Zach Portman: Taxonomy is a living science. Taxonomists deserve a living wage.
This week on the podcast I'm joined by Zach Portman, a bee taxonomist at the University of Minnesota in the Cariveau Native Bee Lab. For a while now I’ve been wanting to talk with a bee taxonomist about the impending taxonomic bottleneck we’re facing. So Zach and I chat about that. We chat about how taxonomy is a living science and why people in this profession deserve to make a living wage.
The Bee Report Podcast is available on all major podcasting platforms such as Apple and Spotify.
Exciting news about the Bees of Grand Staircase-Escalante film!
Many of your know that I’ve been working on a documentary film about the bees of Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, featuring Olivia Carril and Joe Wilson. This weekend, Parade magazine is going to feature our project in their Earth Day edition! Parade is the magazine you find in the middle of every Sunday newspaper. The project isn’t in the print edition, but we are in the digital version. So go to whatever link they give you in print, look up the state of Utah and you will find our story. Share widely!
What’s even more exciting is that the Grand Staircase Escalante Partners are now an official friend and supporter of the film project! GSEP is a nonprofit organization that promotes science, education and conservation on behalf of Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. I’m super excited to be working with these great folks to roll out the film!
Do you have tips, comments, questions or ideas for collaboration? Please send them to tbr@bymattkelly.com.
Conservation
Coronavirus may prove boost for UK's bees and rare wildflowers
(The Guardian) Rare wildflowers and declining bee populations could start to recover during the coronavirus lockdown because many councils are leaving roadside verges uncut, according to Europe’s biggest conservation charity for wild plants.
Pennsylvania group works to rescue rare bees in construction zone
(Reading Eagle) "About five years ago, I heard about ground-nesting bees under the I-78 Schuylkill River bridge at Hamburg... These abrupt digger bees, also known as eastern chimney bees, are the only species in the eastern U.S. that make mud chimneys like this... Then I learned there was going to be a major construction and enlargement of the bridge..."
Economics
Lack of bee imports due to COVID-19 will affect Canada's honey supply and agriculture
(CTV) Scandia Honey imports 20,000 bee packages each season, which are used to start new hives or replace ones that die over winter. This year, because of shipping restrictions from the COVID-19 pandemic, they got none. The company says that will put a strain on Canada’s honey supply. An even bigger problem for Canada might be the effect a drop in the number of beehives will have on agriculture: bee hives are used by seed companies to pollinate their crops to produce the seed stock for next year.
China’s beekeepers feel the sting of Covid-19
(The Economist $) This year Covid-19 has been a bigger headache than pesticides for the country’s 250,000 beekeepers. Many of them are itinerant, moving their colonies around the country on lorries in search of pollen and nectar. For many days, restrictions imposed to curb the epidemic made this difficult. It is too late to catch the early blooms of spring. Margins are thin at the best of times. Some may be able to supplement their income by pollinating farmers’ crops. “Beekeepers have to rely on heaven to eat."
Science
German museum looking for citizen scientists to help make bee collection accessible online
(Museum für Naturkunde) Help the Museum für Naturkunde in Berlin make its Hymenoptera collection digitally accessible by transcribing labels for bees and other species in the collection. All you need is some time and a computer. Here's how you can help.
Bees point to new evolutionary answers
(EurekAlert/Flinders University) The adaptation to new habitats and niches is often assumed to drive the diversification of species. But rare bees found in high mountain areas of Fiji provide evidence that they have evolved into many species, despite the fact they can't readily adapt to different habitats. "Perhaps, if Darwin had studied Fijian bees instead of Galapagos finches, he might have come to rather different conclusions about the origin of species."
Some flowers have learned to bounce back after injury
(EurekAlert/University of Portsmouth) Mechanical accidents happen to plants fairly often and can, in some cases, stop the plant from being able to attract pollinating insects and so, make seeds. But according to a new study some flowers have a remarkable and previously unknown ability to bounce back after injury, bending and twisting themselves back into the best possible position to ensure successful reproduction within 10-48 hours of being knocked over.
Bumble bee experiments in lockdown
(Jeremy Hemberger) The chaos brought about by the global coronavirus pandemic has not only claimed lives, it has disrupted experiments in labs across the world. Some scientists can thankfully carry on their pieces of work at home or in back yards, including those of us who study bumble bees. This post lays out the supplies needed to rear bumble bees on a budget at home, how to capture and install queens, providing colonies optimal conditions, and some hints that might make troubleshooting issues easier.
Technology
Manuka honey used to make electrospun wound dressings
(EurekAlert/Shinshu University) Manuka honey contains multiple bioactive ingredients that aid in healing. Electrospinning is a type of fiber production that uses electrical force to draw extremely fine threads from polymer solutions. Researchers at Shinshu University in Japan have found just the right technique for spinning dressings made with manuka honey that are antimicrobial, breathable and can promote wound healing in virto.
One More Thing…
Not bee related this week but very much worth your consideration… I present to you what might be the most incredible bit of science communication for 2020: this video from the Ohio Department of Health on why social distancing works. Distilling a complex topic into a 30 second video that powerfully holds my attention and locks the key information squarely in my brain. Boom! Wow.