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Gardening During COVID-19

GARDENING DURING COVID-19

During this time of uncertainty where we are distancing ourselves from the people and things we love, many of us are searching for something to fill our newfound free time with. One activity that is safe, productive, and a potential blessing to those in your community is to start a garden. The Food Well Alliance website is dedicated to providing you with the resources and ideas to help you get started on your gardening journey. 

ALREADY HAVE A GARDEN?

NEW TO GARDENING?

PLANT A ROW:

The “Plant a Row” movement is a great way for gardeners like you to help spread the gift of fresh fruits and vegetables to those in need within your community. By simply planting an extra row of the fruits/vegetables you are already growing within your garden, you can donate these items to a local soup kitchen or food bank. 

Right now, more families than ever are finding themselves in need of food. Will you consider helping put fresh and nutritious food on the plates of people within your community? 

ATTEND A VIRTUAL GARDEN WORKSHOP:

Not exactly sure how to get started with your garden? The Food Well Alliance organization and the Atlanta Botanical Garden understand that it can sometimes be daunting to start a garden of your own. While they typically hold in-person workshops where hands on instructions are given, this year things are looking a little bit different. 

If you visit the Food Well Alliance website, you will find several videos showing you the tips and tricks of understanding your soil’s characteristics and even how to start seeds in toilet paper rolls! 

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Stop Our Vanishing Insects

IF INSECTS VANISH, THE WORLD VANISHES WITH IT.

THE ARTICLE:

WELCOME BUGS INTO YOUR YARD. YOU MIGHT JUST SAVE THE WORLD

- The Washington Post

A DOOMED WORLD

Photo Credit: Pixabay User(Free-Photos)

Photo Credit: Pixabay User(PIRO4D)

Photo Credit: Pixabay User(Rostichep)

With the rise of modern day issues(urbanization and pesticide use) threatening the conservation of insects(including pollinators), a disaster is likely to occur if no measures are taken. While many scenarios can unfold, the worst of these will include the vanishing of almost all animals, including humans. 
Though you may be surprised to hear, the solution to preventing this scenario is you! If you are a landowner, you can take part in 4 at home activities recognized by The Washington Post that will help save our planet:

SAVE OUR INSECTS

1. BEGONE LAWN!

While many take pride in the vast amount of green grass within their lawns, it is actually not very conducive to supporting pollinators and can cause a range of environmental issues. Instead, try keeping the amount of grass you have to a minimum. 

2. INVASIVE PLANTS

Have you taken a look around your yard recently? If not, you may be unaware of any invasive or non-native plant species that are calling your lawn their home! If you do come across any plants that fall into either one of these categories, it is best to remove them and replace them with non-invasive native species. According to the article, native plants alone can beneficial to over 100 times more insects than non-native plants! 

3. POLLINATOR GARDENS

In addition to any garden that you may have now, it is always beneficial to start your own pollinator garden. With our expanding cities destroying critical pollinator habitats, we can utilize pollinator gardens to help rebuild their homes and resupply their food. 

4. MAKE THE SWITCH

While everyone strives to buy the new white LED light bulbs, you can stand out from the crowd and use the more insect friendly yellow LED bulb. This article explains that white light has negative consequences to beneficial insects while yellow light is much less harmful to their well-being.

To read all the information contained within the article, click HERE

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Pollinators and Pterodactyls

POLLINATORS AND PTERODACTYLS

Can you think of something that connects both pollinators and pterodactyls? Are you stumped yet? Well, keep reading to find out the answer! 

A DISCOVERY WAS MADE

On November 11, 2019, a research article by Tong Bao, Bo Wang, Jianguo Li, and David Dilcher was published. During their excursion to Myanmar, an exciting discovery was made in one of the most unusual and remote places; deep within a mine.

THE FOSSIL THAT CHANGED EVERYTHING

Within the mine, the researchers discovered a tiny beetle trapped within amber, perfectly fossilized. After getting the chance to analyze the amber, it was found that this small beetle(A. burmitina) is actually 99 million years old and that it was trapped alongside pollen grains from an old angiosperm. This was a major discovery for the team and for the world of pollinators as it pushed back the date of the first recorded pollinator approximately 50 million years! 

