Bees / en First signs of spring: U of T beekeepers unwrap their hives /news/first-signs-spring-u-t-beekeepers-unwrap-their-hives <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">First signs of spring: U of T beekeepers unwrap their hives</span> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span>geoff.vendeville</span></span> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"><time datetime="2017-04-21T12:13:03-04:00" title="Friday, April 21, 2017 - 12:13" class="datetime">Fri, 04/21/2017 - 12:13</time> </span> <div class="field field--name-field-youtube field--type-youtube field--label-hidden field__item"><figure class="youtube-container"> <iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/DKJw-HMOvwU?wmode=opaque" width="450" height="315" id="youtube-field-player" class="youtube-field-player" title="Embedded video for First signs of spring: U of T beekeepers unwrap their hives" aria-label="Embedded video for First signs of spring: U of T beekeepers unwrap their hives: https://www.youtube.com/embed/DKJw-HMOvwU?wmode=opaque" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> </figure> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-reporters field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/authors-reporters/geoffrey-vendeville" hreflang="en">Geoffrey Vendeville</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-legacy field--type-string field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Author legacy</div> <div class="field__item">Geoffrey Vendeville</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-topic field--type-entity-reference field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Topic</div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/topics/city-culture" hreflang="en">City &amp; Culture</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-story-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/bees" hreflang="en">Bees</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/students" hreflang="en">Students</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/clubs" hreflang="en">Clubs</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-subheadline field--type-string-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Subheadline</div> <div class="field__item">U of T student beekeepers do it for the love of bees, not just the honey, says the club's co-president</div> </div> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>Students cramming for finals aren't the only busy bees on campus.</p> <p>A few storeys above the Trinity College quad, hives cared for by the student-run <u><a href="http://uoftbees.wixsite.com/uoftbees">U of T Beekeeping Education Enthusiast Society</a></u> are already humming with activity&nbsp;– a sure sign of spring.</p> <p>On a sunny April&nbsp;day,<strong> Laura Curran</strong>, co-president of U of T BEES, and fellow club member <strong>Tineke Kruytbosch&nbsp;</strong>climbed two flights of stairs and a narrow ladder to access the roof and check on their Italian honeybees&nbsp;for the first time since the winter, when the bees went into a&nbsp;semi-slumber.&nbsp;</p> <p>Curran was a tad nervous. Last fall, hives on top of the ivy-covered Faculty Club on Wilcocks Street&nbsp;fell prey to American foulbrood, an incurable and highly contagious disease, which in Curran's words&nbsp;“turns the brood to soup and destroys the hive.”&nbsp;</p> <h3><a href="https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2015/07/07/students-abuzz-about-urban-beekeeping.html">Read more about U of T BEES in the Toronto Star&nbsp;</a></h3> <p>Any worries about the safety of the Trinity colony disappeared when the students saw the hives teeming with life. Bees zipped in and out of their nests, some carrying pollen.</p> <p><img alt="A bee returns to the hive" class="media-image attr__typeof__foaf:Image img__fid__4280 img__view_mode__media_original attr__format__media_original" src="/sites/default/files/Hive%20%28for%20web%20embed%29.jpg" style="width: 750px; height: 500px; margin: 10px;" typeof="foaf:Image"><br> <em>A bee returns home. The hive is sealed in a “bee cozy”&nbsp;for the winter (photo by Geoffrey Vendeville)</em></p> <p>Kruytbosch,&nbsp;the new manager of the Trinity hives, was excited to remove the&nbsp;reflective “bee cozies,” which keep the bees warm&nbsp;for the winter.&nbsp;</p> <p>“It's kind of like opening a present,”&nbsp;she said.&nbsp;</p> <p>She and Curran slipped on gloves,&nbsp;“ super trendy”&nbsp;head-to-ankle protective suits with a netted veil and approached the hives from the side, staying out of the bees' way.