In this episode of the podcast, Dr. Zach Portman discusses a new paper addressing the problem of ghost records in bee data. These records often lack physical specimens, creating challenges for verifying data of bee species. Dr. Portman explains the process and complications behind collecting and verifying bee data, emphasizing the importance of preserving specimens. The conversation also delves into the implications of ghost records for conservation efforts and taxonomy, proposing that funding agencies should require proper storage plans for collected specimens.

Links:

Portman, Z.M., Bruninga-Socolar, B., Chase, M.H., Harrison, T., Arduser, M., Tepedino, V.J. and Cariveau, D.P., 2025. Big data, changing taxonomy, and ghost records: permanent preservation of collected specimens is essential for insect monitoring. Annals of the Entomological Society of America, 118(4), pp.331-345: https://academic.oup.com/aesa/article/118/4/331/8197915

https://www.zportman.com

Pollinator Pathway is a national organization dedicated to the establishment of native plant communities for pollinators that are managed without pesticides. It got started in the Western US in Bend, Oregon and this week we hear from two board members, Gwen Bartonek and Lisa Sanco, about the many activities the organization has pulled off in Oregon's High Desert city.

Pollinator Pathway Bend: https://pollinatorpathwaybend.org/

Queen Bee Honey Company in Alpine, Oregon built up from a Datsun pickup truck to a commercial beekeeping business. In this episode we hear about how Karen Finley built her business and the increasing problem of lack of summer forage for honey bees in Oregon's Willamette Valley.  

This week we hear about an ambitious new initiative in California to increase the adoption of pollinator-friendly practices on working lands.

The blueberry industry is one of the most dynamic fruit sectors in the US. As a consequence, what was recommended for pollination a few decades ago may no longer apply. This week we hear about a new initiative to develop a modern pollination planner for US blueberry growers.

There has been an explosion of interest in using native plants for pollinators. Along with this interest there is the question of whether nativars - a natural variant that has been found in the wild and brought into cultivation - are equally beneficial to pollinators. This week we look into an ongoing research project asking this very question.

Bees are key pollinators of sweet cherry. This week we hear about research from Belgium on using other managed bee species to pollinate this crop (other than honey bees), the influence of encouraging pollinator habitat, as well as tips on keeping managed mason bees healthy and happy during cherry pollination.

One of the most influential books about bees has little to do with bees, but rather reflects on the nature of modern society. Bernard Mandeville (1670-1733) wrote and revised his "Fable of the Bees", after publishing a poem in 1705 titled "The Grumbling Hive: or, Knaves Turn'd Honest". The book is considered one the first pieces of modern sociology and was influential for revolutionaries lat

One of the most influential books about bees has little to do with bees, but rather reflects on the nature of modern society. Bernard Mandeville (1670-1733) wrote and revised his "Fable of the Bees", after publishing a poem in 1705 titled "The Grumbling Hive: or, Knaves Turn'd Honest". The book is considered one the first pieces of modern sociology and was influential for revolutionaries later in the 18th Century. We discuss the book as part of a two-part series.

Natural Resources Conservation Service has a range of programs to support the development of pollinator habitat in working lands. In this episode you'll get an overview of NRCS programs, how landowners can access them and how, specifically, they can be used to improve habitat for pollinators.

Pesticide applicators across the US needed to become certified and trained. In this episode we explore where this training requirement came from and how it applies to reducing exposure of pollinators to pesticides. 

Highbush blueberry is the largest pollinated crop in Oregon and one of the top crops in the US as a whole. Beekeepers report that their colonies can sometimes experience difficulties when pollinating this crop. In this episode we hear about how to keep bees healthy in blueberry production systems.

Lowbush blueberry growers in Atlantic Canada have been increasing bee habitat around their fields by encouraging existing plant communities. In this episode we learn how they do this and the incredible bees that pollinate this crop.  

The BEEvent, hosted annually by the Linn County Master Gardeners, provides gardeners and small farmers with essential knowledge and practical tools to support and protect bee pollinators. This week, Master Gardeners Ranee Webb and Rich Little join us to share what's in store for this year's event.

