For students, faculty, personnel from federal and state agencies, museums, environmental organizations and consulting firms
Native Bees as Pollinators: Diversity, Ecology, Conservation and Habitat Enhancement July 10 - 16, 2016 Instructors: Alison Dibble, Frank Drummond, Sara Bushmann Location: Eagle Hill Institute, Steuben, Me Concerns about native bees and their crucial role in crop pollination (e.g., wild blueberry) have prompted increased attention in these important insects, of which Maine has about 280 species. This seminar will emphasize challenges in native bee conservation, and is planned to be of interest to land managers, land trusts, natural historians, foresters, teachers, students, gardeners, landscape designers, growers, and artists. We will explore relationships between common native bees and wild and cultivated plants. During field excursions, participants will develop skills in observing native bees on flowers, photographing insects, and quantifying pollinator resources at blueberry farms, gardens, natural areas, and other habitats. Lectures will feature bee biology, diversity, and conservation, some basics of plant reproductive biology, flowers as pollen and nectar sources, mating sites, nest habitats, competition with introduced bees, enhancing pollinator habitat, potential effects of climate change, and impacts of pesticides, disease and pests. Lab sessions, using microscopes and important online bee keys, will feature bee identification to genus, and a close look at plant resources. Participants can prepare a collection of common bees for their own reference, and will take home a better understanding of how to provide pollinator habitat for conservation lands, commercial and home applications. about the instructors Dr. Alison C. Dibble, Ph.D., ([email protected]) is a conservation biologist and botanist of Brooklin, Maine. This is her fourth year to teach the native bee seminar with Frank Drummond. She works as Assistant Research Professor at the University of Maine, where she mentors students and studies bee behavior on plantings to improve bee habitat. She contracts with farmers throughout Maine to prepare Farm Bill supported pollinator habitat enhancement plans through the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service. Francis A. Drummond, Ph.D., ([email protected]) is Professor of Applied Ecology as well as Blueberry Extension Pollination Specialist in the School of Biology and Ecology at the University of Maine at Orono. He has diverse research interests, including research in wild blueberry pollination and reproductive ecology, stress from herbivory and frost, plant population genetics, agricultural production practices that affect pollination and vegetative growth, evolutionary tradeoffs in flowering versus vegetative growth, and bee conservation. Dr. Sara L. Bushmann ([email protected]) is a teacher and applied agricultural ecologist whose focus is Maine's wild bees and the plants they pollinate. Her current research involve a survey of wild bees found on Maine's islands. For general information, go to http://eaglehill.us/programs/nhs/natural-history-seminars.shtml For course calendar and course descriptions, go to http://www.eaglehill.us/programs/nhs/nhs-calendar.shtml For application information and cost breakdown, go to http://www.eaglehill.us/programs/general/application-info.shtml For more information, contact [email protected], 207-546-2821 x 1