</p> <p><img alt="Laura Currin holds a hive frame" class="media-image attr__typeof__foaf:Image img__fid__4281 img__view_mode__media_original attr__format__media_original" src="/sites/default/files/Laura%20%28for%20web%20embed%29.jpg" style="width: 750px; height: 500px; margin: 10px;" typeof="foaf:Image"><br> <em>Curran, a second-year student in environmental sciences and forest conservation, points to a hive frame (photo by Geoffrey Vendeville)</em></p> <p>Although the bees aren't usually aggressive, Curran has been stung four times&nbsp;– on her ankle, leg and elbow. Kruytbosch has never been stung.&nbsp;</p> <h3><a href="https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2016/02/26/toronto-could-become-first-canadian-bee-city.html">Read about U of T BEES in Metro</a></h3> <p>“You think you're going to be stung because that's what you're told your whole life – bees sting. Right?” she said. “But once you realize you're really safe in the bee suit, it's actually really nice to just observe them. It's meditative.”</p> <p>The students gently removed the cozies&nbsp;and used a bee smoker&nbsp;&nbsp;– a small, metalic device with hand-held bellows&nbsp;– to pump smoke into the hives in order to calm the colony before peeking inside.</p> <p><img alt="Picture of Laura Curran smoking the bees" class="media-image attr__typeof__foaf:Image img__fid__4282 img__view_mode__media_original attr__format__media_original" src="/sites/default/files/Smoker%202%20%28for%20web%20embed%29.jpg" style="width: 750px; height: 422px; margin: 10px;" typeof="foaf:Image"><br> <em>Curran and Kruytbosch&nbsp;</em><em>smoke the bees to calm them down (photo by Lisa Lightbourn)</em></p> <p>Two of the three hives were alive and well, but one didn't last through winter – probably because it didn't get enough sun, Curran guessed. The students are planning to transplant a “nuc”&nbsp;colony, which is short for “nucleus,”&nbsp;to replace the dead colony.</p> <p>In the fall, the students will gather honey from the hives if there is a surplus. But more often than not, they leave the honey for the bees so that they can sustain themselves over the winter.</p> <p>“We don't care about the honey production so much,”&nbsp;Curran said. “The club is for promoting pollination and trying to help the bees survive a little better.”</p> <p><u><a href="http://utsccommons.utsc.utoronto.ca/fall-2016/field/dont-believe-buzz"><strong>Scott MacIvor</strong>, an assistant professor of urban ecology at U of T Scarborough, says one of the best ways to help&nbsp;bees is by becoming a gardener</a></u><a href="http://utsccommons.utsc.utoronto.ca/fall-2016/field/dont-believe-buzz">.</a></p> <p>“Honeybees are domesticated&nbsp;like cows and sheep, and compete with wild native bees for food,”&nbsp;he said. “Cities are increasingly shown to be hotspots for wild native bees (more than 300 species in the GTA, 92 per cent are native), and so encouraging hobby beekeeping might have a negative impact.</p> <p>“On the other hand, honeybees can be a ‘gateway’&nbsp;bee to finding out about the needs of all bees and other pollinators. Participating in clubs where groups share responsibilities and learn is far better than individuals each having their own hive(s),”&nbsp;he added.&nbsp;</p> <h3><u><a href="http://ose.utsc.utoronto.ca/ose/story.php?id=8469">Read a Q &amp; A with MacIvor on wild bees</a></u></h3> <p>Professor <u><a href="http://forestry.utoronto.ca/smith-s-m/"><strong>Sandy Smith</strong></a></u>, an entomologist in the Faculty of Forestry and the BEES's academic point person, says the club gives students in Canada's largest city a rare chance to get in touch with nature.</p> <p>“It's always good if we pay attention to the natural world, and honeybees do that for city dwellers,”&nbsp;she said.</p> <p>Apart from the U of T BEES's hives, there are also colonies in the <u><a href="http://civil.engineering.utoronto.ca/undergraduate-programs/current/student-clubs/skygarden/">U of T Skygarden</a></u>, a volunteer-run green rooftop at&nbsp;the Earth Sciences building,&nbsp;and at U of T Scarborough, Smith said.</p> <p>Like the bees, the students in the beekeeping club also learn to work together. They organize hive tours in the summer and give workshops teaching people to make candles out of beeswax.&nbsp;</p> <p>“I see them take on a sense of nurturing, looking after things,&nbsp;and that's a very rewarding and satisfying experience,” Smith said.