Category: Blog

The next Wild Pollinator Count is on soon. What’s it all about?

Published on by Manu SaundersLeave a comment

Spring has well and truly arrived! Have you seen any of the new season’s wild pollinators in your local patch yet?

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We’re only two months away from the next National Pollinator Count – it runs from 13-20 November 2016. If you’ve missed the first few and are wondering what this event is all about, here’s a brief recap:

– What’s it all about? The national Wild Pollinator Count started in November 2014. We started the count to raise awareness about Australia’s thousands of wild insect pollinators…not just our gorgeous native bees, but all the flies, butterflies, wasps, moths, and beetles that are so often overlooked. (There are plenty of birds, mammals and reptiles that also pollinate, but we just focus on insects). Many of these insects aren’t just full-time pollinators – they are also important to ecosystems in other ways, for example by providing natural pest control services. The count runs biannually, in the second full week of April (autumn) & November (spring), every year. We hope that participants will join in regularly, as this will give them the opportunity to keep track of seasonal patterns of wild pollinators and flowers in their local area.

– Is this a citizen science project? There are many different definitions of a citizen science project. We think any project that encourages non-scientists to engage with scientific methods on a regular basis is a citizen science project. Our count protocol is based on standard scientific methods that pollination ecologists around the world use to collect data on pollinator insects. Having a standard counting method, which can be conducted at multiple locations within a set period of time, enhances the quality of our data. Continue reading “The next Wild Pollinator Count is on soon. What’s it all about?” →

Searching for wild pollinators in winter

Published on by Manu SaundersLeave a comment

My partner and I do an Albury to south east Queensland road trip every year to visit my family. This year we holidayed during winter, which made the trip even more enjoyable. We left home just before a particularly cold Antarctic blast blew through town. But I wasn’t just looking forward to escaping the weather and catching up with friends. It had been a while since I’d seen any wild pollinators around Albury, so I was keen to spot some on our travels north. Continue reading “Searching for wild pollinators in winter” →

A pollination predicament: Bumblebees and their presence in Tasmania

Published on by Tobias Smith1 Comment

In February 1992, in a garden in the waterfront suburb of Hobart, Battery Point, a couple of bumblebees turned up. They were Bombus terrestris, the large earth bumblebee, and their presence was a surprise, given that no native bumblebees exist in Tasmania or mainland Australia. At first only two bees were seen, but by the following year they were popping up all around Hobart. It is highly likely that one or a few bumblebee queens had made it to Tasmania by boat from New Zealand, where they persist in successful, long-term, feral populations. The Battery Point bees could have arrived as either accidental stowaways, or as a deliberate and illegal introduction by an unknown offender? Now, exactly 24 years later, bumblebees have successfully established across every region of Tasmania, and are found in both urban environments and a wide range of native vegetation types.

Early this month an Australian Senate Committee was established to assess “The risks and opportunities associated with the use of the bumblebee population in Tasmania for commercial pollination purposes”. The committee lists seven focus points related to the potential use of bumblebees in commercial crop pollination, which they plan to investigate further.

The large earth bumblebee, Bombus terrestris, is now common across Tasmania. Here it visits an introduced thistle.
The large earth bumblebee, Bombus terrestris, is now common across Tasmania. In this photo a worker bee visits an introduced thistle. Large earth bumblebees were introduced to Tasmania from New Zealand in 1992. They are not native to New Zealand either, however, having been introduced there from England over 100 years ago for the pollination of red clover. While Australia has an estimated 2000 native bee species, we have no native bumblebees (Bombus spp.). Photo: Loy Xingwen

Bumblebees and crop pollination

For some time, glasshouse farmers (in particular tomato and capsicum growers, both in Tasmania and on the Australian mainland) have been calling for the legalised use of introduced bumblebees in the pollination of their crops. Evidence from overseas shows that bumblebees are very effective pollinators of crops such as tomatoes, capsicums, eggplants, chillies, and blueberries. The reason for this is that these plant species benefit from a type of pollination known as ‘buzz pollination’. The pollen from buzz pollinated plants is presented in their flowers differently to the way it is in most other types of flowering plants. In ‘typical’ flowers, the pollen is presented on the outside of the male part of the flower, the anther. In plants that are buzz pollinated, however, the anther is tubular in structure, and the pollen is presented inside this. To get the pollen out of this tube most effectively the flower is vibrated, to shake the pollen out of the end of the tube. Continue reading “A pollination predicament: Bumblebees and their presence in Tasmania” →

Wild pollinator gardens

Published on by Manu Saunders4 Comments

Our next wild pollinator count is on again in April. Pollinators in autumn?! Yes, spring and summer are generally when we think of wild pollinators. But they are around in autumn too, and they will be looking for plenty of resources to build their nests and provide for the next generation. Is your garden ready?

Flowers, the obvious first step!

  • Many online pollinator flower guides are for northern hemisphere gardens, so most recommend plants that are not native to Australia. But most of these flowers are still great for attracting wild pollinators here, especially fragrant herbs like lavender, salvia, coriander and basil.
  • If you prefer a native garden, the Rural Industries and Regional Development Corporation has released a free-to-download guide to planting for pollinators. It is aimed at honey bees but is also relevant to wild pollinators, and provides handy information on seasonal flowering times and regional differences.
  • Plan flowers for every season, so your garden can sustain pollinator populations throughout the year. Also choose modern hybrid varieties carefully, as some have been bred for quantity (size and fullness) not quality (nectar and perfume).
  • Plant a riot of colour! There is no single best colour for pollinators, as different insects have different levels of colour vision, and other factors like nectar and flower shape also determine whether a pollinator visits.

P1040097 Continue reading “Wild pollinator gardens” →