THE CONNECTION TO PTERODACTYLS

So, what connects pollinators and pterodactyls….the time period in which they both lived in! Going back 99 million years, into the mid-Cretaceous period, the first pollinator made its appearance and is now known to have shared the skies with the pterodactyl. Other well known animals to share the land with the first pollinator were the Tyrannosaurus Rex and Velociraptors. 

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Georgia Pollinator Census

THE GREAT GEORGIA POLLINATOR CENSUS

It is likely that you have heard of the census that takes place every 10 years within the United States. Typically, it is used in order to gain information such as the age, gender, and race of individuals living in a household. You may not know, however, that there is a new type of census that only happens in Georgia and its mission is solely dedicated to understanding pollinators!

WHO STARTED THE CENSUS?

The Great Georgia Pollinator Census is run through an extension of the University of Georgia. 

WHEN IS THE CENSUS?

For the first 2019 census year, data was collected and sent into the organization on August 23rd and 24th. If you missed out on this awesome opportunity, don’t fret! Unlike the normal 10 year census, the Great Georgia Pollinator Census looks to collect data during the 2020 year as well. While we are currently living in times of uncertainty with COVID-19, the census will continue and they encourage you to observe the pollinators right in your own backyard. This year they are looking for the data collection process to occur on August 21 & August 22, 2020. 

WHAT WERE THE RESULTS OF LAST YEARS STUDY?:

According to their website, a staggering 133,963 insect visits were documented in over 133 counties within the state of Georgia! While a detailed overview has not yet been created, you can visit their website for an overview on what went into the process. 

VISIT THE WEBSITE

Website Link: https://ggapc.org/

  • Learn about who can take part in the survey(hint: Just about everyone!)
  •  Take a look at their provided booklet if you are interested in next year’s census!
  •  Are you an educator? If so, the organization provides great lesson plans to engage your students in a captivating STEM subject! 
  •  Learn how to create pollinator nesting boxes! 
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Fall Internship 2018

The Conservation and Research Department at the Atlanta Botanical garden hosted three Georgia Tech interns Autumn 2018. We chose one intern to survey pollinator gardens that were established in coordination with Park Pride in 2017, to start a baseline data on the native bees in City Parks. 

Emma Horne is a Georgia Tech Biology major student who spend three months working on a small native bee survey. Emma, started collecting samples from Vine City Park and Linsday Street Park, where we have established pollinator gardens but some of the plants were destroyed. Sadly, she had to move onto another City Park due to people vandalizing the experiment at one park. 

Following a survey protocol using pan trapping and netting, at both Lindsay Street Park and Grove Park, Emma collected a total of 49 bee specimens belonging to three bee families. 57% of the specimens were in the Apidae family, 41% Halictidae and 2% Colletidae family, with only one specimen collected. 

The highest occurring genus was Ceratina sp. Even though this was a small sampling, Emma was able to research on the plant species established at the pollinator gardens at each park. She concluded that 83% of the bee genera found corresponding to the plant species established at each pollinator garden at the parks, had data on recurring bee species visiting those plant species, so check out this blog https://gapp.org/2017/04/28/new-pollinator-gardens-in-metro-atlanta/  This is very important because even though establishing pollinator gardens is not a fix for pollinator decline it aides to our local pollinators like native bees occurring in the Atlanta Metro area to keep reproducing. 

Emma is currently at the University Of Otago in New Zeland learning about Biogeography of the country and about Conservation groups. She shared some beautiful photos of bees from the Dunedin Botanic Garden in New Zealand!

Bombus terrestris foraging on hebe, a native evergreen perennial shrub from New Zealand

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Continous work and education at Pollinator Gardens.

Even though ‘Pollinators in Parks’ has come to an end, our commitment to protect and conserve pollinators and their habitats in the city continues. The five pollinator gardens are now in the community hands to make them thrive. We will be in constant communication with each community garden to monitor their progress throughout the year.

In the meantime, we have done some work at Lindsay Street Park and Blue Heron and we want to tell you all about it!

Park Pride Volunteer Manager John Ahern, the Atlanta Botanical Garden, Ed Castro Landscaping and Urban Greenscapes came together to have a work day at Linsday Street Park. We coordinated with the ‘Friends of Linsday Street’ to have the community involved and to teach them to differentiate weeds from natives in the bioswale, rain garden, and pollinator garden.

