Bee Appreciation with the Somerset County 4-H Garden and Bee Club

 

Bee Appreciation with the Somerset County 4-H Garden and Bee Club

Written by Kristine Manganelli (Somerset County 4-H Coordinator)

Bumblebee on Lambs Eat Bumble Bee Bees

It wouldn’t be National Pollinator Week, without a celebration of the magnificent bee! Lately, the Lamb’s Ear in my garden is visited all day long by bees. Every time I look, bumble bees are gently landing on the tiny purple flowers for a moment before flitting to the next tiny purple flower. They are definitely “busy bees,” and it got me wondering what exactly they are up to.

There are about 30,000 species of bees worldwide, 300 of which are found in New Jersey including the non-native honey bee. Honey bees were brought to the United States with colonists in the 1600’s, and have become integral to our system of agriculture. Honey bees are raised by humans for the purpose of pollinating crops or honey and wax production.

Although non-native, honey bees are not invasive, so they do not have a negative impact on native bee species. It is important to protect honey bees and all bee species. Native bees continue to pollinate in cold or inclement weather, and are active for longer periods throughout the day when honey bees tend to stay in their hives. Together, along with other pollinators, they are responsible for producing 1 out of every 3 bites of food we eat. In fact, they pollinate over 1200 different crops. Bees are especially important to the blueberry and cranberry production in New Jersey.

Pollination is how 75-95% of flowering plants on earth reproduce. This occurs when a pollen grain moves from the anther (male part of a flower) to the stigma (female part of the flower). This can happen naturally through wind or water movement, however a majority of pollination is completed by pollinators such as bees, birds, bats, butterflies, and beetles that carry pollen from flower to flower as they forage for food. Mutualism is teamwork between organisms; in exchange for pollination, flowers provide pollinators food in the form of nectar and pollen.

Their incredible eyesight makes bees particularly effective pollinators. They have compound eyes made of thousands of tiny lenses. This gives bees the ability to expertly judge distance and depth, distinguish colors at high speeds, and see colors that humans cannot. Both human and bee eyes are trichromatic, meaning they have 3 photoreceptors on which their color combinations are based. Human photoreceptors base their color combinations on red, blue, and green allowing us to see a rainbow of colors: ROY G BIV or Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, and Violet.

Bees base their colors on green, blue and ultraviolet light. They cannot see the color red since they do not have a photoreceptor for it, but they have the ability to see further on the color spectrum than humans, with the ability to detect ultraviolet light. They can even see “bee’s purple,” a combination of yellow and ultraviolet light. In addition to attracting bees with bright colors, many flower petals have ultraviolet patterns similar to a “bulls eye” that guides the bee to nectar and pollen in the center, some invisible to the human eye.

Honey Bee Covered in Pollen

Honey Bee Covered in Pollen

A post about bees would not be complete without a look into our very own honey bee hives! The Somerset County 4-H Garden & Bee club is led by two of our amazing volunteers Adele Barree and Sue McCombie. This is a club with a dual-project where members take care of beehives, as well as plant, grow, and harvest from a community garden. Both the bee yard and garden are located at our center.

The club has equipment and bee suits for members to work closely and safely in the bee yard. Members even extract honey from the hives to sell at different events as a fundraiser for the club (including our Rummage Sale and Festival of Trees). As the partnership between honey bees and our food supply is of utmost importance, club members learn the connection between bees and the garden. This is illustrated in the summer when honey bees can be seen pollinating and snacking on sunflowers and squash blossoms in the garden.

Adele is a wealth of knowledge when it comes to raising bees, and I was lucky enough to have a discussion with her about these amazing creatures. In 2016, the club established 2 honey bee hives at the center. About a year later the club was alerted that one of their hives had swarmed on a nearby tree. Healthy hives will naturally “swarm” when a fraction of the colony leaves if it becomes too crowded. The colony swarms while worker bees scout out a new location for a hive. Luckily, the club was able to capture the swarm and now have 3 hives in their yard. You can distinguish the newest “daughter” hive because of its rainbow paint.

The Somerset County 4-H Garden and Bee Club’s Newest Hive

The Somerset County 4-H Garden and Bee Club’s Newest Hive

Adele described the inner workings of honey bee hives. Honey bees are cooperative organisms, working together for a shared outcome. A hive consists of up to 1,000 male drone bees existing only to procreate, tens of thousands of female worker bees, and one queen bee. A queen bee is formed when worker bees nourish a new queen from the old queen’s egg. Queen bees lay both unfertilized and fertilized eggs. Unfertilized eggs will become drones, but fertilized eggs have the potential to become a worker bee or a queen bee. Mature worker bees feed both types of larvae a substance called royal jelly for the first four days of life. After day 4, workers are switched to a diet of honey and pollen while the sole queen bee larva is fed royal jelly for the remainder of her development.

This difference in diet leads to a sexually mature female (worker bees cannot reproduce) who will spend her whole life being taken care of in the hive, laying eggs. When she is old or dies, a new queen is formed using the same process. Worker bees have other jobs besides raising babies, they also gather nectar and pollen to provide for the hive. Honey bees get carbohydrates from the nectar and use it to make honey. The pollen is full of protein and when the queen sees the hive is rich in pollen, she is encouraged to reproduce because she knows there is enough food.

When it comes to locating pollen and nectar, honey bees perform a “Waggle Dance” for other worker bees in order to communicate locations of the best flower resources. Based on circular patterns and lines paired with wagging motions, the dance informs bees of distance and direction from the hive. The bee also communicates using scent from the hive and even regurgitates a sample of the nectar so they can remember the specific taste. The dance and sensory clues direct the worker bees to the highest producing flowers. To learn more and play a fun, educational game, visit The Way of the Waggle Dance by Arizona State University.

Unfortunately, most bee species populations are in decline. Factors include colony loss caused by disease, pesticides with "neonicotinoids,” loss of habitat, and climate change. Honey bees are specifically vulnerable to native parasites that do not affect native bees.

What you can do to protect bees: Any action you take will protect all species of bees, as well as other insects and pollinators!

  • Join the Somerset County 4-H Garden & Bee club (Check to see if they are accepting new members first!)

  • Educate your family and friends about the importance of bees and pollinators

  • Support your local farmers. They often support honey bees by including hives on their property to improve pollination of crops

  • Create a bee habitat:

    • Keep the “weeds”! When possible, leave plants like clover and dandelion in your lawn and yard. These are actually a popular source of pollen and nectar for bees

    • Plant a bee garden: Entering your zip code here will direct you to the perfect plants that attract bees into your garden. This site ran by Rutgers, considers factors including geographic location, sun exposure, and soil types

    • Supply clean water for thirsty bees: Bees need to drink water because they do not get it from food. Fill a shallow bowl with water and stones or marbles for bees to land on. (Change water often to prevent mosquitos)

 
Somerset County 4-H