</p> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-home-page-banner field--type-boolean field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">News home page banner</div> <div class="field__item">Off</div> </div> Fri, 21 Apr 2017 16:13:03 +0000 geoff.vendeville 106831 at Hold the honey – it’s time to celebrate wild bees, says U of T researcher /news/celebrate-wild-bees-says-u-t-researcher <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Hold the honey – it’s time to celebrate wild bees, says U of T researcher</span> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span>lavende4</span></span> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"><time datetime="2016-05-24T10:12:04-04:00" title="Tuesday, May 24, 2016 - 10:12" class="datetime">Tue, 05/24/2016 - 10:12</time> </span> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-field-cutline-long field--type-text-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Cutline</div> <div class="field__item">Homeowners can help save native bees by planting lots of flowers, says UTSC researcher Scott MacIvor (photo by Bianca Quijano)</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-reporters field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/authors-reporters/bianca-quijano" hreflang="en">Bianca Quijano</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-legacy field--type-string field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Author legacy</div> <div class="field__item">Bianca Quijano</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-topic field--type-entity-reference field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Topic</div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/topics/breaking-research" hreflang="en">Breaking Research</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-story-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/research" hreflang="en">Research</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/utsc" hreflang="en">UTSC</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/bees" hreflang="en">Bees</a></div> </div> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>Albert Einstein once said, “Mankind will not survive the disappearance of the bees for more than five years.”</p> <p>His prediction may soon&nbsp;be put to the test, as the world has seen a drastic decline of bee populations. Honeybees dominate the conversation, but efforts to save wild bees are now on the rise. The rusty-patched bumble bee, which is native to Ontario, is now endangered. Six more species are facing extinction.</p> <p>In response, the provincial government, in partnership with&nbsp;Friends of the Earth&nbsp;and&nbsp;Ontario Power Generation, launched the&nbsp;Let It Bee&nbsp;campaign. Running from May to July, the initiative calls for changes in commercial landscaping and domestic gardening. It also advocates for a more accurate census of wild bees.<strong> Scott MacIvor</strong> is a post-doctoral researcher at U of T Scarborough who studies wild bees in urban spaces. He is encouraged that the plight of the bees has caught mainstream appeal, but says more work needs to be done.</p> <p><strong>How important a role do bees like the rusty-patched bumblebee play in our lives?</strong></p> <p>Most flowering plants including a lot of important food crops require pollination, with bees being the primary pollinators. There are a lot of other pollinators like moths, butterflies, even mammals like bats and mammals, but the extermination of bees would mean the end of many foods we enjoy. Bees are like a canary in the coalmine. They interact with the landscape in so many ways and if something’s happening to the bees we know that something’s happening at a bigger scale.</p> <p><strong>Until the 1980s, the rusty-patched bumblebee was one of the most common species of bumblebees in Southern Ontario. Today, they’re on the brink of extinction. What are the factors that caused this?</strong></p> <p>There are many factors that cause destruction to bee foraging and nesting habitat, causing their disappearance. For example, this particular bee nests in the ground, and in an urbanizing environment where we pave and change the soil structure, certain bees are relegated to smaller and smaller natural areas. Shortly thereafter they disappear entirely because their needs are not met.</p> <p>Depending on what region you’re in, different factors are affecting bees more heavily. In some rural areas pesticides are causing bee declines. In other areas, it’s habitat destruction. In cities like Toronto where pesticides are restricted – some bees appear to thrive. We’re learning that this is the case in some cities around the world, that urban areas can actually be hot spots for certain kinds of bees&nbsp;because of gardening and higher flower diversity.