Have you ever wondered...
What plants do pollinators like?
How can i see more butterflies in my
yard?
Are honeybees the only bees?
Is it true that beetles pollinate plants
too?
...or even: why are beetles so cute?
Are bees good? Are bees bad?
We've had some of those same questions
too. We're the SEAS Bees:
a Master's project group from the
university of michigan school for
environment and sustainability
we're working together to raise
awareness around pollinator related
issues
and improve campus habitat for
pollinators
earth fest is virtual this year but
we're so excited to share our project
with you
let's meet the seas bees team
hey guys i'm penny a third year
landscaping architecture
and conservation college students in
seas
uh i love dogs and i fell in love with
bees since this project
nice to see you here hey guys my name is
zoe i
am a second year master's student with a
concentration in behavior education and
communication
when i'm not studying i really enjoy
exploring the outdoors
reading and playing ultimate for speed
my name is savannah delesi i'm a second
year graduate student at umc
studying conservation ecology and
environmental justice
and i'm super passionate about creating
pollinator habitats that are healthy
protected and sustainable
hey i'm rachelle roach and i'm a third
year master's student in the landscape
architecture program
hi everybody my name is beth i am a
second year master's student in
conservation ecology at seas
and i love everything about bugs and i
hope that i can convince
everyone else too as well
our project has three main research
areas one
enhanced habitat for pollinators on
campus by providing
research-based 2.
increased awareness education and
celebration of achievements in regards
to pollinators
and 3. identification of a support
network
of partners on and off campus who can
continue to support these quality
efforts long term
these three research areas are an
important part of our goal of getting u
of m b
campus certified through the xerxes
society this organization is the largest
science based organization dedicated to
invertebrate conservation
they created the b city and b campus usa
initiatives
to spread support for pollinator
conservation across the country
you can see which cities and campuses
are already certified here
a lot of people now have some sense of
the importance of pollinators
you may have even heard that one out of
every three bites of food that you eat
is courtesy of insect pollination
it's true in ninety percent of the
world's wild plants depend on
pollinators to reproduce
the science is increasingly clear that
invertebrates and pollinators in
particular
are declining and that maintaining
pollinator-friendly habitat is key to
their success
pollination conservation can serve as a
model for conservation of many organisms
or services
this is because when considering
pollinators site to landscape level
planning is essential
at the same time conservationists have
to consider institutional challenges
and the interests and values of multiple
stakeholders
we'd like to give you a few tips on how
you can improve your own pollinator
habitat in your own backyard
tip number one flint native native
plants attract native pollinators
many species of bees and butterflies
have evolved to interact with a specific
species of native plants
planting natives strengthens these
pairwise interactions and allows for
greater pollinator species richness
native plants are best for native
pollinators one of our goals is to
improve existing pollinator habitat on
campus by adding more native plantings
today we'd like to give you a quick tour
of some of the pollinator habitat that
you can already find right on campus
right here we have goldenrod these
really pretty yellow flowers as you can
see
attract all different types of
pollinators from bees butterflies to
even wasps
right here these super pretty purple
flowers
are called iron and as you can see
this fun fact is actually a bunch of
tiny little flowers as you can see right
here
that make up this one big inflorescence
and then oh we got a little fall on here
isn't that cool
a leaf cutter b
all right so now we've arrived right
outside of the national history museum
and the biological site building um on
my left over here
and uh let's come and check out see uh
what kind of
lumen flowers we have right here
all right so here we have a
species from the sunflower genus
notice how it has you know like kind of
a large landing pad right here
so pollinators can especially
butterflies can just kind of like
sit here chill you know eat dinner yeah
and right here we have some blue vervain
and it's part of the genus firmino
and it is known for its long moving
period
and its drought tolerance
we have arrived at the robert h murray
engineering center and we're here to
continue our tour
of the plants on michigan's campus
follow me
some wild geranium
and got a black-eyed susan
also known as rebecca genus type
we're gonna come up on some common
yarrow
which has some really really pretty
small white flowers
and they have a little bit of a pinkish
tint if you can see like
right there
right here you have some joe pie weed
which is
super attractive all different
pollinators uh butterflies love them
