This week on PolliNation Itai Kanot and Shelbi Perkins from BeeHero discuss how their in-hive and in-field sensors are improving pollination efficiency by providing real-time data on bee colony strength, benefiting both growers and beekeepers. BeeHero: https://www.beehero.io/

Dr. Diana Cox-Foster joins us to discuss her and her team's research at the USDA on honeybee and native bee competition. From lab tests to field studies, they uncover the effects of this competition on pollination.

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.

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.linnmastergardene…

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…

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…

 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 …

In this episode we learn about an effort to map pollinator habitat, as well as their stories, in Southern Oregon. The Southern Oregon Buzzway is a collaboration between Southern Oregon University and Pollinator Project Rogue Valley. Pollinator Project Rogue Valley: https://www.pollinatorprojectroguevalley.org/ Southern Oregon Buzzway Map: https://w…

This week on our Commercial Beekeeping segment, Nick VanCalcar from VanCalcar Apiaries in Amity, Oregon joins us to discuss the importance of doing your own fabrication in beekeeping operations.

There are over a thousand species of bees in the Pacific Northwest. However, The resources available for someone to tell the bees apart is lacking for this region. In this episode we hear from the team that is working to solve this problem. Carol Yamada, Lincoln Best, August Jackson, Jim Rivers, Joshua Dunlap & Joe Engler discuss their publication …

 Early reports are that there may be a large loss of commercial honey bee colonies across the U.S. this winter. In this episode we are joined by co-host Harry Vanderpool to talk with Russell Heitkam. Russell is a second generation beekeeper and Northern California queen, queen cell, package, and nuc producer. He also brokers about 7,000 hives from …

Filter strips surround agricultural fields and reduce soil loss and pesticide effluent reaching streams and rivers. They can also host flowering plants that bees and butterflies like. We talk to Dr. Amy Toth about whether these narrow ribbons of land can actually benefit pollinators. Toth Lab website: https://www.tothlab.org/people Episode 246 on f…

This week we kick off our new segment on commercial beekeeping with our new co-host, Harry Vanderpool of Vanderpool Farms in Salem, OR. Harry shares his beekeeping journey and what it takes to run a successful operation.

Michael Getz, a master's student here at Oregon State University, joins us this week on PolliNation to discuss his new paper on the recent introduction of the European Mason bee (Osmia cornuta) to British Columbia, Canada. Using computer vision technology he was able to identify Mason bee cocoons and model the bee's spread across North America. Lea…

What does it take to create a certified pollinator pathway? This week on PolliNation, Colleen Rockwell, the Environmental Committee Chair for Milwaukie's Rotary Club, shares how Milwaukie became only the second certified pollinator pathway in Oregon. Learn more about the Pollinator Pathway in Milwaukie here: https://www.pollinator-pathway.org/towns…

The last record of the Leafcutter Bee (Trachusa gummifera) in Marin County was in 1977. That is, until the One Tam Community Science Program had a documented sighting of it nearly 47 years later. This week we hear from Sara Leon Guerrero, a manager of the One Tam Community Science Program through the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy. Sara tel…

What happens to Mason bees after a number of consecutive cold days? Let's say a female lays an egg. What happens to it? Does it die? This week on PolliNation we welcome back Dr. Jim Cane and Ron Spendal to discuss their new paper "Eggs of the bee Osmia lignaria endure weeks of prolonged cold weather" https://www.researchgate.net/publication/3817438…

This week we explore Minnesota's Bee and Pollinator Discovery Center through the University of Minnesota's Landscape Arboretum. Ping Honzay, an educator and beekeeper at the Bee and Pollinator Discovery Center, discusses the innovative programs that engage the community and highlight the importance of pollinators.…

Everyone knows that hummingbirds visit flowers. But have you ever wondered how many other kinds of birds visit flowers and how important are they to the overall pollination ecology of flowering plants? This week we hear from Dr. Jeff Ollerton on his new book "Birds and Flowers: An Intimate 50 Million Year Relationship" https://pelagicpublishing.com…

This week we hear about Oregon's Farm to School program and how it helps make the connection between Oregon agriculture and pollinators in the classroom. We are joined by Rick Sherman (Farm to Child Nutrition Program Manager at the Oregon Department of Education) and Michelle Markesteyn (Farm to School Specialist at Oregon State University Extensio…

This week we talk about the upcoming (Sept 21, 2024) Oregon Honey and Mead Festival with organizer Sharon Schmidt (Cascade Girl Organization) and Marla Bull Bear, one of the presenters who is the Director, Lakota Youth Development and Honey Lodge Program. Details on this year's festival can be found at: https://www.cascadegirl.org…

Bees are exposed to pesticide hazards in a variety of ways. Estimating how hazards to bees are changing over time, across an area as large as a state, is a daunting prospect. This week we hear about an attempt to estimate changes in hazards in a new paper by Dr. Emily Carlson, a recent PhD student from Oregon State University.…

Beekeepers often have a sense of periods of intense nectar flows, but it is a lot more difficult to assess pollen flows. In this episode we talk with Priya Chakrabarti Basu from Mississippi State University who talks about a new initiative to provide beekeepers with a better sense of the pollen flows of their region.…

Butterfly bush is a hardy shrub that pollinators love. But under certain situations it can become invasive, which has led to laws to limit the sale to sterile varieties and interspecific hybrids. But there is a question of whether the hybrids are really sterile and whether sterility impacts the benefits to bees. We get answers to these questions th…

While roughly 70% of bee species are ground nesting, we know very little about the nesting biology of anything more than a handful of species. In this episode we hear from Dr. Jordan Kueneman and his project GNBees to generate more data from the public. Dr. Jordan Kueneman is a research scientist and director of Project GNBee, a community science p…

