Field Notes on Climate

– Ami Eckard-Lee: When we think of bees, we think of flowers, stingers, and... [ding] ...honey.

But not all bees make honey.

There are over 20,000 species of bees worldwide, but less than 15 of these produce the honey that we like to eat.

Most of our honey comes from bees that are managed by human beekeepers for selling products like these: honey, pollen, honeycomb, or beeswax.

Wild bees are species that survive on their own in the natural environment and are typically native to the area.

And these little ladies are vital for a healthy ecosystem.

But bummer news.

Both domesticated and wild bee populations have been declining for decades, primarily due to climate change, habitat loss, and the widespread use of pesticides.

So, what happens to the environment if we lose bees?

[bright music] All bees are pollinators, but not all pollinators are bees.

Pollinators are animals that help move pollen from one plant to another, allowing plants to reproduce.

Many species are considered pollinators, like butterflies, regular flies, beetles, even some bat and bird species.

But bees are the kings of pollination.

Or maybe the queens.

But why is it so important for the environment?

I tried catching a bee to ask her, but she told me to buzz off.

So, I met with these guys instead.

And they seem to know a thing or two about bees.

Why are pollinators so important for the environment?

– James Crall: One is for biodiversity.

The other one is more selfish.

And that's for us, because a lot of the crops that we depend on as humans depend on that pollination.

One in three bites, roughly, of food that we eat comes from a plant that depends to some extent on pollination.

Basically, less pollinators means less food for us.

- What are the main threats to pollinators in our communities right now?

– Claudio Gratton: I think if we had to put 'em into categories, I would say that the biggest one is habitat loss.

Imagine that every little habitat that they can get food is isolated from every other one.

As habitats get smaller, they get further and further from other similar habitats.

So, the likelihood that they can get to other food that is similar to what they're finding here is really low.

So, that's fragmentation.

There's also diseases and pathogens that are influencing bee populations in particular.

Related to that is also the use of pesticides.

And then, there's this kind of other thing that's happening in the background that we're still trying to understand is the relationship and the role that climate is actually playing.

- How does climate impact the pollinators?

- So, we can think of climate as both directly impacting bees and other insects, right?

So, out on a hot day, it might be more stressful in the middle of summer for bees.

We would call those direct impacts.

But the other thing that can happen are these indirect effects through plants, right?

One is through sort of shifting timing, something we call phenology.

Generally, phenology is that sort of timing of biological events.

So, one of these might be, oh, when do flowers and bees both emerge in spring?

And one thing that can happen with climate is you start scrambling those a little bit.

And that can lead to timing mismatches, right?

Maybe the timing of when bees emerge is different than the timing of when plants come out.

– Ami: These changes in phenology are what makes biodiversity so important for pollinators.

Biodiversity refers to the variety of species in a given location.

For example, a cornfield has very little biodiversity because there's only one species growing.

Whereas a prairie might have dozens of plant species.

All these species have different traits and blooming periods that make them favorable to certain pollinators.

And by supporting pollinators, we're directly helping ourselves as well, because if they can't get the food they need, we might not get the food we need.

I'm here at an apple orchard to talk with a farmer whose harvest relies on these pollinators, just like the pollinators rely on these flowers.

Deirdre is an organic farmer who decided to designate 30 acres of her land to restore a native prairie that would help support the wild pollinators.

And she has a pretty incredible story about how that decision paid off.

– Deirdre Birmingham: In 2022, we were having a very long, cool, kind of miserable, damp spring.

I knew that it was delaying bloom, and then it surged into the 90s.

- Oh, wow.

– Deirdre: And so, the blossoms were, like, exploding.

They were just opening very quickly.

And I had seen some wild pollinators.

And so, I thought, "Good, "I know the wild pollinators are here, "but I haven't seen this neighbor's honey bees on the landscape yet."

So, I hadn't seen them.

I called him and said, "Hey, are your honey bees coming soon?"

He said, "Oh, they're on a truck from Texas."

- Oh, wow!

- 'Cause he would ship 'em to work, you know, work someplace else.

- Wow!

- And so, they won't be here in time for my early blossom.

It was about a three, maybe three-and-a-half day window.

And the wild bees did it, 'cause I got a crop on those early season varieties thanks to wild pollinators.

- Having this diverse native prairie habitat available gave these wild pollinators a better chance at coping with additional stressors such as a delayed blooming period.

So, what are some ways we can incorporate more diverse and connected habitats into our own communities?

- Actually, urban and suburban areas can be even better habitat for wild bees because there's more diversity.

People have different plants in their yard.

They have flowers, they might have vegetables.

So, all this diverse stuff that people have there can be great for pollinators.

- Think about all the areas in your community that are currently covered in a simple bed of grass.

This might be the grassy area between the sidewalk and the road, or the median in the street.

These areas could become habitat for pollinators if the right species were growing there.

Another great way to get involved in protecting pollinators is by participating in a citizen science program.

Citizen science programs are ways that members of the community can take action on environmental issues they care about by aiding real scientists in collecting local data.

The Bumble Bee Brigade is an example of a citizen scientist program, coordinated by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources to aid in the conservation of bumblebees in the state.

When you're on a, what do you call them, bee expeditions, when you come down here to the park?

– Aishika Samanta: Bee-search.

- When you're doing some bee-search, I should call it, what do you-- What does it day look like?

- Yeah, so we kind of walk along the same path each time for consistency and look at each individual flower and see what bees are on them.

We keep track of what flower preferences, so what flower each bumblebee is on, the bumblebee species, the sex of the bumblebee, humidity, temperature, weather, all that stuff to kind of keep track of population, but also flower preference and kind of how populations fluctuate throughout the season.

And that's one of my favorite things about citizen science is that anyone can get involved.

- There are a lot of ways you can get involved in protecting and advocating for pollinators and their habitat.

You can start by building a bee house for your backyard, or planting a pollinator garden at your school.

You could even try participating in citizen science programs or start advocating for protective laws that safeguard pollinator habitat.

All of these can directly or indirectly help pollinators, protect habitats, and save our food resources.

So, make like a bee and get busy.

[gentle music] Spoiler: it's bad.

Not the sandwich.

I'm getting weirder.

Aaah!