Discover Top Posts Tagged with #native pollinators

We're going to see if this works.

Ah HA! It did work! This is a walk through of the garden last year, right before sunset so you get the lighting and the sounds of the birds and the insects. I replay this over and over when I'm stressed and need something peaceful to think about.

#gardening #native pollinators #native gardening #who knew if you planted things that belong here the drought wouldn't affect them #mindfulness #come take a walk with me #pollinator gardening

**URGENT** HELP SAVE THE USGS BEE LAB!

PLEASE circulate this as widely as possible, as soon as possible.

Hi all, you may not know me but I am a native bee researcher in the eastern US. People like me work to study and protect the 3600 species of native bees in North America, many of which are in severe decline.

We just received devastating news, that unfortunately was not surprising. The Trump administration's proposed 2026 budget is set to defund most of the ecological research happening at the USGS, and that includes zeroing out the budget for the USGS Native Bee Inventory & Monitoring Lab.

Don't know them? Maybe you've seen stunning photos like this:

These gorgeous and evocative focus-stacked photos of native bees on black backgrounds - all of which are public domain - come from the USGS Bee Lab (here's their Flickr). Through these, they've helped bring the beauty and importance of native bees to the public's attention. Hundreds if not thousands of news articles, videos, and publications use these photos.

But that is just one tiny slice of what the USGS Bee Lab does for pollinator conservation. Its primary role is much bigger; they provide technical support, research collaborations, and financial & grant partnerships to federal and state agencies, academic institutions and researchers, and much more, so we can study, manage, and protect North America's wild pollinators. They conduct research of their own that has led to species rediscoveries, and produce invaluable resources that have greatly advanced our understanding of wild bees and our approaches to studying and conserving them. They also provide the essential and irreplaceable service of bee identification. For those who don't know, identifying bees is hard. Sometimes Really Hard. And this lab is one of just a handful of places in the entire country who can identify some of the toughest groups of bees, and who sit on the forefront of breakthroughs on taxonomy and identification that the rest of us in this field rely on. Without this service, agencies and researchers trying to survey and monitor bees in order to track population declines, manage land, and get policy changed are stuck with a lot of nameless bees, severely limiting the usefulness of that data.

Tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of bee specimens pass through this lab annually, plus the thousands in permanent storage, from long-term monitoring efforts by state and federal agencies, and researchers like myself. They operate at a greater capacity than basically any other institution doing this kind of work. Few if any bee researchers in the eastern US, or even the country, have not benefitted from this lab's work, and those benefits are passed on to you through being able to protect pollinators and the services they provide both in agriculture and ecosystems.

This lab is headed up by scientist Sam Droege, who has dedicated decades of his life to this cause, and whom I consider not just a research partner but, humbly, a friend. I am utterly indebted to him for helping me get my start in this field, and for the support and kindness he has shown me and every other young professional who is passionate about pollinators. The Lab operates with an insanely small budget already, and a very limited staff, yet the impact they have is exponentially outsized. Losing the USGS Bee Lab would be a devastating blow to pollinator conservation in this country, at a time when native bee species are sitting on the precipice, and sustainable agriculture is non-negotiable for our future.

You can read more about the Bee Lab here. The Lab is not well-publicized, but it's a lifeline for the many dedicated people who work to try and protect pollinators and the environment at large.

SO WHAT CAN YOU DO?

Sam Droege has sent out a request for help, and has encouraged us to post on social media. This is what he wants you to do to help us save the Bee Lab.

This is verbatim:

What is Happening: · The USGS Bee Lab is at risk of being permanently closed due to cuts in the 2026 Federal Budget and looming federal RIF’s · Specifically, the Ecosystem Mission Area (EMA) budget, which funds the USGS Bee Lab and the Eastern Ecological Science center has been zeroed out · Thousands of layoffs to hit Interior, National Parks imminently - Government Executive What you can do · Write to your representatives, the White House, and the Department of the Interior that they should restore the funding for the USGS Bee Lab · Send digital or physical letters, write emails, post to social media What you should be highlighting: · Personal anecdotes about how the Bee Lab has impacted you or your organization · How important the research the Bee Lab is conducting is to your state Contact Information: 1. Representatives: Find Your Representative | house.gov 2. Senators: U.S. Senate: Contacting U.S. Senators 3. White House: Contact Us – The White House 4. Interior: [email protected] Send a copy of the letter to [email protected] Pass this email around. Post your response to social media

IT'S OK if you are not a scientist and have not directly interacted with the Bee Lab. Have you seen the lab's photos? Are you concerned about native pollinator declines? Are you aware of any pollinator conservation initiatives or policies in your own state - those almost certainly have drawn, directly or indirectly, from work the Lab has done. Speak about American food production and agriculture, how the Lab's research and collaborations are essential to safeguarding pollination services (this might help reach across the aisle).

