PolliNation Podcast

Oregon and Florida may seem miles apart, but the role of bees in both states has remarkable parallels. This week Dr. Rachel Mallinger University of Florida talks about blueberry pollination, bees in forest systems and interests of gardeners around bees in the Sunshine State. 

Watermelons are hard to pollinate. But they can also experience reduced yield from pest damage. This week we hear from Jacob Pecenka who tells us about the trade-offs from managing pests and loosing pollination and how Integrated Pest Management can provide an excellent way to navigate these trade-offs. 

There has been a lot of demand for nursery plants that are good for pollinators, but also confusion on whether these plants have been grown using practices that minimize impacts to pollinators. This week we hear from Sharon Selvaggio, Program Director at Northwest Center for Alternatives to Pesticides (NCAP), about a pilot study to see what consumers respond to when labeling pollinator plants arou...

For the 100th Episode of PolliNation we assembled our crack team of OSU pollinator faculty together to answer your burning questions. 

Commercial bee pollination is an integral part of food production in the US. In this episode we catch up with Adam Allington, a reporter with Bloomberg Environment, about a new podcast "The Business of Bees" that explores how the food system has evolved to become  dependent on bees, and the future consequences of this dependency.  

Pollinator strips are exceedingly tricky to establish. This week we drop by Washington County Master Gardener and Master Beekeeper Bob Falconer's house to see how he establish magnificent strips of Phacelia and clover.

Not all bee communities across a region might use the same flowers. But how might gardeners be better informed about what local bees like? Also, do regional bee communities confront different disease pressures. Hear how Hannah Levenson is addressing these issues in a project taking place at North Carolina State University.

How do you measure the success of restoration projects for bees? Dr. Mia Park from North Dakota State University catches us up on work she is doing around urban prairie restoration.  Learn more about this episode of PolliNation at http://blogs.oregonstate.edu/pollinationpodcast/2019/05/13/mia-park

Listen in to learn the role of the Oregon Bee Atlas, how it has grown in only a year, and which plants are best for pollinator biodiversity in Oregon. "It's easy to document common species; it's really difficult to assess the extreme biodiversity that exists here." - Lincoln Best. Learn more about this episode of PolliNation at http://blogs.oregonstate.edu/pollinationpodcast/2019/04/29/oregon-bee-...

Listen in to learn what native plants are best for your garden, both for increasing the health of local pollinators and adding beauty to your garden. "There have been very few studies that have been done on the relative attractiveness of different plants to pollinators, especially in a garden-type setting." - Aaron Anderson. Learn more about this episode of PolliNation at http://blogs.oregonstate....

Listen in to learn how growers can improve their pollinator effectiveness, the benefits of certain overwintering solutions, and the key to great queens. "I know there's a lot of talk about letting natural selection do it's thing, but we have to think about what we're doing. When we put the bee colony into a hive, it's no longer considered to be, in my mind, natural. So I think they definitely need...

Listen in to learn about the two key pollinators of alfalfa seed: the alfalfa leafcutter bee and alkali bee. "If [alfalfa] bloomed in the spring, there would not be enough hours in the day for a female bee to complete a nest cell for one offspring." – Jim Cane. Learn more about this episode of PolliNation at http://blogs.oregonstate.edu/pollinationpodcast/2019/04/01/jim-cane/

Listen in to learn all about pollen: how to collect and identify it, how it can be used in forensics, and the tools that researchers have developed to source it from particular plants. "The fun thing about pollen and why palynology is a thing is that every species of plant will produce a unique pollen grain to that species. We can play CSI and forensics here: when you look at the pollen that honey...

Listen in to learn about Dr. Delphia's bee atlas projects, why Montana is a "black hole" of bee data, and where to find the coolest native bees of Montana. "It's really great to be working on bees in Montana and it's also not so great. It's great because there are so many things to discover and it's also not so great because there are so many things to discover." – Dr. Casey Delphia. Learn more ab...

Learn how Kim Flottum is taking beekeeping education into the future, and how he is following in legendary beekeeping educator Amos Root's footsteps. "We have gone from pencil-writing answers to letters, to the electronic age, and it has opened the door to anybody and everybody who wants to talk about anything." - Kim Flottum. Learn more about this episode of PolliNation at http://blogs.oregonstat...

Listen in to learn how golf courses can better serve pollinators and their habitats through curating their plants, flowers, and maintenance schedule. "Golf courses are these really unique islands of vegetation within these urban lands." - Rebecca Perry. Learn more about this episode of PolliNation at http://blogs.oregonstate.edu/pollinationpodcast/2019/03/04/rebecca-perry-and-grace-cope/

Listen in to learn Steve's experience in making and maintaining mason bee nesting blocks, and why he advocates using a wood laminate in its construction. "I've always been interested in that you can raise these bees and sort of have a lower input in terms of having to put them into cold storage so soon." - Steve Peterson. Learn more about this episode of PolliNation at http://blogs.oregonstate.edu...

Listen in to learn the importance of sterols in honeybee health, why they are so important, and the research Dr. Priyadarshini Chakrabarti has done on them. "[Sterols] are building blocks of cellular membranes. That is why we are trying to focus on them, because without these sterols, you would basically have a dead bee." - Dr. Priyadarshini Chakrabarti. Learn more about this episode of PolliNatio...

Listen in to learn how Heritage Seedlings aids in restoration sites and pollinator health as a Flagship Farm, and the best native plants for your garden. "We have around 560 native prairie plant species, and the majority of them also have pollinator species that utilize both for flowering resources and for cover." - Lynda Boyer. Learn more about this episode of PolliNation at http://blogs.oregonst...

Learn how Iwasaki Bros. has reduced their environmental impact through Integrated Pest Management (IPM), bee monitoring, and the flagship farm program. "The Iwasaki's have always been interested in sustainability, so [becoming a flagship farm] was something that came very natural to them." - Kathleen Baughman. Learn more about this episode of PolliNation at http://blogs.oregonstate.edu/pollination...

Listen in to learn Harry's effective communication methods, how he builds bridges with others in agriculture, and what he's done for pollinators in the PNW. "We're really all working hard and trying to make a living at the same time, and working together is the answer to that." - Harry Vanderpool. Learn more about this episode of PolliNation at http://blogs.oregonstate.edu/pollinationpodcast/2019/...

  Listen in to learn how Sarah and the Flagship Farms program work with farmers to create sustainable ecosystems for pollinators, and how you can participate.   "We're a specialty crop state and many of those depend on pollination, and if they depend on pollination, that means they provide a resource for the bees themselves." - Sarah Kincaid. Learn more about this episode of PolliNation at http://...

Listen in to learn the intersection between changing tropical climates, pollinator habitats, and the coffee crop, and the impact of mines on pollinators. "For a lot of species, we don't know if they'll be able to successfully move fast enough northward, so the other potential could be that we would just see loss of species in a particular location or maybe declining pollinator population numbers."...

Listen in to learn the relationship of pollinators with native flora and fauna of Hawaii, and what is being done to aid local agriculture and beekeeping. "A lot of the plants [in Hawaii] evolved with bird and beetle pollinators, there's only one native genus of bee." - Dr. Christina Mogren. Learn more about this episode of PolliNation at http://blogs.oregonstate.edu/pollinationpodcast/2018/12/31/d...

Listen in to today's episode to learn how hybrid systems work and the steps vegetable seed growers are taking to keep bees healthy during pollination. "It's a labor intensive crop, especially if you're doing it transplanted." - Robyn Shephard. Learn more about this episode of PolliNation at http://blogs.oregonstate.edu/pollinationpodcast/2018/12/24/robyn-shephard/