 

 

Another great work day happened two weeks after: an educational morning with kids from Peace Preparatory Academy, located in northwest Atlanta. Peace prep is a small elementary school that uses Expeditionary learning a model that engages students “in intensive workshop based instruction for reading, writing, and math, and field experiences for science and social studies”.

The kids from peace prep learned about how the rain garden and pollinator garden connect with providing habitat for natives bees and other insect pollinators. We did a catch and release exercise, showed them how to use an entomological net and how to get the insects into little plastic vials. After my ‘awesome one day pupils’ caught a carpenter bee and a hornet! They observe differences between the two specimens and got a lot of questions!

Blue Heron Nature Preserve and Community Garden suffered two flooding events in 2017, most of the pollinator suitable plants did not make it, so we had to find other plants that were a bit stronger in case of another flood. On April 21st, Park Pride, Blue Heron volunteers and myself (as always representing ABG), met at the garden to plant the species below.

 

 

Amsonia tabernaemontana, Asclepias incarnata ssp. incarnata, Iris brevicaulis, Chelone glabra, Elymus riparius, Monarda punctata, Liatris spicata, Zizia aurea

We were able to knock these out in a couple hours including spreading some mulch. Hopefully, these species will last if another flood happens!

It is very important that we search and identify institutions and organizations that are doing work related to pollinator habitat conservation and protection so the conservation work can be streigthen and repetition avoided, especially when certain insect pollinators are endangered and sampling should be minimized.

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GAPP at the X Mesoamerican Conference on Native Bees

The tenth Mesoamerican Conference on Native Bees was held at the Antigua Guatemala, Guatemala. The Conference was organized by the University of San Carlos of Guatemala (USAC) and the Center for Conservation Studies (CECON) which is a scientific research institute of USAC.

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Inaugural speech by the Conference Principal Coordinator Dr. Eunice Enríquez

 

The conference was divided into two parts: three days of classes and two days of lectures, poster exhibit, and vendors. I attended the class ‘Bee genetics’ instructed by Michelle Duennes (University of California Riverside) and Oscar Martinez (ECOSUR).

The Conference had so many exciting lectures, but sadly like in any other conference, sadly I couldn´t materialize myself into several Melinas through time and space at the same time! Or did I…

However, I will highlight and share with you the most critical information and data that can be compared with native bee fauna we have in Atlanta. Furthermore, I will tell you how GAPP was received at the Conference!

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Bee Genetics class! With participants from Mexico, Honduras, Guatemala, Chile, and the US.

At this point in the game against time trying to help animal and plant species to survive anthropogenic changes to the environment, we know that fauna studies are vital to understanding relationships and interactions between species and their distribution patterns. Most plant and animal species are population indicators on ecosystems health, especially insects. But we also know that at some point we have to stop taking and start conserving by protecting species.

This particular Conference has a unique characteristic that not many scientific oriented conferences have; it encourages and has a specific space for community projects, citizen science and rural and local knowledge on the management of the stingless bee. Stingless bees or commonly known as Meliponinos are native social bee species from southern Mexico, Central America and South America, Southeast Asia, Africa and Australia. Notably, in the Mesoamerican region (a cultural area that goes from central Mexico through Belize, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua and Northern Costa Rica), management of meliponinos has a robust prehispanic heritage and importance. It has roots in the prehispanic cultures that thrived before the Spanish conquest. One of those Civilizations were the Mayan, who had an intrinsic and spiritual connection to the management of this bee species.

 

Terry Griswold, the first lecturer, opened the Conference talking about the “idea” that bee species increases if you go to the tropics, saying its a myth! And it has been proven over the years that bee richness and endemism are more prolific in the cold climate deserts of the world. North America has approximately 5,100 native bee species, with 176 genera, evenly divided among 6 families. Several other lecturers mentioned the importance of museum collections that should be open to the public, and how researchers have an obligation of reviewing these collections before starting a new research project.

Worldwide, several solitary bee species have been managed for crop pollination. Currently, most of this species have not had any substantial issues like Apis mellifera with CCD (Colony Collapse Disorder). But, the problems have been that some of these solitary bee species are introduced to other countries for greenhouse pollination and end up scaping the greenhouse and becoming naturalized; but it is not known if they can become a pest.  One example of this is the introduction of Bombus impatiens. This bumblebee species is native to the US and very common in Georgia. it was introduced to Mexico for tomato pollination, and it escaped. Currently, it can be found naturalized in some areas, and it can become a problem, transmitting pathogens and competing for floral resources with native bee species.

