DRYDEN – The star of the show, and chief instructor, is a member of the Apoidea family. She’s no bigger than a thumb tip, but the humble bee will get families in Dryden buzzing about how to be citizen scientists April 22 at the “Pollinator Party,” a free event at Southworth Library.
The library will offer honey samples, crafts, and face painting. Participants can also register for the Great Sunflower Project to receive Lemon Queen Sunflower seeds.
“April is citizen science month, so I thought since it’s Earth Day it would be fun to do something that took it a step further than just making seed bombs,” said library Director Diane Pamel, who has a bachelor’s degree in mechanical and aerospace engineering from Cornell University.
New York has 445 bee species, said Tobias Mueller, a Cornell University apiologist, a scientist who studies bees.
“Which is crazy,” he said, adding that most people do not notice most of the bees they encounter daily.
“That’s why the Sunflower Project is a great project that allows you to watch and record them,” Mueller said. “It’s great to be able to collect that data and figure out how they’re doing, where they’re declining, and where they’re present.”
While honey bees might get the most attention, the large majority of bees are solitary, living underground and coming out to feed for just one month per year before retreating underground to lay eggs.
Mueller will display his collection of hundreds of (nonliving) bee specimens.
“Honey bees are just the tip of the iceberg,” Mueller said. “There are a lot more than meets the eye.”
Even though humans do not collect their honey, these bees are still pollinators critical to the ecosystem, Mueller said. Many of these species, such as mason bees, can be better observed in special tubes, which can be placed on a porch for easy viewing. The tubes can be purchased through large online retailers for around $10.
Make sure ample flowers are around the tubes, and bees are likely to use them as a place to bring pollen and nectar, feed and lay their eggs. They will live in the tubes for months while they feed and mature before emerging to live out their single-season life cycle. In this way, people can be citizen scientists by observing the bees; they are also helping them by creating an additional habitat and food source.
Bee species are struggling across the globe, Mueller said, because of destruction of natural habitat and the use of pesticides.
He hopes he can instill in children a fascination and appreciation for bees that they will carry with them throughout their lives.
“In elementary schools I’ve asked kids, ‘What’s your favorite meal, and then what would that look like without bees?’ You start to understand how important they are, not just to fruits and vegetables but things you don’t think about like dairy products,” Mueller said. “A lot of cattle are fed by alfalfa, which is pollinated by the alfalfa leaf-cutter bee. It’s all connected.”
Citizen science projects like the Great Sunflower Project aim to involve the public by collecting data submitted on their website.
People from all over the country collect data on pollinators in their yards, gardens, schools and parks. The Great Sunflower Project uses that information to determine where the transfer of pollen from a male to female flower is strong or weak.
The project began in 2008 and now has the largest single body of information about bee pollinator service in North America, states its website, greatsunflower.org.
The project encourages people to plant sunflowers because they produce a large amount of nectar and pollen, which attracts bees, but information about pollinators visiting other flowers is also welcome.
Project participants observe the sunflowers several times during the summer to see how many bees land on them in a five-minute period.
“They grow tall, and the bees really like them,” she said.
Even people who do not attend the event can sign up for the project at thegreatsunflower.org.
Pamel said giving people an opportunity to learn something new while helping the environment was a win/win.
“I love bees, and I love honey,” she said. “So why not do something simple that I can do to make the world better?”
