Last Resort: Captive breeding for bee conservation

05/15/20 • 32 min

This week on the podcast we have a story about a last resort in bee conservation. It’s a story about the steps we might need to take to prevent a bee species from winking out of existence for ever. It’s a story about the captive breeding and intentional reintroduction of bees into the wild.
This is an idea I first heard about in my conversation with Sheila Colla a few weeks ago (Episode 4, if you want to check it out). It’s an idea that I’d never heard anyone talk about for bees. But it’s an idea – and a probable future – that we need to be talking about. Because if we want it to be successful, we need to be preparing for it now.
Elaine Evans from the University of Minnesota and Tam Smith from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service join me in this episode and graciously indulge my curiosity.
WEEKLY UPDATE
• Florida’s rare blue bee rediscovered at Lake Wales Ridge (Florida Museum of Natural History) https://bit.ly/3dLXHe9
• Microalgae food for honey bees (USDA) https://bit.ly/2T4Q6zm
• Researchers discover a gene in honey bees that causes virgin birth (University of Sydney) https://bit.ly/3cylRJ7
• Does urbanization homogenize regional biodiversity in native bees? (University of California, Riverside) https://bit.ly/2T6Fosl
GET INVOLVED
• Bumble Bee Watch https://www.bumblebeewatch.org/
• Queen Quest https://www.queenquest.org/
STAY CONNECTED
Subscribe to the Bee Report Podcast. Leave a 5-star rating and review.
Visit TheBeeReport.com to sign up for the weekly newsletter.
Hit me up on Twitter and Instagram @bymattkelly.
Get in touch at [email protected].

Previous Episode

Save the chimney bees! A true story about rescuing native bees

This week on the show I have a story about an effort to rescue a community of native bees in Pennsylvania: Anthophora abrupta. And this story of protection and conservation might seem a little strange to you – because everything seems to go just right.
It's good to be back after a couple weeks spent getting this story ready for you. I certainly had fun doing it. So I hope you enjoy it.
WEEKLY UPDATE
• Virus-infected honey bees more likely to gain entrance to healthy hives (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign) https://bit.ly/2VQ0hK8
• How ‘undertaker’ bees recognize dead comrades (Science) https://bit.ly/35mjjLp
• Endangered Species Act protection sought for Suckley’s cuckoo bumble bee (Center for Biological Diversity) https://bit.ly/2WeVssL
• Honey bees could help monitor fertility loss in insects due to climate change (ScienceDaily/University of British Columbia) https://bit.ly/2xoDM5v
• Minnesota wraps up 30-year biological 'census' (Minnesota Public Radio) https://bit.ly/35le7qP
• Minnesota Biological Survey https://www.dnr.state.mn.us/mbs/index.html
GOT A. ABRUPTA?
Let Mike Slater know. [email protected]
Just a reminder that the Bee Report is now on a biweekly schedule. Next episode in two weeks.
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.

Next Episode

Flowers are like dirty doorknobs: Spreading disease among bees

Thank you very much for allowing me an additional week to work on the many projects I have going on right now, including today’s story for the podcast. Never a dull moment here.
I promised you a story about flowers, pathogens and bees, and that’s exactly what I have to share with you today. I had the incredible good fortune of speaking with both Lynn Adler from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and Laura Figueroa from Cornell University on the exact same day about the role flowers play in spreading disease among bees. It was like binge watching everything we currently know about this aspect of the bee-flower relationship. Lots of information. Very satisfying. And I will do my best to summarize it all in four key points.
Lynn Adler
• Disease where you dine: plant species and floral traits associated with pathogen transmission in bumble bees (2018) https://bit.ly/3h26nzt
• Flowering plant composition shapes pathogen infection intensity and reproduction in bumble bee colonies (2020) https://bit.ly/2z7zUqq
• Science Poetry @Science_Poetry
Laura Figueroa
• Landscape simplification shapes pathogen prevalence in plant-pollinator networks (2020) https://bit.ly/2XE3EVa
WEEKLY UPDATE
#BlackInNature #BlackInSTEM #DiversityInSTEM #BlackEcologists #BlackBirdersWeek
Being black while in nature: 'You’re an endangered species' (The Guardian) https://bit.ly/3gVd7iG
Black Ecologists statement (Twitter @BEcologists) https://bit.ly/2BE2PDv
Why black lives matter to entomology (Entomological Society of America) https://bit.ly/377GwBy
We speak their names: statement of solidarity for racial justice (Xerces Society) https://bit.ly/2A6LyCu
Judge rejects Trump administration attempt to toss endangered species lawsuit (The Hill)
https://bit.ly/3eYQfx5
Trump administration makes major changes to protections for endangered species (NPR) https://n.pr/2UgF3Uy
17 states sue feds over Endangered Species Act rules (AP) https://bit.ly/3dyJUYK
Bees grooming each other can boost colony immunity (EurekAlert/University College of London) https://bit.ly/30cbLdl
Once is enough for long-term memory formation in bees (The Scientist) https://bit.ly/2UihjiV
A call to refocus away from bowl traps and towards more effective methods of bee monitoring (Annals of the Entomological Society of America) https://bit.ly/2XE2V6o
STAY CONNECTED
Subscribe to the Bee Report Podcast. Leave a 5-star rating and review.
Visit TheBeeReport.com to sign up for the weekly newsletter.
Hit me up on Twitter and Instagram @bymattkelly.
Get in touch at [email protected].