Bee species Characteristics Pollinating Crops
Nomia melanderi Alkali bee, solitary native bee alfalfa
Megachile rotundata Leafcutter Solitary bee from Eurasia Alfalfa and greenhouse crop pollination like tomatoes
Osmia lignaria Native from North America Orchard pollination
Osmia cornuta Introduce from Europe Apple, pear orchards
Osmia bicornis Red mason bee Apple orchard
Osmia cornifrons Horned-face bee, a native of Northern Asia, diurnal species. Fruit crops
Xylocopa mordax Native of Dominican Republic tomatoes
Xylocopa frontalis Native of Brasil Pecan and maracuya
Trigona biroii Native of Philipines mango
Tetragonula carbonaria Sugarbag bee, Native of Australia macadamia

The State of Veracruz in Mexico is the third state with the highest floristic richness in the Mountain Mesophyll Forest (oak-pine and acahual humid forest). This habitat has approximately 65 hectares (160.6 acres) left in the state. A native bee survey was conducted in two zones of this habitat. 743 specimens were collected with 71 species identified into 5 families. Several sampling techniques were used. So, this blew my mind! Let me tell you why. In 2011 one of the 16 units that encompasses the Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area. 937 specimens were collected and 79 species identified, with 8 new State records, using only one sampling technique. Can you see what I see?!!! The Cochran Shoals unit is surrounded by metro Atlanta, and we know this city is one of the fastest growing cities in the US. Nevertheless, we have an incredible native bee fauna richness that needs to be protected.

Another project that was really interesting was done at the José Celestino Mutis Botanical Garden in Bogotá, Colombia. They did a bee inventory of the garden and found 98 native bee species. This Botanical Garden serves as a recreation and research center, especially for Andean and Páramo ecosystems. This is really interesting because it gives us an opportunity to make a future comparison with the Atlanta Botanical Garden, where we will be doing a survey this Spring!

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Last but not least, GAPP was received very enthusiastically by the people who attended the lecture. At the end of the Conference, there was a type of roundtable discussion with three researchers at the table and all attendees listening and ready to participate. Two people mentioned we needed to expand our horizons and follow the lead of the GAPP lecture! Chills!

It was discussed that a platform like GAPP is a good idea to reach and educate about Meliponinos management and culture, but also for the rest of the native bee species. Furthermore, as the Mesoamerican Conference, we needed to change the name to something more representative because we had participants from all over the world. We will be keeping in touch with our counterparts in Guatemala and making the world a better and safer place for bees and all pollinators.

 

 

 

 

 

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Butterfly State record count at Panola Mountain State Park

The Monastery of the Holy Spirit, Davidson-Arabia Mountain, Panola Mountain Butterfly Count through North American Butterfly Association- NABA took place August 10, 2017. These three areas are part of the Region 16 – South Atlantic that encompasses Georgia, North Carolina, and South Carolina.

The Panola Mountain State Park team had a party of four which included Dave Hadeen, Meredith Mays, Susan Meyers, and Phil Delestrez. The party started counting butterfly sightings at 9:30 am on a five-mile stretch area,  with a temperature of 78 degrees to 94 degrees Fahrenheit (25.5 to 36. 6 Celsius) from 9:30 am to 5:32 pm, wind increase of 1 mph SSW to 6 mph. Keeping track of weather data is essential because insects pollinators, like butterflies, can only forage in certain weather conditions.

This butterfly count breaks the previous State records of 64 species in 2010 and 66 species set at the Piedmont area the same year. According to Harry LeGrand and  Fr. Frances Michael, “the numbers and species had been low leading up to the count,” so this was a pleasant surprise. This Summer has been unusually rainy, with continuous days of forecast and thunderstorms. Nevertheless, the areas in the count are dedicated to protect, understand, and improve a variety of habitat types.

This small survey granted 69 butterfly species and just Panola Mt State Park had 47 in the total count, you can see all information here DATA. Also, you can read the Butterfly count. 