this little beetle right here really
likes them
hey guys now we're at each pod community
garden looking for
some more native plants right here we
have
the anise hyssop and one of the really
cool things about this plant is that
if you rub the leaves
it kind of has a bit of like a licoricey
smell so another common name for this
plant is
giant's fragrance
tip number two is to remember that
variety is the spice of life
if you're trying to attract pollinators
plant a variety of bloom colors
flower shapes and species that bloom at
different times of the season
the more diverse your garden is the
greater amount of pollinators it will
attract
many pollinators have evolved to be
attracted to a certain flower color
or have specific mouth shapes that work
best with a particular flower shape
different bees have a range of different
tongue lengths
bees with longer tongues might be
attracted to flowers with more tubular
shapes
while bees with shorter tongues might be
attracted to large flat flowers like
golden alexander or wild carrot
the highest quality pollinator habitats
have floral resources from early spring
all the way into fall your choices are
really endless
tip number three is to delay your fall
yard or garden cleanup
native bees nest and overwinter in a
variety of places
about 70 percent of bee species nest in
the ground will the other thirty percent
nest in cavities and dead wood
branches and plant stems
other insects such as butterflies moths
beetles hoverflies
and queen bumblebees over winter in leaf
litter and under loose soils
having these diverse although sometimes
unsightly features
can increase a likelihood of nesting and
overwintering success for many different
pollinators
if you leave these natural items in your
yard or garden you might be rewarded
next season
with even more pollinator visits
if you want to create even more nesting
habitat for bees in your garden
and have it look pretty cool too you
could look into creating a bee hotel
this is the bee hotel in the east quad
community garden
the different shapes of materials that
you can include in your bee hotel
provide overwintering and nesting
habitats for different species of bees
just remember though that bee hotels do
need to be cleaned out annually to
prevent parasite and might build up
inside of the slots
so much of the bug conservation buzz is
about honeybees
it's true that honeybees are great
pollinators make honey and are really
cute but did you know that there are 450
species of bees that are native to
michigan
tip number four is to learn even more
about native bees
and all the other pollinating insects
that could be in your region
there are bumblebees sweat bees
leaf cutter bees carpenter bees
squash bees cellophane bees miner bees
mason bees and more and they all
pollinate different flowers and add
ecosystem value in different ways
and these are just the bees by diving
into the world of pollinators you'll
meet pollinating flies like hoverflies
beetles like goldenrod soldier beetles
amazing butterflies like swallowtails
skippers
and monarchs and even pollinating wasps
that are important too
there are so many native pollinators
that you can observe and attract to your
own yard
we hope that you're excited about native
bee diversity and can share just how
many bee and other pollinating insect
species there are besides honeybees
we'll put a book list at the end of this
video to give you some resources to get
started
tip number five lastly we encourage you
to reduce pesticide use in your gardens
as pesticides pose a great risk to the
health of pollinators
pesticides are harmful to pollinators in
two main ways
through directly poisoning a
pollinator's floral resources
and by pollinators coming in contact
with the chemical residue
left by pesticides on leaves and in the
surrounding soil
it is especially important to eliminate
the use of systemic herbicides
as they can be incorporated into your
plant's vascular system
and adversely affect its nectar and
floral resources
for anywhere between a few months to a
few years
the reasoning behind pesticide use often
is to maintain the aesthetics of
herbaceous plants in the landscape
but many problem pests that cause this
damage
can be controlled with a healthy
population of beneficial insects
also much of the damage done by these
pests is purely cosmetic
and doesn't adversely affect your
plant's biology
we hope that you enjoyed learning about
our project and visiting some campus
pollinator habitat
and that you can use our five tips to
create or improve your own pollinator
garden
we also encourage you to check out a
survey that we created with it
you can test the pollinator potential of
the habitat in your own backyard
the link to our survey can be found in
this video's description
it's a lot of fun especially in your own
yard we'd also like to give a very
special thanks to u of m ground services
who continually use all five of these
tips to improve pollinator habitat on u
of m's campus
our project definitely couldn't be done
without you and it's been so wonderful
to work with you
we challenge you to critically think
about how you can become better stewards
of pollinator conservation
i promise that you'll be so amazed by
everything that pollinators do
you
