Pollination | A Pollinator Health Podcast

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 bees collect, you can trace it back to the plant that they were actually visiting.” – Pierre Lau. Learn more about this episode of PolliNation at http://blogs.oregonstate.edu/pollinationpodcast/2019/03/25/pierre-lau/

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 about this episode of PolliNation at http://blogs.oregonstate.edu/pollinationpodcast/2019/03/18/dr-casey-delphia/

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.oregonstate.edu/pollinationpodcast/2019/03/11/kim-flottum/

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/pollinationpodcast/2019/02/25/steve-peterson/

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 PolliNation at http://blogs.oregonstate.edu/pollinationpodcast/2019/02/18/dr-priyadarshini-chakrabarti/

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.oregonstate.edu/pollinationpodcast/2019/02/04/lynda-boyer/

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/pollinationpodcast/2019/01/28/kathleen-baughman/

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/2019/01/21/harry-vanderpool/

  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://bit.ly/PolliNation-82

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." - Dr. Valerie Peters. Learn more about this episode of PolliNation at http://blogs.oregonstate.edu/pollinationpodcast/2019/01/07/dr-valerie-peters/

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/dr-christina-mogren/

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/

Emily Erickson talks about the role of garden plants in bee conservation and how plant breeding may be changing the attractiveness of garden plants to bees. "This [data] gives us a really cool system where we can isolate these single traits in the context of the whole flower. So we can keep everything else consistent and then ask, 'what if it was red instead of orange? Does that matter?'." - Emily Erickson. Learn more about this episode of PolliNation at http://blogs.oregonstate.edu/pollinationpodcast/2018/12/13/emily-erickson/

In this episode, we hear about the City of Fife’s initiative to increase the amount of blooming clover available to bees on their city properties. "Clover attracts bees and other pollinators, so it benefits the ecology of the area." - David Cantlin. Learn more about this episode of PolliNation at http://blogs.oregonstate.edu/pollinationpodcast/2018/12/10/david-cantlin/

Listen in to learn how different bees divide up the responsibilities of finding and gathering food, and why they developed this method of foraging. "I can only imagine if in my neighborhood, every couple of days the grocery store closed and popped up somewhere else. How would you deal with that?" - Dr. Chelsea Cook. Learn more about this episode of PolliNation at http://blogs.oregonstate.edu/pollinationpodcast/2018/12/02/dr-chelsea-cook/

Listen in to learn more about eco-lawns, what brought Amy into this business, and what makes eco-lawns ideal for all different kinds of home owners. "I think I've always wanted to something that helped other people, and that's turned into something that can not only help people, but animals, insects, and the environment." - Amy Cox. Learn more about this episode of PolliNation at http://blogs.oregonstate.edu/pollinationpodcast/2018/11/26/amy-cox/

Listen in to learn more about what drew Lila to Osmia lignaria, and how she is finding the effect of these bees on their landscape, and vice versa. "[Osmia] are really easy to work with, they're easy to buy, which is rare for a native bee source, and they're really easy systems to put in different places, so it was almost easier [for me to get into] than bumblebees." - Lila Westreich. Learn more about this episode of PolliNation at http://blogs.oregonstate.edu/pollinationpodcast/2018/11/19/lila-westreich/

Learn more about the recent research studying the effects of glyphosate on honeybees, and how glyphosate can indirectly affect their gut homogenate. "Those lactobacillus bacteria are supposed to not be sensitive to the glyphosate, so it's weird that the single dose would affect them, but when there's a double dose, there seems to be no change." - Addision DeBoer. Learn more about this episode of PolliNation at http://bit.ly/PolliNation-73

Listen in to learn how Garth Mulkey helped develop the bee protection protocol for specialty seed growers, and why specialty seed growers need bees. "[The bees] are even more critical in our hybrid productions, because the females in this production do not produce their own pollen, so if we don't have bees, we don't harvest seed." - Garth Mulkey Learn more about this episode of PolliNation at http://bit.ly/PolliNation-72