The Bee Hunters’ Diaries (uncut).
Chapter 1
Bees are very important pollinators. They pollinate commercial crops (most of our food) and plants in the wild (including your national parks, preserves, prairies, forests, deserts, etc) however, we know very little about them. In general, the public associates the word bee with the European honeybee (Apis mellifera), this domesticated species was brought to the USA by colonists over 400 years ago.
There are around 20,000 known species of bees worldwide (more than all the mammals and birds combined!!!!). There are approximately 4,000 recorded species in North America, with an incredible diversity of sizes and forms. For example, the fairy bee Perdita spp is so tiny that you can find several species of ants in your garden bigger than this bee species; Perdita looks particularly tiny when you put it by the large carpenter bee Xylocopa. There are also some shiny green metallic bees that like to lick your sweat, and some bees that make their nests with petals from some pretty flowers.
Other bee species are facing serious conservation problems. One of them, the rusty- patched bumble bee (Bombus affinis), has in the past 20 years shrunk dramatically their distribution due to habitat fragmentation, pesticides, and internal parasites that cause severe diseases. The rusty-patched bumble bee is the first continental bee to be listed as endangered under the Endangered Species Act.
Bees of Oklahoma
There is little information about bee diversity within Oklahoma, especially compared to neighboring states (Texas, Kansas, Missouri), where there are more exhaustive studies about their local bee fauna. The most “complete” catalog of bees from Oklahoma is found in the Hymenoptera Checklist at the K.C. Emerson Entomology Museum, Oklahoma State University. This inventory has around 200 species listed for our state; however, these numbers fall short, particularly if we compare the numbers from Kansas (550 spp) and Texas (1100 spp). There are some species that we know are present in states both to the North and South of Oklahoma that have not yet been listed here.
Some relatively new studies show a high diversity of bee species in Oklahoma. For example, Arduser and collaborators found a total of 80 native species of bees at The Four Canyon preserve in NW Oklahoma, and Montalva and collaborators found a total of 50 species of native bees at The Pontotoc Ridge and Oka’Yanahali preserves in South Central OK. These three sites are part of The Nature Conservancy, Oklahoma system of preserves.
Recently, several species new to science have been identified here in Oklahoma, and there is the potential for many more. Arduser and collaborators mention two new species of bees, Pseudopanurgus sp, and Hesperapis sp, collected at Four Canyon preserve. In 2013 Gonzalez and Griswold also described the wool carder bee Anthidium michenerorum. Also of note, two new species of cuckoo bees Epeolus diadematus and E. inornatus, while not collected in Oklahoma, were collected in the Texoma area; modeling maps show a high probability for the presence of these species in our state.
Oklahoma has a wide variety of bioregions that offer a home to different bee species. It is important to know the dynamic distribution of bees in each of these diverse regions throughout the state. Bees are our allies, they provide us with important ecosystem services (such as pollination) and can serve as a bellwether for ecological issues. Making cadastres (detailed maps) and taking frequent censuses allows us to better understand the position and role our unique bees play in the environment and thus help mitigate human-caused threats to their stability.
Bees at the Zoo
This spring and summer, thanks to the Oklahoma City Zoo and Botanical Garden, a grant from the Kirkpatrick Foundation and the Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences at East Central University, we will study the native bees that inhabit the Oklahoma City Zoo. Our focus will be to identify the native bee species, record which floral resources they use, and what other environmental factors (biotic and abiotic) benefit bees. We will also be gathering information for OKC Zoo’s planned prairie habitat restoration project, located in the future Girl Scouts’ Camp Trivera. Our goal is to see how ecological restoration can provide higher quality habitats and increase the diversity of pollinators.
OKC Zoo version https://www.okczoo.org/blog/posts/the-bee-hunters-diaries
Check our Bee Gallery https://www.flickr.com/groups/okczoobees/
Meet the A-Team (Actually, the B-Team).
José Montalva (PI)
twitter @josemmontalva
I am a graduate student at the Department of Geography and Environmental Sustainability, University of Oklahoma. I worked on several projects associated with ecology, biology, and taxonomy of native bees. My most representative works are the Chilean bee checklist, the study of the bees of The Chagual Botanical Garden, and the Conservation of the giant Bumble bee Bombus dahlbomii. Since 2018 I am an adjunct instructor at East Central University, and my present interest in the State of Oklahoma is to study the local bee diversity. My hobbies are spending time with my family, doing outdoor activities, kayaking, hiking, camping, etc.
Landen Underwood
Instagram: landen_underwood
I am a biology major at East Central University. This bee study will be my first major research project at East Central University. I am fascinated with bees, and how they affect our ecosystems and economics. My hobbies include being with my family and friends, music, being in nature, and discovering new adventures.
Mason Kiciński
Instagram: @TheFoxProphet
I am a History (Teaching Certification) major with a minor in Biology at East Central University in Ada, Oklahoma. As a permaculture hobby farmer, I value protecting native pollinators as an investment we all benefit from and am excited to be collaborating on this research project. I enjoy spending my time in the great green cathedral that is the forest, tending the flocks and fields, and reading when I have a spare minute.