PolliNation Podcast

Find out more about what you can do for pollinators at your own home, and how Al blends aesthetic and functional aspects of landscaping and pollinator habitats. "It seemed just a horrible shame to have 500-odd acres of space here on campus and have it all strictly geared toward something you look at as you pass by. We could do a better job than that." - Al Shay. Learn more about this episode of Po...

Listen in as we talk about the bee population of Canada, her new captive breeding project, and how citizen science positively impacts her research. "He surveyed a wide variety of people, and the vast majority of them think bees are important but nobody really knows what a bee is versus what a fly is." - Sarah Johnson. Learn more about this episode of PolliNation at  bit.ly/PN-Sarah-Johnson

In today's episode, we will learn about Skyler's work with pollinators, his projects with citizen scientists, and how you can get started in taxonomy. "Things like 'Bees In Your Backyard' are really helpful, but until you have the bee in your hand, it's really difficult to know what you've got." - Skyler Burrows. Learn more about this episode of PolliNation at  bit.ly/PN-Skyler-Burrows

Listen in to this episode to learn about how you can keep your colonies safe from varroa mites, and what tools you can use to prevent and manage them. "It's not if your colony has varroa mites, that's not the question you should be asking. You should be asking how many mites does my colony have? " - Dr. Dewey M. Caron. Learn more about this episode of PolliNation at  bit.ly/PN-Dr-Dewey-M-Caron

We will be talking about mosquito abatement techniques, their effect on pollinator health, and the research Kristen's team has done to keep them safe. "They really wanted to know if what they were doing with mosquito control was killing bees, so they asked if we could help address that topic." - Kristen Healy. Learn more about this episode of PolliNation at http://bit.ly/PN-Kristen-Healy

Listen in to learn George's experience as a land manager, good practice in cultivating pollinator habitats, and his work in the advocacy of pollinators. "We're creating in many areas what are virtually pollinator deserts." - George Hansen. Learn more about this episode of PolliNation at http://bit.ly/PN-George-Hansen

Listen in to learn more about the Oregon Flora Project, and the amazing benefits their research and data collection has on pollinators. "The Oregon Flora Project is striving to make information useful and relevant…to a broad sector of the population." - Linda Hardison Learn more about this episode of PolliNation at  bit.ly/PolliNation-22

Dr. Jim Rivers is a vertebrate ecologist and leader of the Forest Animal Ecology Lab at Oregon State University. With broad research interests that are focused in the fields of animal behavior and physiological ecology, his research program combines observational, experimental, and comparative approaches to test predictions from theory in empirical settings. He recently lead the Pollinators in Man...

Erin Udal leads community pollinator conservation projects out of Vancouver, BC and was formerly the Program Manager and Pollinator Specialist with the Environmental Youth Alliance. With her background in conservation biology, she designs bee-friendly gardens and develops citizen science projects, working to help people protect pollinators in our backyards and parks. Erin finds facilitating hands-...

David Phipps is considered one of the Northwest's leaders in golf course environmental stewardship and innovation. While working as the superintendent at Stone Creek Golf, he received the GCSAA President's Award for Environmental Stewardship in 2012, as well as the 2004-2005 Cooperator of the Year by the Clackamas County Soil and Water Conservation District. David received a Bachelor of Science De...

Lynn A. Royce, Ph. D. did her doctoral research on tracheal mites of honey bees and has studied pollinators for over 30 years. She is a passionate scientist who cares deeply about implementing research in practical applications to improve honey bee health. In this episode, we talk about her organization Tree Hive Bees, and how you can perform "bee-lining" to trace wild bees back to their colonies...

Ellie Andrews is a PhD student in Development/Rural Sociology at Cornell University. As honey bees across the US face a range of challenges, keeping bees healthy and productive requires ever more skill and investment. Her research seeks to understand the sociological dimensions of these educational imperatives: how are new beekeepers learning to keep bees and how are experienced ones adapting to n...