According to the report, only the Giant Swallowtail (Papilio cresphontes) was a new record for the count; this species’ preferred habitat is rocky and sandy exposed hillsides near streams or gullies in the north; and pine flatwoods, towns, and citrus groves in the South. The Dion Skipper (Euphyes dion) and Dainty Sulphur (Nathalis iole) were present at the Park, and these two species are pretty rare for this area of Georgia.

From the count at the Monastery area, two species were observed, which are really rare to find and having them as part of this count was a special treat, the Bell’s roadside-skipper (Amblyscirtes belli) and lace-winged roadside skipper (Amblyscirtes nysa).

In the Davison-Arabia Moutain area, another very rare butterfly was observed, the Cofaqui Giant Skipper (Megathymus cofaqui), this butterfly species was even very uncommon to see in the early 19th Century, and were confused with moths.

According to Mike Chapman, “the Piedmont and the Monastery counts were two of the leaders in the Southeastern U. S” for this year, 2017. This is great news for the Region, and we hope the butterfly counts keep going up. Nevertheless, it’s important to mention that most of the rare butterfly sightings are species which are threatened in their ranges and must be conserved if found.

 

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Bee City Atlanta & GAPP in the news

Recently in the pollinator world in Atlanta, we have two news stories to share with you.

The Major’s Office of Resilience Urban Agriculture Director Mario Cambardella and his team organized a total of seven community meetings with 60+ community members and other Institutions. These included the Atlanta Botanical Garden, Zoo Atlanta, Captain Planet Foundation, the Atlanta Community Foodbank, The Metro Atlanta Beekeepers Association, to discuss a plan to make Atlanta an affiliate for the Bee City USA.

Bee City USA is an initiative that started in Asheville, NC and became a national program in June 2013. Bee City ”encourages city leaders to celebrate and raise awareness of the contribution bees and other pollinators make to our world” it also helps municipalities to coordinate educational efforts by networking and sharing information with the community.

At each meeting, attendees were organized into subcommittees to discussed which points will be important to highlight the document to present to City Council.

Benefits for the Bee Atlanta Resolution can be read at Action Items Bee City Atlanta and the action plan here Bee City Atlanta Resolution. You can also visit the Facebook page Bee City Atlanta for updates.

The next good news is the USDA-Forest Service site recently posted a short article about GAPP in their Celebrating Wildflowers news. Once you are there scroll down to the article title Atlanta Residents welcome pollinators to their urban gardens and click on the read more about GAPP, or you can click here GAPP in the news.

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National Native Bee Monitoring plan

The National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) organized a Listening Session to discuss a plan to monitor native bees in the US.  The meeting was held in Washington DC in the USDA South Building Café Conference Center and broadcasted via Webinar.
 
On June 28, from 8 to 11 am, several Universities, beekeeper associations and other environmental agencies from all over the country participated in this session, but attendance was low and finished earlier than what was expected.
 
Here is just a list of key points that were mentioned and are important to consider to plan for a National Monitoring Strategy for native bees.
 
  • Collection and use of data have a better model. USDA guidelines
  • USDA to propose guidelines for collection and use of data
  • Data collection needs to be robust,  continuous, and id all specimens to species
  • Bee-plant interaction needs to be understood better
  • 100 radius Honey Bees can starve native bees if there are not enough resources
  • Future of food production
  • Native plant community is essential
  • Botanical data need to be available
  • Identify prolific bees by region
  • Pesticide regulation is failing, keeping poisonous products in the market
  • Understand bee cycles better to use in agricultural crops
  • Increase taxonomic expertise
  • There is more knowledge on Bombus species than any other natives
  • Understanding diseases,  fungus, pests on native bees
  • Understanding invasive non-native bee species
  • Improve conservation efforts once data is available
  • Abundance, identity, and species richness
  • Will standardized sampling help with better data?
  • Climate change is a significant factor in decline of native bees in cities
  • Increasing Honey bee colonies in Cities can push out native bees species we do not know about yet.
According to NIFA, the frequently reported factors responsible for pollinator insect decline (in this case native bees) include: invasive pest, parasites, and diseases increased exposure to pesticides, pollutants or toxins; nutritional deficits, extreme weather events; agricultural intensification and habitat loss; reduced genetic diversity, and changes in pollinator or crop management practices.
 
 Please send your comments to andrew.p.clark@nifa.usda.gov before July 7, and be alert on any news on this topic at NIFA.