Subject: Re: One-Straw Revolution
From: pollinator@aol.com (Pollinator)
Organization: AOL http://www.aol.com
Date: Tue, 19 Aug 1997 10:43:01 -0400
Message-ID: <MOD$970819.22855@rec.gardens.ecosystems>
References: <MOD$970806.6297@rec.gardens.ecosystems>


In article <MOD$970806.6297@rec.gardens.ecosystems>, William D Hulet
writes:

> How about no dependence on any artificial imputs? I'm concerned
>about the use of imported pollinators, carnivorous insects, virus sprays,
>and all the other "organic" substitutes for pesticides. In Ontario our
>indigenous ladybugs are getting displaced by imports that people pick up
>at the store; and I keep hearing dire things about the impact that
>imported honey bees are having on our local feral hives and native pollen
>bees.

The biggest problem native bees have is not honey bees, though there is
competition in some cases where resources are scarce. In my experience the
nectar and pollen resources of an area are rarely fully utilized by ANY bee.

The biggest problem for native bees is pesticide misuse. There are
techniques to enhance native pollinators and even to pollinate crops with
them. These techniques are of little value in monoculture. Crops must be in
very small plots, with a lot of interplanting, some areas left wild, etc.

But we are all related. You can do wonderful things to encourage native
pollinators, then your neighbor can (illegally) poison them when they are
working on some blossoms on his property. Property lines are irrelevant to bees.

You have to remember that bees are rarely poisoned at the nest site.
They are poisoned at the flower site, either directly, or by picking up
contaminated food. One application of insecticide while bees are visiting,
can create a large area around it that is barren of pollinators. Honeybees
that are hit with such damage, at least have a human helper to help them
repair and salvage what can be saved. Wild pollinators do not have any aid,
and generally fare much worse.

Honeybees are generalists, who have elaborate systems of communication
to tell each other where the goodies are, and they do get selective when
there is a rich concentrated source, and a less rich or scattered source of
food blooming at the same time. In other words, you may have trouble
getting your kiwifruit pollinated by honeybees, because they yield only a
little pollen and practically no nectar, while the blackberries in the
nearby hedgerow are yielding abundantly. Honeybees prioritize and go to the
blackberries. (We have to trick them into working on the kiwifruit.)

If we left things alone, the pollen resources of the kiwifruit would
not be utilized, and would form a perfect niche for native bees. Native
bees do not necessarily look for the richest sources, they find the
convenient sources. I just wish there were some native bees!

In years of work with this plant, I have only seen an occasional
carpenter bee, and a very few sweat bees. Even though kiwi is not
preferred, the bulk of the pollination is still done by honeybees.

There are many, many similar niche pollen and nectar sources that are
not well utilized by honeybees, simply because they prefer to go to the
blackberries, the clover, the cotton, the goldenrod, and other massive
resources, and ignore many of the minor sources.

And I've often seen even the massive sources not utilized. In western
NY there is a lot of former or fallow farm land that is growing wild and
goldenrod is rampant. There is not a bee alive that doesn't LOVE goldenrod,
and it is the last chance for a good feed before winter for many species.

On a sunny day, I walked between two bee yards that were a half mile
apart. One yard had about sixty hives, the other 35. The areas around the
bees were being intensively worked, but for about a quarter mile in the
middle there were NO honeybees. -And precious few of any other type either.
This is an area where there were still some wild bees left, but they were
distributed so much by the abundance of resources that it seemed like only
a few.

Many of the wild pollinators are specific to one host plant, usually a
wild one, so are of little value to our food crops, though of immmense
value to wildlife in some cases. Their life cycle may only have a couple
weeks in the adult stage, timed to coincide with the bloom of the plant
they favor. There are thousands of species of these wild bees.

Other wild bees are longer lived, and will go to any flower that will
yield food, but they also are not good pollinators of our food crops,
because they are not loyal to one species of plant. Dandelion, mustard, or
henbit pollen is of no value to an apple blossom. With honeybees,
individual workers tend to be loyal to one species (so they are ideal for
apples).

We need to do a lot more study and certainly better protection and
enhancement of our pollinators. It's not hard to find cases of plants that
have been studied extensively, because there may be medicinal properties,
or other economic value to the plant, yet you can ask what are the primary
pollinators, and all you get is a blank look.

The relationship between plants and their pollinators is complex. Some
pollinators are migratory, and they depend on corridors of plants to come
into bloom at the right time for the seasonal migration. Man often disrupts
these corridors with no understanding of the disruption they may cause
hundreds of miles away, by starving pollinators while they are enroute.

Pollination is the one factor least understood by many in our
agricultural system. Pollination management is a course you'll find in only
a handful of universities. Pollination management seeks to enhance, develop
and protect all different kinds of pollinators, recognizing the strengths
and weakness of each, and utilizing them fully in food production for us
and the other creatures that inhabit the earth with us.

A story often told in agricultural circles is the Berkeley "Love-In" in
the '60's, where a "flower child" was asked by a reporter what would happen
if everyone adapted their life style. "Who would feed us?"

She looked at him blankly and said, "Food IS."

Those who know the work involved in food production can rightfully
mock her attitude. But many of the same people are blankly saying,
"Pollination IS."

Pollinator@aol.com Dave Green Hemingway, SC USA
The Pollination Scene http://users.aol.com/pollinator/polpage1.html
Pollinator@aol.com
Dave Green Hemingway, SC USA
Practical Pollination Page
http://users.aol.com/pollinator/polpage1.html