Ellen Topitzhofer works for the Bee Informed Partnership, an innovative organization across the U.S. that works with commercial bee keepers to tackle some of their most pressing pest management issues. In this episode, we discuss the unique pest issues in the Pacific Northwest, and explore the universal problem of varroa mites in bee colonies. We talk about how best to manage those pests, the rela...

Jen Holt is the brand new Coordinator for the Oregon Master Beekeeper Program at OSU. In this episode, we'll learn about how Jen got interested in bees, what she sees for the future of the program, and the ins and outs of how the program functions today. We discuss beekeeping education from the start to the master - how to take a regular person and turn them into a beekeeper. Jen is co-appointed t...

Bee habitat in agricultural landscapes is key element in any good strategy for pollinator health. But farmers have a lot going on and may not have clear answers to some important pollination questions. Our guest is here to help us with these issues. Jessa Kay Cruz is the Senior Pollinator Conservation Specialist for California with the Xerces Society. Based in Sacramento, Jessa works closely with...

Ruth Marsh is a multidisciplinary artist based out of Halifax, NS. Her work uses absurd and often comically deadpan narratives to address loss, absence and longing in the context of living creatures and the natural world. She is interested in investigating themes of environmental loss through labour intensive meditations on transformation: life to death, experience to memory and the surrealistic d...

Scott is an Assistant Professor of Urban Ecology at the University of Toronto at Scarborough in the Department of Biological Sciences. Scott is also a researcher at the Green Roof Innovation Testing (GRIT) lab at the University of Toronto in the faculty of Landscape Architecture. Scott has published 12 peer-reviewed articles on green roof ecology and performance, and works with the City of Toronto...

Laura Taylor works for The West Multnomah Soil and Water Conservation District. In this episode, find what happens when a local government wants to do something to help pollinator health. As a conservation technician and an educational coordinator, Laura created an innovative program to monitor wild pollinators around restoration sites. Learn how she got the monitoring program off the ground, what...

Aimee Code is the Pesticide Program Director at the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation. During her career she has worked in urban and agricultural setting to mitigate the risks of pesticide use and promote integrated pest management programs. She also works with communities ​around the country to implement policies and practices to restore dwindling pollinator populations.​ Today we disc...

Dr. Meghan Milbrath began working bees with her father as a child over 20 years ago, and now owns and manages The Sand Hill Apiary, a small livestock and queen rearing operation in Munith, Michigan. Meghan is active in multiple beekeeping organizations, writes for multiple beekeeping journals, and speaks about bees all over the country. She currently runs the Northern Bee Network, a directory and...

Today on the podcast talk about bumblebees in agriculture. Dr. Sujaya Rao is a Professor in Entomology at Oregon State University. Her research covers IPM in field crops and native bee pollinators in diverse cropping systems and in native habitats. A serendipitous discovery made by her led to development of a new bee monitoring tool. She has also documented the presence of overwintering sites and...

Today on the show we explore bees and their social impact. In 2012, Sarah Common co-founded Hives for Humanity Society, alongside her mother, Julia, in response to a gap she saw in opportunities for connection to nature, to community and to meaningful work for marginalized citizens. She has coordinated partnerships between a variety of organizations and businesses, developing programming that buil...

Dr. Dave Smitley is a professor and researcher at Michigan State University. He works with the turf grass and nursery industries to deal with emerging pest problems, and the greenhouse industry to grow plants in ways that are safe around pollinators. In this episode we talk about practical tips as well as national initiatives to protect pollinators in urban landscapes. For more, visit us at pollin...

Mike Burgett is the Emeritus Professor of Entomology at OSU, where he has taught since 1974. He has conducted a huge amount of work on apiculture research, including a survey of beekeepers and growers in the Pacific Northwest of the US, which is our main topic for today. We'll discuss pollination markets as they are today, the history of beekeepers in this region, the unique pollination scenarios...

Dr. David Lowenstein is a post-doc researcher at Oregon State University's Department of Horticulture. Today we talk about his fascinating research on urban pollinators during his time in Chicago. We discuss biodiversity in a city, what property owners can do to attract pollinators, and the unique challenges of urban bee research. For more, visit us at pollinationpodcast.oregonstate.edu.