</p> <p><img alt="Mason bee " class="media-image attr__typeof__foaf:Image img__fid__990 img__view_mode__media_large attr__format__media_large" src="/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/2016-05-24-mason-bee.jpg?itok=qgeW2P5l" style="width: 680px; height: 453px;" typeof="foaf:Image"></p> <p class="panel-pane pane-entity-field pane-node-field-cutline cutline clearfix"><em>Blue Orchard Mason Bee (Getty Images)</em></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>So what can those of us living in the city do to help save endangered wild bees?</strong></p> <p>Plant lots of flowers. Choose different colours and different sizes. Plant with diversity in mind and you will provide lots of food for bees at different times of the year. Reduce lawn mowing and leave in some of the small invading flowering plants. Also, leave bare spots in your garden. Also, a lot of the native bees here nest in little holes – so instead of cutting plant stems back after winter right down to the ground, cut them so they’re 15-20cm or more higher. If you do cut them down you can bundle them and set them up on a fence post – they’ll nest in those holes. If you do all of these things, tell your friends and neighbours about it and encourage them to pursue similar activities.</p> <p><strong>What are some of the factors about bee conservation that need improvement?</strong></p> <p>Often there is misinformation about which bees need saving. This is especially the case for those who promote keeping honeybees rather than supporting the needs of wild, native bees. Honeybees can be invasive species, out-competing wild native bees for food, when kept in large densities and in non-agricultural habitats like reserves, parks, and cities. New studies have even linked diseases transferred into wild bee populations. With urban beekeeping being promoted as a hobby, too many bee keepers might increase the spread of others pests and disease between colonies over large areas. Educating people that there are simple ways of helping native bees; keeping&nbsp;bee condos&nbsp;in a garden full of flowers, can be easier and ultimately more helpful for native wild bees.</p> <p><strong>This, as we all know, is a global problem. How are governments all over the world tackling this issue? What are some of the effective strategies that we can apply here?</strong></p> <p>Many different issues regarding pollinator health are being examined at different levels of government. Some regions are restricting the use of harmful pesticides like Neonicotinoids&nbsp;in an effort to reduce their impact on bees and other wildlife. Other efforts include incentives for habitat creation in agricultural areas and habitat conservation in natural areas.</p> <p>More research into how to manage alternative (non-honeybee) pollinators is needed. Many solitary bees are extremely effective pollinators of all kinds of crops and in natural systems. For example mason bees are used to pollinate apple orchards and alfalfa (which dairy and beef cattle feed upon) is pollinated primarily by managed solitary&nbsp;leaf-cutter bees. Learning which bees are the most effective for pollinating different crops can lead to new discoveries and innovation in helping solitary bees.</p> <p><strong>Toronto was recently named as the first ever “Bee City” by Bee City Canada. Was the attitude towards saving the bees always this enthusiastic?&nbsp;</strong></p> <p>During my PhD, I used citizen science to investigate bee populations in Toronto urban gardens. At the beginning, the biggest question from people would be “How do I avoid being stung?” Today, the most common question is, “How do I help?” Toronto and the surrounding region is particularly bee-diverse with over 300 species<span style="line-height: 20.8px;">&nbsp;–&nbsp;</span>of which more than 90% are native – and so the city has always been a <span style="line-height: 20.8px;"><span style="line-height: 20.8px;">“</span></span>bee city<span style="line-height: 20.8px;">”</span>! With the public increasingly engaged in helping with the plight of pollinators, neighbourhood-wide action to garden for wild bees has become more easily adopted. Industrial areas, city parks, community gardens, and even green roofs can be designed for bees. The City of Toronto has taken a step further in pledging support for wild bees, publishing the new book, The&nbsp;Bees of Toronto, available for free at all public libraries. Encouraging native pollinator habitat protection and best practices in city planning will ensure native bees continue to thrive in Toronto and other Canadian cities.</p> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-home-page-banner field--type-boolean field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">News home page banner</div> <div class="field__item">Off</div> </div> Tue, 24 May 2016 14:12:04 +0000 lavende4 14162 at