News — Science and Research

Crown Bees cares about sharing what we learn about solitary bees. For that reason, the founder and owner of Crown Bees is readily available to national podcasters, news and video production crews, researchers and authors. Recently the video producers at One Tree Planted conducted an interview with Dave Hunter, owner of Crown Bees, at Oxbow Farm and Conservation Center in Washington State. One Tree Planted is an environmental charity "dedicated to making it easier for individuals and businesses to give back to the environment, fight climate change, protect biodiversity and help reforestation efforts around the world. All by planting trees!"   During the interview,...

Messing with the microbes within their hive-stored pollen hurts bumblebees Of the 20,000+ bee species on Earth, only about a dozen are used by farmers in commercial agriculture, and these crucial populations of managed bees have been declining at an alarming rate. Several factors, including increased use of pesticides, habitat fragmentation, emerging diseases, and reduced genetic diversity may be responsible for such bee losses. In response to this pollinator crisis, recent conservation efforts have led to stricter regulations on insecticide use. However, other agrochemicals such as herbicides and fungicides that do not directly target insects (such as bees) continue to...

Dr. Jason Graham is the lead researcher developing conservation for the endangered Hawaiian yellow-faced bees in the Plant and Environmental Protection Sciences Department at the University of Hawaii at Mānoa. Seven species of Hawaii's yellow-faced bees were placed on the endangered species list in October 2016, these are the first species of bees to be protected and labeled as endangered. Dr. Graham has designed and is testing an artificial nest system that has helped him to study the ecology, development and nest architecture of the Hawaiian yellow-faced bees. Collaborating with State and Federal agencies as well as local community and school groups, Dr....