM, Tucker EM, Mathiasson ME, Rehan SM (2018) Decline of bumble bees in northeastern North America, with special focus on Bombus terricola. Biological Conservation. Volume 217, January 2018, Pages 437-445
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Graystock P, Rehan SM, McFrederick QS (2017) Hunting for healthy microbiomes: determining the core microbiomes of Ceratina, Megalopta, and Apis bees and how they associate with microbes in bee collected pollen. Conservation Genetics 18:701-711
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2016 Citation: Lawson SP, Ciaccio KN, Rehan SM (2016) Maternal manipulation of pollen provisions affects worker production in a small carpenter bee. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology 70:1891-1900
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2016 Citation: McFrederick QS, Rehan SM (2016) Characterization of pollen and bacterial community composition in brood provisions of a small carpenter bee. Molecular Ecology 25:2302-2311
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2016 Citation: Shell WA, Rehan SM (2016) Development of multiple polymorphic microsatellite markers for the small carpenter bee, Ceratina calcarata, using genome-wide analysis. Journal of Insect Science 16:57
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2016 Citation: Tucker EM, Rehan SM (2016) Wild bee pollination networks in northern New England. Journal of Insect Conservation 20:325337


Progress 10/01/15 to 09/30/16

Outputs
Target Audience:The Rehan lab Hatch Multistate research has reached a broad audience this past year, including international, national, regional, state and district audiences. I was invited to share my research at the International Congress of Entomology, Entomological Society of America, NH Bee Bioblitz, Dover Middle School, NH Farm and Forest Expo, Agriculture Experiment Station Twilight meetings, Woodman Farm Tours, New Hampshire Fish and Wildlife, and Wildlife Journal. Further we have expanded our education and outreach through ongoing efforts on our educational website: www.nativebeesofnewengland.com. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?This project has provided training opportunities for 5 undergraduate, 2 graduate and 2 postdoctoral researchers at UNH. In addition we have become state officials for all things related to native bees and have been active with the community and stakeholders to share our results through providing public lectures, open houses, community outreach and website educational resources. Students have engaged in this project through independent research projects, work study employment, summer research fellowships, volunteering their time to help with the collections, and is generally very popular with sustainable agriculture, wildlife and conservation biology majors. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Results of this research have been broadly disseminated using the educational website www.nativebeesofnewengland.com and also through youtube lectures and a TedX talk by Rehan linked therein. Rehan and student have been actively involved in community and state outreach including continuing the second annual NH Bee Bioblitz at the Harris Center for Conservation Education in Hancock, NHwhich was attended by 30 naturalists and citizen scientists from 3 states to document the diversity and status of native bees across NH. We also continue to share our research through Farm Days and Twilight meetings at the AES Woodman farm. Here we showcase the bee hotels and hand out information cards and brochures on native bees provided by the UNH Bee Lab and co-sponsored by NH Fish and Wildlife. These events have been attended by over 100 school children, gardeners, naturalists, farmers, and citizens across the region. Lastly, the UNH Bee lab has been active in taking part in the UNH Project SMART, Dover Middle School Project STEAM, Seacoast Science Center, and 4-H pollinator education workshops. We have also presented our research at the NH Farm and Forest Expo, NH Beekeepers Association meetings, and NHAES Organic Dairy Farm open houses. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?The bee lab has completed curation of 14,000 be specimens covering150 years of historic records and plans to use these data to better understand the status of species in NH. There are currently two students and one postdoc working on these data in combination with our ongoing collections and ecological modelling efforts. These data will provide unprecedented insights intothe status and sustainability of bees in the region. Ecological assessment of bees in NH will reach year 4 next summer and with our 3 years of combined data we are beginning to determine the environmental mediators of bee species declines and strategies to preserve bee habitatacross diverse landscapes.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? This year we have documented the native bees of New Hampshire, plant-pollinator associations and habitat requirements for bees in the granite state, and we are actively archiving historic records to better undertstand bee declines.The progress of this project in the past year has been broadly impactful with three major accomplishments. Firstly, we have published the first charactization of the native bee community in NH providing not only species lists but also floral associations. Moreover, this paper documents plant-pollinator phenologies and interactions important for long term monitoring and habitat assessment. This is part of a long-term effort to understand the floral requirements and habitat preferences for native bees in efforts to better conserve local populations. Second, we have assessed native bee populations across a variety of farm and land use types, also expanding our efforts to include foraging behavior across different crop and pasture types. This manuscript is now in review for publication. Third, we have developed a database of historic records of bees including 14,000 bee records spanning 150 years inthe state to examineformer ranges and population numbers for the 200+ species found locally. We are now developing online tools to share this information with regional and national as well as international stakeholders through an interactive data archive and image web portal.