Register for BEEvent: https://www.linnmastergardeners.com/beevent

Information on Mason bees and BeeNotes: https://www.linnmastergardeners.com/pollinator-info

With National Pollinator week next week, we caught up with staff at Pollinator Partnership (P2) to learn about what's happening to celebrate the week, but also to catch up on growing P2 initiatives; Bee Friendly Farming and the Pollinator Stewards program. 

Squash bees were never known to Oregon until a few years ago. This summer Oregonians may see the squash bee Peponapis pruinosa for the first time.  Learn about these bees and how to track them in the state on this episode.

Raspberries are not nearly as difficult to pollinate as self-incompatible tree fruit or blueberries. But getting consistent fruit quality still requires finesse. In this episode we cover the pollination requirements of these berries, some of the bees that visit (and nest) in these crops and how to ensure a consistent level of pollination. 

Your honey bees have expanded many fold this spring. Now is the opportunity to split your colonies in half and get two colonies. In this episode we learn all the tricks associated with reliable and quick spring (and summer) and division of colonies. 

Mason bees in the subgenus Osmia emerged sometime before the ice-age, likely in Europe and Asia, but they radiated into North America early on in their history, resulting in one of the most beloved solitary bees, the blue orchard bee. In this episode, we dive into the evolutionary history of this subgenus. 

Starting to keep bees can be overwhelming. To help you get started we have two Oregon Master Beekeepers answer the 10 most common questions that beginners ask. 

Michael O'Loughlin and his family farm a total of 200 acres in Yamhill County. The O'Loughlin Farms and garden is a private research station tracking onsite precipitation, testing slug biocontrol, and studying beetle predation and Northwestern garter and ringneck populations. Michael has been a Master Gardener since 2014 and Oregon Bee Atlas since 2018. Since then, he has mentored new Master Gardener students, participated on the Yamhill County Master Gardener insect committee, taught classes in entomology and garden pollinators, served as a local expert for garden beetle or herpetology questions, and contributed articles to the Master Gardener newsletter. He is also on the Advisory Committee of the Oregon Bee Atlas and leads up the mighty Yamhill County Atlas team. He has also designed, consulted on, and/or built nine school gardens across the state, including a pollinator garden at Mary Wood Elementary School in Tigard. In the six years that O'Loughlin has been a Master Gardener, he has accomplished a tremendous amount of work that benefits gardeners across the state. Although many people may be familiar with his work, many do not know that O'Loughlin is the force behind them, and in 2020 he was awarded the statewide Statewide Behind the Scenes Award for the Master Gardeners. 

With people either reving up to start or spruce up their pollinator garden, we sat down with a local nursery owner about some of the plants he most recommends for bloom across the year.

This week we hear how Soil and Water Conservation Districts are working to establish cost-effective and pollinator habitat on County roadsides. 

Honey bees and native social bees are important crop pollinators and key parts of healthy native plant ecology. However, it's very difficult to examine how these groups of bees interact in the floral landscape. In this episode, we discuss competition between bumble bees and honey bees in an landscape where they are both native, the UK, to uncover what influences they have on each other and the floral resources they share.

While there has been a lot of attention to the plight of wild bees, we are increasingly discovering that there is a lot more that we don't know. A state checklist of bees is a great starting point for taking stock of what we do know. This week I am joined by Chanda Bartholomew, who is an Entomology Collection Taxonomist with the Pest Program in the Plant Protection Division of Washington State Department of Agriculture. She is the lead author of "An annotated checklist of the bees of Washington state" that was published in the Journal of Hymenoptera Research in November of 2024. 

Link to the article: https://jhr.pensoft.net/article/129013/

Japanese beetle is a devastating exotic pest. Eradication efforts are underway across the US, including in Oregon. We hear about what is involved with eradication and how it can be done in a way that minimizes impacts to pollinators.

Managed solitary bees have been a part of crop pollination in the Western US for decades, particularly in alfalfa seed production. But over the last decade, the use of these bees has expanded. We look at the recent expansion and where it might lead in this episode.

Renting a honey bee colony for pollination seems simple enough, but frequently colonies are contracted months before pollination and a lot can go wrong from the time a contract is inked to when bees are delivered. In this episode we take a deep dive into the fascinating world of beekeepers, growers and pollination brokers.

Gardens are increasingly appearing in schools. In this episode we learn about strategies to use these gardens to introduce pollinators into school curriculum. 

