Each month our Bee Informed Blog highlights current news, science, and research related to solitary bee conservation, food insecurity, and sustainability.
1. "These Are My Most Trusted Native Plants For Restoration And Here’s Why"
(Anna Murray, Xerces Society) I am a pollinator habitat specialist, which means that I plant a lot of plants. In my 15 years of growing native plants in nurseries and restoring habitats in national parks, college campuses, home gardens and farms, I estimate that I have personally grown or planted over 90,000 native plants and facilitated the planting of over 260,000.
Here are a few native plants that get the job done even in the most challenging situations. While the species below are all native to California, the reasons for selecting them apply to any native plant habitat project. Continue reading...
2. A caffeine buzz helps bees learn to find specific flowers
(PHYS.ORG) There's nothing like a shot of espresso when you need to get some studying done—and now, it seems like bees learn better with a jolt of their favorite caffeine-laced nectar, too. In a paper published July 28 in the journalCurrent Biology, researchers have shown that feeding bumble bees caffeine helps them better remember the smell of a specific flower with nectar inside. While previous studies have shown that bees like caffeine and will more frequently visit caffeinated flowers to get it, this is the first study to show that consuming caffeine in their nest actually helps bees find certain flowers outside of the nest. Continue reading...
3. Monarch butterfly declared endangered amid declining numbers
(pbs.org) In July, the monarch butterfly was officially designated as endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. Scientists estimate that the species' population has dropped between 20% and 90% over the last several decades. Scott Hoffman Black, executive director of the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation, joins Ali Rogin of PBS to discuss. Continue reading...
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