RESPONSES TO POLLINATOR DECLINES

Piney Woods Journal Submission 2018

Most of us don’t often think much about insects in our world.  When we do, it’s often with a determination to avoid mosquitoes and other pesky, stinging, and sometimes disease-carrying insects.  We have heard about West Nile, Lyme disease, and other insect maladies and hope our outdoor activities have little insect interactions.
   
Reports about drastic declines in bee, butterfly, and other insect pollinator populations are getting more and more common though.  One recent, featured article in the New York Times was entitled “The Insect Apocalypse Is Here: What Does It Mean for the Rest of Life on Earth?”  The article quotes E.O. Wilson, naturalist and proponent of biodiversity and environmental restoration, who said that it is insect pollinators or “the little things that run the natural world.”  Trillions of insects going from flower to flower globally pollinate many of our critical food crops and even more the wild plants that are the foundation of life on this earth.  Insects are also critical for the survival of bird and fish populations, who feed upon them, and for soil nutrition.

Awareness and actual actions taken concerning this and related environmental challenges have been much stronger in Europe than in the USA.  Even in our country, the Times-Picayune reported earlier this year that Louisiana ranks second-worst among the fifty states on a wide range of environmental indicators.  There are, however, individuals, organizations and institutions in this state that are trying both to educate the public and undertake direct actions to improve pollinator habitat and forage.
State universities, such as UL-Lafayette, continue to conduct research on better forage sources for pollinators to be planted along state highways and right of ways.  Some choices, such as crimson clover, can really help many pollinators, but those plants can also support a few insects, such as the red-banded stinkbug, which have had harmful effects on our state soybean and other crops.  Finding better habitat and forage sources to support key pollinators takes commitments of institutional research funding and experimentation.

Europe has long banned certain chemicals commonly used in the USA for crop spraying and seed preparation, such as neonicotinoids.  Some scientists have claimed that bees and other pollinators exposed to even low levels of neonicotinoids have fatal or harmful effects and that bees are doing better in cities than in rural areas with their monocultures and typical crop planting and spraying practices.  Other scientists have disputed that neonicotinoids play that important of a role in pollinator declines and identify a number of other reasons for these declines.  Climate changes, particular pollinator pests and viruses, and loss of weedy habitat due to human expansion and development choices are just some of these reasons. 

The Louisiana Pollinator Cooperative Conservation Program has been trying to raise awareness of ways that row crop farmers and agricultural chemical applicators, can limit the harmful effects of farm chemicals.  LSU Ag Center entomologist, Sebe Brown, along with the LSU Ag Center, the Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry, the Natural Resources Conservation Service, and other interested organizations have met to try to develop practical recommendations and educational material.  These recommendations include establishing and sharing GPS coordinates for hobbyist and commercial bee hives as well as marking bee hive locations with high-visibility “bee aware” flags to reduce pesticide and mosquito straying by trucks and airplanes.  The program also involves conducting better training programs for chemical applicators, with advice such as applying pesticides late in the day when pollinators have greatly decreased their foraging.   These efforts by scientists and others represent a small fraction, though, of what seems to be needed to make a real difference.

Pollinators are facing a difficult survival in their migrations from diminishing areas of potential habitat and forage.  Activities are well underway in some cities, such as Oslo, Norway, to build bee and pollinator “highway” systems.  Citizens are being encouraged and they are cooperating there in developing more backyards, parks, school grounds, and roof tops in urban areas into pollinator gardens, to create interlinked resources for pollinators. Participants can list and map their plantings on a particular web site. The aim is to encourage more residents to track and become involved in expanding forage and habitat for pollinators.  

A somewhat similar approach for community involvement and tracking of participants is being used in Bellingen Shire in Australia.  The Bellingen Bee Sanctuary promotes dialogue and local actions in the area in order to reduce pesticide, herbicide and fungicide use and convert to non-harmful alternatives.  Its web site asks residents to take a role in the survival of native bees by declaring their own properties as bee sanctuaries and growing beneficial plants in their pollinator gardens.
 
Movement in this direction in the USA and in our region has been slower, but there have been certain efforts by universities as well as beekeeping and gardening associations or clubs.  Programs have been presented and brochures have been developed and distributed concerning various pollinator challenges and possible citizen responses.  The LSU Ag Center offers information resources on its website concerning topics such as planting pollinator gardens and constructing backyard bee shelters or hotels. Bee hotels have even become something of a recent fad, with many attractive models for these shelters being offered for sale by certain retailers.  It might take a bit more reading or research though for consumers to recognize the difference between some visually appealing shelter designs and backyard shelters that fits effectively the needs of certain pollinators.  Many typical bird houses can be converted, by filling these with soft bedding and reducing the size of the entry, to work well as bumblebee hotels.  The designs commonly displayed and offered for sale online can be useful, if often adapted slightly, for some native and solitary bees, but many other solitary bees actually live in the ground.  For these pollinators, changes in gardening or lawn preparation practices can help provide more and better habitat. 

       [Different types of bee hotel designs found in an impressive display wall at an English hotel]  

Information definitely exists that can lead the public to much better choices regarding pollinator habitat protection and enhancement; a major challenge is gaining more public awareness that these issues deserve at least some small measure of their personal involvement.