There is an almost inexhaustible amount of options for pollinator gardens. But this can not only be a cause for invigoration, but also confusion. This episode will set you straight on how to take your pollinator garden to the next level.

Carolyn Breece and Ellen Topitzhofer support the field research of the OSU Honey Bee Lab. Together they manage the lab's 80 research and educational colonies, preparing them for experiments, and collecting data. They also teach classes and workshops to community beekeepers, OSU undergraduates, and Oregon Master Beekeeper participants.

There have been two exciting developments with Oregon Flora. The first is vol 2 of the flora, which includes an amazing section on Oregon pollinators. The second is there new website, which allows you to do amazing searches for Oregon plant communities.

Honey bee queens are durable insects, but new research shows that the sperm they store can become quickly degraded by temperature extremes.

Pan traps are one of the key methods for surveying for native bees. They are cheap and easy to use, and they aren't subject to the collector bias of studies that rely on netting. This week we hear about the limitations associated with using pan traps. 

Washington contended with two invasive insects in 2020. The first is well-known, Asian Giant Hornet, but the second less so, the common eastern bumble bee.  We caught up with the Washington Department of Agriculture for an update on both insects. 

This week on PolliNation, Fred Weisensee from Dancing Oaks Nursery in Monmouth, OR shares tips on creating a pollinator rock garden using native and exotic plants inspired by Oregon's high-elevation landscapes 

Dancing Oaks Nursery: https://dancingoaks.com/?srsltid=AfmBOop6NnUpe5hUTS6OTTJ6rIc96DsuGBJ5Ndz3YCq_cjGiagJD2ZFT

It was hard to keep track of developments in bee health in 2020 because so much else was going on. In this episode we catch-you-up with a guest who wrote a post per day for since January showcasing what was new in bee health. 

The Washington State Legislature just received a set of ground-breaking recommendations on pollinator health from the state's Pollinator Health Task Force. In this episode we hear about what is being recommended and the next steps towards addressing those recommendations.

Stem nesting bees like mason bees are particularly amenable to being introduced to distant lands. In this episode we hear about research looking into the impact of these introductions on native bee populations.

Devastating wildfires ravaged Western states this summer. In this episode we find out what is known about the effect of forest fires on bees, how bees respond to the land ravaged by fire and how you can help bees while also protecting your property from future fires.

US beekeepers have been struggling to manage varroa mites for over 30 years. Our guest discusses why a solution to varroa has been so elusive and what it would take to finally turn the corner with varroa over the next decade.

In this episode we learn about an initiative in Texas that engages thousands of families in education around pollinators, headed by the National Pesticide Safety Education Center (NPSEC) and Prairie View A&M University. 

We have a very dim picture of the flowers bees collect pollen from. In this episode we hear about how lab techniques can be combined with field records of plant occurrences to show that bees may be using a lot more sources of pollen than we once thought.

The highest period of honey bee colony mortality is during the winter. But there are a number of tricks to ensure high colony survival. In this episode we visit a Canadian bee yard to learn about what they do.

Identifying bees is notoriously difficult and often is an obstacle to beginners interested in contributing to native bee surveys. In this episode we learn about a new initiative to identify bees with machine learning.

We have all heard about Asian Giant Hornet, but what are some of the other invasive pests that threaten pollinators? We hear about species of concern in Oregon as well as measures taken to prevent their introduction. 

 Karen Pedersen is a fifth generation commercial beekeeper and apiary owner in Cut Knife, Saskatchewan, Canada. Pedersen Apiaries make hundreds of pounds of honey bee colony, while wintering single brood chamber colonies outdoors when temperatures are -30F below. She also leads an impressive stock improvement program. Harry and Andony find how she does it in this week's episode. 

Pedersen Apiaries website: http://www.pedersenapiaries.ca

Bee Maid Honey Coop: https://www.beemaid.com

Harvesting Honey: https://youtu.be/CNc-AfvCgLA?si=I867-OJNHnC4qaA6

Pollinator Partnership's Bee Friendly Farming programs encourages and rewards growers for taking steps to improve pollinator health on farms. We hear about some new features of the program and how people can get involved. 

Native bees have secret and mysterious lives. Beyond their visits to flowers, they spend most of their lives beyond our experience. This week we hear from a sound artist whose work places us deep in the lives of our native bees.