Why are pollinator populations declining?
Researchers have documented a decline in many different pollinator populations over the last few decades. They have attributed this decrease to several factors, including:
• Loss of habitat, including decreasing food supply and disruption of nesting sites due to land development
• Pollution of air, water, and soil
• Misuse of chemicals, such as pesticides, that impact not only pest insects but also beneficial insects such as pollinators
• Disease and parasite problems
• Climate change
POLLINATION FUN FACTS
In 2019, the town of Cabot, Vermont passed a Resolution to be declared a Pollinator-Friendly Community, and that the Town encourages adoption of policies and practices that protect and support pollinator health by minimizing the sale and use of insecticides
Bee Population Decline - Explained
Avery Holliday
Sep 29, 2016
Runtime: 1:40
Learn about the interacting ecological factors that are impacting bee populations! Our friend Alison McAffee wrote an article for this episode - Read more about how Genetic Uniformity is interestingly, only a concern for wild bees, not domesticated bees: http://bit.ly/2cEgN5S
Guests
We have some special Guest Speakers to help us with the Pollinator Patch activities.
Guest Beekeeper from Minnetonka Gold Honey
Minnetonka Gold is harvested from apiaries around Lake Minnetonka and the surrounding prairies. Buckwheat Buzz comes from central Minnesota where hundreds of acres of Buckwheat are harvested each year. Both are lightly filtered to remove particles but always raw to bring you the pure essence of nature. Enjoy every spoonful and eat more local raw honey for your health.
This covers Activity 8 below.
Activities
As part of the Pollinator Patch, please complete Activity 7 or 8.
Have fun with your family.
Activity 7 - PLAY THE “BE THE BEE” GAME
Materials Needed:
5 to 10 buckets (or boxes or other similar containers).
Yellow construction paper (10-15 pieces per child).
Chart paper, or other paper to record results.
Timer
Setup
Set the containers around the room to represent flowers. Crunching the paper into balls, place them in the containers to represent pollen (making sure to deposit an equal number of balls into each container).
To Play the Game
1. Tell your group that they are going to be “bees” and when the timer starts, they need to go out and collect “pollen” grains (yellow paper) one at a time and bring them back to the “hive” (your starting line).
2. For the first round, give them 30 seconds and at the end of that time count how much “pollen” they collected and record the results on a piece of chart paper.
3. Return the “pollen” to the “flowers” to their original location. Follow up with a few more rounds demonstrating different factors that may impact pollinator populations. You can choose from the following situations (in any order) or devise your own:
To demonstrate loss of habitat: Explain that a new housing development has been constructed
in your “bees’” habitat and remove half of the “flowers” from the game. Once again give your “bees” 30 seconds to collect as much “pollen” as they can. Add your new count to your chart.
To demonstrate disease and parasite problems: Inform your “bees” that your hive has been
infected with varroa mites. These tiny mites attack the bees and weaken them. If left untreated, the mites can lead to the death of the full colony. Ask half of your 'bees' to sit down and not participate in the next round. Give the remaining 'bees' 30 seconds to collect pollen, but ask that they walk instead of run from the flowers back to the hive. After 30 seconds, record the
amount of 'pollen' collected. You can repeat this with the other half of the group, who were 'impacted by mites', so that all kids get to actively participate in the round.
To demonstrate misuse of chemicals: Tell your “bees” that a local homeowner treated their flowerbeds with a pesticide which killed half of your colony. Ask half of your group to sit down and then give the remaining “bees” 30 seconds to collect “pollen.” Add your results to the chart. You can repeat this round a second time, switching which half of the kids were impacted by the pesticides so that all kids get to actively participate in this round.
4. Compare the results of each round of the “Be the Bee” Game. Talk about each of
the scenarios and discuss how they impacted the bees and the amount of pollen
they were able to collect. Discuss what kind of impact decreasing pollinator
populations might have on our environment and food systems.
Activity 8 - INTERVIEW A BEEKEEPER
People who raise bees in hives are called beekeepers. Invite a local beekeeper to speak to your group and ask them to provide a firsthand account of the life of a honeybee. Request that they also share information about honeybee populations in your area and talk about the challenges they face. Many counties and states have local beekeeper groups you can contact for speaker suggestions or you can use the search function available on the American Beekeeping Federation Website at: www.abfnet.org.
If you are unable to locate a local beekeeper, the US Forest Service has created an online resource titled PollinatorLIVE, which includes a collection of videos your group
may view, at: https://pollinatorlive.pwnet.org/webcasts/index.php.