Kristen Brochu: The noxious relationship between pumpkin pollen and bumble bees

04/10/20 • 47 min

This week on the podcast I'm joined by Kristen Brochu, a postdoctoral researcher at Penn State University. We discuss her recently published work about how harmful pumpkin and squash pollen is for bumble bees. But why is this? And what exactly can we learn from this? Kristen and I talk about what we currently know (and don't know) about bee nutrition, and how understanding species-specific nutritional needs could be another tool for assessing which bees are at the greatest risk in our climate-changing, urbanizing world.
Kristen Brochu:
• Pollen defenses negatively impact foraging and fitness in a generalist bee (Bombus impatiens: Apidae) https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-58274-2
• Twitter @bugAdvocate
• Instagram @bugAdvocate
• Website https://www.kristenbrochu.com/
WEEKLY UPDATE
• What is the Asian hornet invasion going to cost Europe? (EurekAlert/Pensoft Publishers) https://bit.ly/2UWUBxv
• WSU scientists enlist citizens in hunt for giant, bee-killing hornet (Washington State University) https://bit.ly/3edk2Cn
• Photographing insects in the field: basic tips for success (Entomology Today) https://bit.ly/39YhFQG
• Small subject matter, big impact! (Australian Geographic) https://bit.ly/2JW3pgN
SURVEY RESULTS
• Has the novel coronavirus affected the research you had planned for this year? https://bit.ly/39XjwoL
Please subscribe to the Bee Report Podcast. Leave a 5-star rating and review. And visit TheBeeReport.com to sign up for the newsletter to stay connected to the world of bees.
Thoughts, questions or comments? Get in touch at [email protected].

Previous Episode

Scott McArt: A discussion of recent news stories about pesticides and bee health

This week on the podcast I am joined by Scott McArt, assistant professor of pollinator health in the department of entomology at Cornell University. He and I discuss three recent news stories about pesticides and bee health. We break down the stories and get Scott's expert thoughts, opinions and insights on the issues.
Scott also gives us his Top Three List of the most important things that the public and policy makers should keep in mind about bees and pesticides.
Scott McArt:
• Website http://blogs.cornell.edu/mcartlab/
• Facebook https://www.facebook.com/DyceLab/
• Twitter @McArtLab
WEEKLY UPDATE
• Invest in pollinator monitoring for long-term gain (The Niche) https://bit.ly/2x0fFdh

• New Mexico unveils 'pollinator protection' license plate (Santa Fe New Mexican) https://bit.ly/3ayWA0e

• How animals understand numbers influences their chance of survival (EurekAlert/Cell Press) https://bit.ly/3bOGVua

• Rolled cardboard makes a handy insect-sampling tool (Entomology Today) https://bit.ly/3436epo
DISCUSSION
• Letter from the California Attorney General to the EPA regarding flonicamid https://bit.ly/2R6DWVQ
• A new pesticide is all the buzz (Ars Technica) https://bit.ly/2UD9Z1J
• The playbook for poisoning the Earth (The Intercept) https://bit.ly/2JC9Sgw
SURVEY
Has the novel coronavirus or any of the societal responses to the virus affected the research you have planned for this year? https://thebeereport.com/bee-report-survey/
Please subscribe to the Bee Report Podcast. Leave a 5-star rating and review. And visit TheBeeReport.com to sign up for the newsletter to stay connected to the world of bees.
Thoughts, questions or comments? Get in touch at [email protected].

Next Episode

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.
Zach Portman:
• Twitter @zachportman
WEEKLY UPDATE
• Coronavirus may prove boost for UK's bees and rare wildflowers (The Guardian) https://bit.ly/2VBeCZt
• Traffic and pollution plummet as U.S. cities shut down for coronavirus (New York Times) https://nyti.ms/34K4aTJ
• 5 lessons from coronavirus that will help us tackle climate change (Time) https://bit.ly/3cnWWap
• Some flowers have learned to bounce back after injury (EurekAlert/University of Portsmouth) https://bit.ly/3ewabaU
• Bees in Fiji point to new evolutionary answers (EurekAlert/Flinders University) https://bit.ly/3bsr2tD
• German museum looking for citizen scientists to help make bee collection accessible online (Museum für Naturkunde) https://bit.ly/3bca966
BEES OF GSENM
• The Bees of Grand Staircase-Escalante https://beesofgsenm.com/
Hit me up on Twitter and Instagram @bymattkelly
Get in touch at [email protected]
Please subscribe to the Bee Report Podcast. Leave a 5-star rating and review. And visit TheBeeReport.com to sign up for the newsletter to stay connected to the world of bees.