{"id":4770,"date":"2020-06-13T10:52:57","date_gmt":"2020-06-13T14:52:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/?p=4770"},"modified":"2020-07-17T10:41:17","modified_gmt":"2020-07-17T14:41:17","slug":"lessons-from-the-bees","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/lessons-from-the-bees\/","title":{"rendered":"Lessons from the bees"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Tara Warkentin<\/p>\n

One in every three bites of food we eat depends on bees. Without bees, our local and global food systems would collapse. Recently,\u00a0Colony Collapse Disorder<\/a>\u00a0has become a buzzword. It refers to the sudden death of honeybee colonies from a myriad of causes, from toxic pesticides to viruses, to disease, and is becoming more and more common in industrial beekeeping operations. But, could the Colony Collapse plague Cortes Island\u2019s own bees?<\/p>\n

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\"Lessons<\/a>

Photo credit: Paul Stamets, culturing mushroom mycelium in a lab at Washington State University. Image source: Ken Christensen, EarthFix\/KCTS 9<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

In this episode of Cortes Currents, I set out to learn what threats Cortes Island\u2019s bees face. I speak to Sharon Figueira, an aspiring beekeeper, about the most ethical way of getting bees on\u00a0Cortes<\/a>. I seek out the advice of\u00a0Tony Clark<\/a>, to hear what he\u2019s learned in his twenty-plus years of beekeeping on the island. We also delve deep into the world of fungi with\u00a0Paul Stamets<\/a> and find a surprising source of hope for our bees. \u00a0Tony Clark<\/a>, to hear what he\u2019s learned in his twenty-plus years of beekeeping on the island.<\/p>\n

#1 \u2013 Learn<\/h3>\n

Learn as much as you can from books, local beekeepers, and by observing the bees themselves.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are so many bee species\u2026 they\u2019re all so beautiful,\u201d\u00a0Sharon Figueira<\/a>\u00a0tells me, as we watch wild bees and honeybees forage on her blueberry bushes. I\u2019ve come to find out what it takes to become a beekeeper on Cortes. Sharon hasn\u2019t got bees yet, but she\u2019s hoping to catch a swarm. A swarm is when part of a colony flies away from their old home, in search of a new one. In our climate, honeybee swarms rarely survive in the wild. But other beekeepers can catch the swarms, and house them.<\/p>\n

Sharon has hoisted a hive high into the air, and faced it to the south, as she\u2019s been instructed by beekeeping books. She\u2019s also built small swarm traps\u2013wooden boxes with a small hole in the front, to try and attract bees to her garden.<\/p>\n

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Sharon\u2019s hive, waiting hopefully for a swarm of bees to settle.\u00a0<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

When I ask Sharon why she has chosen to catch a swarm, rather than just order bees from one of the numerous online retailers, she says she doesn\u2019t want to bring mites or viruses to the island, because they could infect all the island\u2019s colonies, and lead to a Cortes-wide colony collapse. She tells me it could be \u201cdisastrous for all the beekeepers on the island and the bees.\u201d Sharon says if she\u2019s not able to catch a swarm, she\u2019ll try and buy bees from another Cortes beekeeper.<\/p>\n

#2 \u2013 Get Local Bees<\/h3>\n

Get bees locally. Talk to local beekeepers, and see if they are willing to mentor you or sell you bees.<\/p>\n

Sharon walks me to her gate. Everything\u2019s pretty overgrown on the margins of her garden, and she explains that it isn\u2019t a mistake. \u201cWhen I arrived here from Vancouver,\u201d she tells me, \u201cI cut all the dandelions.\u201d But, she noticed that when she forgot to mow her yard, there was an audible hmmm in the air. She realized the dandelions were supporting the pollinators that visited her garden. \u2026 \u201cI think you have to change your approach,\u201d Sharon says. \u201cIf something is supporting the bees, it\u2019s not a weed.\u201d In fact,\u00a0research from SFU\u2019s Pollination Lab has found that native plants are especially important for wild bees\u2019 survival<\/a>. On Cortes, pollinators can\u2019t rely on enormous, industrial fields and orchards for food. While this is an advantage when it comes to harmful toxic exposure, it means they depend on wild plants to build up their honey stores and survive the cold winter.<\/p>\n

\u201cCortes\u2019 main honey flow comes from the blackberries,\u201d Tony Clark tells me. He\u2019s been keeping bees on Cortes for decades, so he knows what happens when there aren\u2019t enough blackberries. A few years ago, when road crews cut back the blackberries across the island in one day, beekeepers had empty hives and had to feed their bees sugar water so that they would survive the winter.<\/p>\n

Other important wild food sources for bees on the island are huckleberries, salmonberries, maple flowers, foxgloves, elderberry, and salal. Cortes gardens don\u2019t provide bees with enough food to survive, let alone produce honey. Plants on the margins of gardens and roads can support pollinator survival, and ensure successful gardens for us.<\/p>\n

