Insect enthusiasts gathered outside the Torrey Life Science Building (TLS) on the morning of Saturday, Sept. 6 for a pollinator walk that shed light on local bee species.
The event, hosted by the University of Connecticut’s (UConn) Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, was led by Matthew Donahue, a third-year PhD student in the program. Donahue specializes in urban bees, the main feature of the walk.
The walk began at the purple sage plants outside the TLS Building. Donahue made use of a net and glass vial to capture bees. The participants, which included both students from UConn and members of the public, could observe the contained bees up close as Donahue explained the species.
Donahue began by explaining the difference between honeybees and bumblebees. He said it’s easy to distinguish the slender body of honeybees from the wide, fuzzy appearance of bumblebees. He also explained that bumblebees do not have barbed stingers like honeybees, making their stings less painful.
After some waiting, Donahue netted a male striped sweat bee that was flying around the flowers, most likely looking for a female. A metallic attention-grabbing green color on the head and thorax supplemented the traditional black-and-yellow pattern.
Audience members were able to pet the bee, as male bees lack stingers. Its body felt soft and hummed with energy, giving off a lot of vibration for such a small creature.
Donahue then led the group to UConn’s Botanical Conservancy, where a plethora of flowering plants grew in the garden outside the greenhouses. He showed off some makeshift bee habitats in the area he had made with straws.
“If you want, you can just get a piece of PVC pipe, make it six or eight inches, and then fill it with straws that are about the same length,” he said. “And over a year or two, you’ll start to see bees coming in and building their nests.”
Donahue mentioned that you can research the preferred hole size for different bee species and provide straws suited for whichever species you want to house. He referred to the NC State website as a great resource for size preferences and other information to make these shelters.
Donahue said the habitats often attract solitary bees, who make their own nests instead of living in hives. In warmer months they lay eggs alongside pollen in sectioned-off cells. When the bee larvae emerge, they consume the pollen for energy to form pupae, which are similar to cocoons. They stay dormant in this state through winter until they are ready to emerge as adult bees in the spring.
Afterward, he explained how plants with pith, a kind of tissue in their stems, can also help bees nest. While the process happens naturally, he said people can also help out by cutting off the tops of dead pith plants, like milkweed, so bees can lay eggs in the stem in future seasons.
Donahue explained that such man-made bee habitats and assistance can be especially helpful in urban settings where bees struggle to find nesting places.
“Because they mulch [at UConn], we don’t get a lot of ground nesting species,” he said. “That’s pretty common in urban areas, developed areas, pretty much all around the board … which is a bummer because more than half of bees actually live in the ground.”
Keston Sun, a third-semester molecular and cell biology major, appreciated getting to learn more about bees and see how many different species lived around UConn.
“The most interesting part was just learning about the basics, especially between honeybees and bumblebees,” Sun said. “I thought bees were bees, right?”
Vanessa Blair-Glantz, a graduate certificate student in UConn’s Department of Natural Resources and the Environment, came to the event as someone who loves bees because “they’re really cute and important.” She made use of the walk to grab some photos with her zoom lens, equipped for capturing bees.
“It’s cool that they’re getting people outside and with activities,” Blair-Glantz said. “That’s what drew me to it, getting outside and meeting people.”
Donahue’s work with urban bees and information about future pollinator walks he hosts can be found on his project’s Instagram page, urban.beevolution.