Sam urges that these letters, emails, phone calls, etc, must happen quickly - within the next couple days. This information went out on May 8th and that is the day I am posting this. So please, don't wait.

If 'save the bees' has ever meant anything to you, this is the agency that is playing one of the biggest roles in this country in making that happen. Please, contact your representatives, and pass this call to action along however you can. Thank you.

#bees #native bees #pollinators #native pollinators #save the bees #usgs bee lab #usgs native bee inventory and monitoring lab #yes sam put his email out there so i'm going to post it as is #i just visited the lab in person a couple weeks ago and they're scrambling to get bee specimens in storage and out the door #i had that sinking feeling that i had to get my bees identified as soon as possible or i might not get the chance and here we are #i told him I'd help him in whatever way I can and so for his sake and mine please help us.#if you're a science blog and follow me PLEASE spread this around #time is of the essence. post on other platforms.#want something specific to mention? they rediscovered the chestnut mining bee. there's a smithsonian article that just came out #all about that. so you know. that was KIND OF A BIG DEAL #they also literally developed THE standardized protocol for bee monitoring. used by federal agencies and researchers alike.#THEY ARE THE BEE PEOPLE. THE BEEPLE. THE GOAT. THE OG

Metamorphosis of Phoebis sennae / Cloudless Sulfur

#Phoebis sennae #Phoebis #pieridae #Cloudless Sulfur #butterflies #Metamorphosis #Native pollinators #Native insects #Pollinators #Insects #Nature photography #Photography #photographers on tumblr #Durham #Durham NC #north carolina #Home #🌺🌻#Lepidoptera

new mini zine up! and it's all about milkweed~

free to download, but you can buy one pre-cut & folded here. native plants show us that we can be lifelines for species through small acts of caretaking… here in california, countless native plants like milkweed have nearly been wiped out by cattle ranchers and industrial scale farmers who only see value in what feeds their business... push back, sprout some milkweed.

#art #illustration #wildlife #zines #zine #free printable #native plants #butterflies #monarch butterfly #caterpillars #native pollinators #california #mariah-rose marie

Speaking of Taylor's checkerspot, it's a really interesting species to me, because they evolved using a single larval host plant, the Golden paintbrush, but now will also use lanceleaf plantain- which is an introduced species usually regarded as a weed except by herbalists.

What's fascinating is that the Golden paintbrush has iridoid glycosides, which the caterpillars incorporate into their bodies to protect themselves from predators by being poisonous and bitter tasting. The plantain also has iridoid glycosides, so when the Golden paintbrush became endangered, some of the Checkerspots were able to survive by switching host plants!

Now that the Golden paintbrush population is rebounding, I wonder if the butterflies will have a strong preference for the Golden brush, or will they continue to use both species?

#native plants #native pollinators #pnw #plants

Available from many seed providers: → Buckwheat → Borage → Sweet alyssum → Winter field peas → Native wildflower seeds (buy from a local source) → Clover (Microclover, Red clover, Crimson clover, White Dutch clover) → Self heal → Chamomile → Yarrow

Perennial ground covers available from most garden centres: → Lamb’s ear (Stachys byzantina) → Mediterranean creeping thyme (Thymus longicaulis) → Creeping thyme, multiple species and varieties of Thymus praecox and Thymus serpyllum → Wooly thyme (Thymus praecox subs. britannicus) → Alpine Strawberry (Fragaria vesca) → Bugleweed (Ajuga reptans) → Wintergreen (Gaultheria procumbens) → Redwood sorrel (Oxalis oregana) →Wild ginger (Asarum canadense) → Bulbs: Crocus, Galanthus (snowdrops), Fritillaria, Narcissus (daffodil)

#youtube #video #garden #gardening #flowers #ground cover #fuck lawns #lawns #lawn care #lawn maintenance #wild flowers #native pollinators #native plants #grass

🪻🌿 🐝 🌱 ✨ // campanula & green metallic sweat bees // gouache on hot press paper // part of my native pollinators series

Tiny sweat bees are underlooked native pollinators. These solitary little guys nest in the ground and pollinate an incredibly wide array of native wildflowers and food crops, including squashes, melons, blueberries, and cranberries. They also love the bright purple bells of wild campanula!