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Elizabeth Elle\u2019s research surveyed the most popular native and garden plants for pollinators in Vancouver. Image source: Elizabeth Elle, SFU Pollination Lab.<\/p><\/div><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

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Elizabeth Elle\u2019s research surveyed the most popular native and garden plants for pollinators in Vancouver. Image source: Elizabeth Elle, SFU Pollination Lab.<\/p><\/div><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

Tony agrees that we can all care for island bees, by changing our gardening practices.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the best thing people can do on Cortes Island to help the bees is\u2026 [apply] put those pesticides on [fruit trees and garden plants] in the evening.\u201d Tony says. \u201cAt that time, the bees are all at home, and then by the time the morning comes [and the bees are foraging for food], the pesticides have kind of done their thing\u2026 our bees aren\u2019t going to get poisoned.\u201d<\/p>\n

Still, research shows that even the most careful pesticide application can harm bees. Many common \u201cpest control\u201d products marketed at both home gardeners and the agriculture industry contain a type of pesticide called neonicotinoids. The toxic compounds in neonics, as they are commonly known, persist long after pesticide application. Seeds in garden centers and commercial agriculture alike are treated with neonicotinoids, and months later, when the flower blooms and bees forage on pollen,\u00a0bee fatalities rise<\/a>. Neonics poison bees, and make them more vulnerable to other threats, such as\u00a0viruses<\/a>,\u00a0mites<\/a>, and\u00a0extreme temperatures<\/a>. Despite a ban in Europe, the\u00a0outcry of hundreds of scientists<\/a>, and hundreds of peer-reviewed articles confirming the deadly effects of neonicotinoids on bee species, they are still are allowed in Canada.<\/p>\n

#3 \u2013 Don\u2019t Use Toxic Pesticides<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Don\u2019t use toxic pesticides on your lawn and garden.<\/p>\n

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A honeybee with 2 Varroa mites attached to it\u2019s back. Varroa mites live parasitically by feeding on the honeybee\u2019s fat stores. Image source: Krishna Ramanujan, Cornell University<\/p><\/div><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

In addition to pesticides, varroa mites threaten bees\u2019 survival. Most beekeepers, including Tony, routinely medicate their bees against mites and the viruses they carry. Paul Stamets, mycologist and beekeeper, has found a novel treatment option using mycelium. Listen to Stamets explain his bee feeder in the video below.<\/p>\n

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Stamets with a Red Reishi fungi, one of the species that has been found to give bees resistance to viruses.<\/p><\/div>

Stamets with a Red Reishi fungi, one of the species that has been found to give bees resistance to viruses.\u00a0<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

Keeping bees is not just about honey. Its also about connecting with a community of other beekeepers, to ensure the collective survival of Cortes Island\u2019s bees. Tony urges island beekeepers to communicate because a sick bee in one hive can fly up to five miles away, infecting other colonies. With Cortes\u2019 small landmass, it wouldn\u2019t take long for the infection to spread to all the island\u2019s hives. But, there is an advantage to Cortes\u2019 small size: the correspondingly small number of beekeepers can work together, coordinate treatment efforts, and share knowledge. It\u2019s not just bees that keep our food system going, but also, mentorships. connection. Each of us, sharing what we know, so that all of us can be healthy. It\u2019s what the bees do, for the health of the collective colony.<\/p>\n

So that\u2019s the fourth and final lesson I\u2019ve learned from the bees and their keepers:<\/p>\n

#4 \u2013 Share What You Know<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Share what you know, so that the whole community can be healthy.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve been learning about bees at\u00a0Quest University Canada<\/a>. I collaborated with my peers to make an educational, science-based\u00a0 website, which you can find here:\u00a0https:\/\/thelittlestbeebook.wixsite.com\/website<\/a><\/p>\n

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We have also made a printable bee book, which you can download on our website<\/p><\/div><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

Many thanks to Sharon Figueira, Tony Clark, Dr. Colin Bates, and my peers at Quest University Canada, for the time and knowledge that informed this story.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Tara Warkentin One in every three bites of food we eat depends on bees. Without bees, our local and global food systems would collapse. Recently,\u00a0Colony Collapse Disorder\u00a0has become a buzzword. It refers to the sudden death of honeybee colonies from a myriad of causes, from toxic pesticides to viruses, to disease, and is becoming…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":34,"featured_media":4776,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[222],"tags":[],"radio":[],"origine":[280,266,231],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4770"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/34"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4770"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4770\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4776"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4770"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4770"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4770"},{"taxonomy":"radio","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/radio?post=4770"},{"taxonomy":"origine","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/origine?post=4770"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}