Publications

  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2016 Citation: Tucker, E. and Rehan, S. (September 2016) Agricultural land use positively contributes to wild bee communities in New England. International Congress of Entomology, Orlando, Florida, United States
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2016 Citation: Tucker EM, Rehan SM (2016) Wild bee pollination networks in northern New England. Journal of Insect Conservation. 20:325337
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Awaiting Publication Year Published: 2016 Citation: Tucker EM, Rehan SM (2016) High elevation refugia for Bombus terricola conservation and wild bees of the White Mountain National Forest. Journal of Insect Science. In press.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Awaiting Publication Year Published: 2016 Citation: Shell WA, Rehan SM (2016) Range expansion of the small carpenter bee, Ceratina smaragdula, across the Hawaiian archipelago with potential ecological implications for native pollinator systems. Pacific Science. In press.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2016 Citation: Shell WA, Rehan SM (2016) Recent and rapid diversification of the small carpenter bees in eastern North America. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society. 117:633-645
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2016 Citation: Rehan SM, Glastad KM, Lawson SP, Hunt BG (2016) The genome and methylome of a subsocial small carpenter bee, Ceratina calcarata. Genome Biology and Evolution. 8:1401-1410
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2016 Citation: McFrederick QS, Rehan SM (2016) Characterization of pollen and bacterial community composition in brood provisions of a small carpenter bee. Molecular Ecology. 25:2302-2311
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2016 Citation: Shell WA, Rehan SM (2016) Development of multiple polymorphic microsatellite markers for the small carpenter bee, Ceratina calcarata, using genome-wide analysis. Journal of Insect Science. 16:57
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2016 Citation: Lawson SP, Ciaccio KN, Rehan SM (2016) Maternal manipulation of pollen provisions affects worker production in a small carpenter bee. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology. In press. DOI: 10.1007/s00265-016-2194-z
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2016 Citation: Durant DR, Berens AJ, Toth AL, Rehan SM (2016) Transcriptional profiling of overwintering gene expression in the small carpenter bee, Ceratina calcarata. Apidologie. 47:572-582


Progress 10/23/14 to 09/30/15

Outputs
Target Audience:The Rehan lab Hatch Multistate research has reached a broad audience this past year, including international, national, regional, state, and district audiences. I was invited to share my research at a TEDX Piscataqua River talk, Breaking Bio podcast interview, NH Farm and Forest Expo, NH Beekeepers Association, SEE Science Center, NH Bee Bioblitz, Seacoast Science Center, Dover Middle School, Oyster River High School, the Portsmouth Music Hall, NHPR, NH Pollinator summit. Further we have expanded our education and outreach through the online educational website www.nativebeesofnewengland.com. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?This project has provided training opportunities for 12 undergraduate, 2 graduate and 2 postdoctoral researchers at UNH. In addition we have become the state officials for all things related to native bees and have been active with the community and stakeholders to share our results through providing public lectures, open houses, community outreach and website educational resources. Students have engaged in this project through independent research projects, work study employment, summer research fellowships, volunteering their time to help with the collections, and is generally very popular with sustainable agriculture, conservation biology and zoology majors. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Results of this research have been broadly disseminated using the educational website www.nativebeesofnewengland.com and also through a youtube lectures linked therein. PI Rehan and student have been actively involved and in community and state outreach including establishing the first annual NH Bee Bioblitz in the White Mountain National Forest which was attended by 30 naturalists and citizen scientist from 3 states to document the diversity and status of native bees in NH for the first time. We also initiated the first annual Pollinator Appreciation Day on the AES farms that were attended by over 100 school children, gardeners, naturalist, farmers, and citizens from the region. Lastly the UNH Bee Lab has been active in taking part in: SEE Science Center and Seacoast Science Center pollinator education workshops; UNH Project SMART, Oyster River High School and Dover Middle School teaching modules; NH Farm and Forest Expo, NH Beekeeper association and NH pollinator summit public lectures; NHAES Organic Farm and Woodman Farm stakeholder open houses. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?The Bee Lab is currently working on curating 150 years of museum bee records to better understand historic species diversity and state records in NH. These data in combination with our ongoing collections and ecological modeling efforts will provide unprecedented insights into the status and sustainability of bees in the region. Ecological assessment of bees in NH will reach year 3 next summer and with these combined data we can determine environmental mediators of bee species presence/absence and abundance across diverse landscapes. v

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? The progress of this project in the past year has been broadly impactful with two major accomplishments. Firstly, we have characterized the native bee community in NH for the first time and submit this species list for publication. Moreover, we have documented bee and floral phenology to understand plant-pollinator interactions. This is part of a long-term effort to understand the floral requirements and habitat preferences for native bees in efforts to better conserve local populations. Second, we have assessed native bee populations across a variety of farm and land use practice types, recently expanding our efforts to include forage across different crop and pasture types. In addition, we are developing a database of historic records of bees for the state to examine former ranges and population numbers for the 120+ species found locally to determine the status of bees in the state in terms of endemic species stability and the introduction of new species through range expansion and anthropogenic introductions. Overall our aim is to produce long term data to assess the status of bees in New England and also to provide demographic data to determine the best practices for land use and floral availability for wild bees.

Publications

  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2015 Citation: Rehan, S. (November 2015) Native Bees of New England, Invited Plenary Speaker, Pollinator Summit, Concord, New Hampshire, United States