The Yellow-Legged Hornet has landed in the US southeast. The hornet is originally from Asia, but is has spread widely into Europe. This week we hear from Maggie Gill, a senior scientist with the National Bee Unit in the UK tells about the innovative methods developed in the UK to track and erradicate these hornets.…

This episode we catch up with Katie Buckley the Pollinator Health Coordinator for Washington State Department of Agriculture. She tells us about two new pollinator bills that passed in the Washington Legislature, as well as the growing Washington Bee Atlas.By Andony Melathopoulos

This week we hear about a remarkable initiative in Tillamook, Oregon. Known for its world famous dairy, its home to an industrious beekeeping club that is providing top-notch education to the region (and the thousands of people who come through it each summer).By Andony Melathopoulos

Adult honey bees have a variety of organisms that live in their guts. Some are benign but some, like Nosema ceranae, can be pathogentic. In this episode we hear of Courtney MacInnis' relentless pursuit of understanding the status of an organism you have never heard of - Lotmaria passim - both on its own, and in combination with Nosema ceranae. Her …

In this episode we hear from Susie Peterson who is the co-manager of the very popular Backyard Habitat Certification Program in Oregon. The program is managed in partnership with Portland Audubon and can help you better design your backyard for biodiversity.By Andony Melathopoulos

Bumble bee queens have been known to try and take over already established nests. Sometimes they manage to take over the nest and increase their own reproductive success. But according to new research from Heather Grab this is not what happens when a wild bumble bee queen tries to take over a commercial bumble bee colony.…

Land Trusts punch above their weight in creating pollinator habitat. In this episode we talk with Greenbelt Land Trust of some of their innovative methods for restoring pollinator habitat on a working farm.By Oregon State University Extension Service

Bee Friendly Farming is an initiative to certify agricultural production for taking steps to help bees. This week we hear about the expansion of the program to the Pacific Northwest, specifically with regards to wine grapes.By Andony Melathopoulos

Bees are just one part of maximizing cherry yield. Before the bees arrive, cherries have to be pruned properly and given the right nutrition. Also, bee attractive cover crops can help rejuvinate the soil before replanting. We hear about all the tricks to maximizing pollination success in cherries from Mike Omeg of Orchard View Cherries.…

American foulbrood (AFB) is one of the most damaging diseases of honey bees. Up until now, beekeepers have lacked an early warning system to know whether the disease is rising in their colonies. In this episode we hear from Dr. Sarah Wood about an innovative system for surveying for AFB in honey,

Have you ever wondered which fuzzy yellow bee you just saw visiting a flower? In this episode, guest host Jen Hayes interviews Nicole Bell about two new and free resources that explore 67 species of bees found in Portland area gardens. Jen and Nicole are both graduate student members of OSU's Garden Ecology Lab.…

As nursery catalogs start to show up in our mailboxes and we think about the plants we want to grow next season, it's easy to get overwhelmed. In this episode, guest host Nicole Bell talks with Jen Hayes about two handouts that can help you better understand plant labels and discover if the plant in front of you is a wild-type native plant, a culti…

This week we hear a facinating conversation between an established mutimedia artist (Jasna Guy) and young artist and melittologist (Marek Stanton) on how art, ecology and the natural world overlap.By Kalika Stanton

There have been extreme temperatures during the pollination of early season crops. In this episode we explore how these temperatures not only influence the activity of pollinating insects, but also the pollen they are shuttling around.By Andony Melathopoulos

Prairie ecosystems are essential to many pollinator species across North America. Generating prairie after its been lost can be challenging. This week we travel to Iowa to hear from the STRIPS (Science-based Trails of Rowcrops Integrated with Prairie Strips) team. They have been perfecting how to get growers to install prairie strips on the edges o…

We continue on our bee friendly gardening kick with a trip to Albuquerque, New Mexico to hear how one naturalist transformed his front yard into biodiversity hotspot. Using tools like iNaturalist, he has documented over 90 bee species and 1,200 other insects on less than a quarter acre of land.By Andony Melathopoulos

This week we continue our September on Bee Friendly Gardening with a southern Oregon Master Gardener who has a passion for native plants.

With the season for pollinator gardening winds down, it is a great time to start planning your garden for next year. In this episode we we learn about a national program to connect gardeners together and provide them with resources to up their pollinator gardener game.

The Oregon Bee Friendly Wine Tour is coming to an end for 2023. We hear about what makes King Estate a great place for bees, get some gardening tips and hear about an event hosted along with the Save the Bee Foundation.By Oregon State University Extension

This week we hear from Dr. Phil Allen who has the audacious idea of reducing water use and increasing benefits to pollinator by replacing lawns with subalpine meadows.

Bumble bees nest in the darndest places - like bird houses and water meters. In this episode we learn about how to relocate bumble bee colonies. We also figure out how to get bumble bee nests where you want them, by rearing colonies from queens that emerge in the spring.

Beekeeping takes a lot of training and mentorship. In many states, the place to learn the finer points of this trade is in state Master Beekeeper programs. We hear about the Oregon program through its annual field day.

It's National Pollinator Week next week. We hear about what makes effective public engagement on pollinators and of a new event in Vancouver, Washington, the Pollinator Festival.

A number of Oregon vineyards are working together to enhance the habitat for bees (which includes over 700 species in Oregon). In this episode we visit one of those vineyards, Sokol Blosser Winery, and learn about how they are working to improve habitat for their bees.By Oregon State University Extension

This week we hear about what this cold and wet spring has meant for Pacific Northwest beekeepers (and the crops they pollinate).