Image Credit: CFJC Today

By Adam Donnelly

BUZZ BUZZ

Thompson Shuswap Master Gardeners conduct annual bee count

Jul 29, 2019 | 4:28 PM

KAMLOOPS — Much has been made about the plight of honeybees across Canada and all over North America, but much less is known about native populations of pollinators.

This weekend, the Kamloops Shuswap Master Gardeners Association, in collaboration with the TRU Biology Department, spent Saturday morning at McArthur Island Park to count bees. The hope was to identify which bees are present in our city, in order to help recognize the health of native bee populations.

The skies overhead looked ominous Saturday morning. But that didn’t deter the handful of citizen scientists at McArthur Island Park’s Butterfly Garden from stalking their targets.

“We’re counting pollinators to function groups,” Thompson Shuswap Master Gardeners Citizen Science coordinator Elaine Sedgman explained. “Our participants here have been trained to identify the pollinators as bumblebees, honeybees, hairy-belly bees, pollen pants bees, flies, and wasps.”

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2019 was the third year the group held their annual bee count. Over the years, the results have been surprising. Sedgman says a lot depends on the weather.

“[2017] was really warm… it was about 30 C, and we saw I think about 70 bumblebees, piles of bumblebees,” Sedgman remembered. “Last year it dropped. In fact, overall, all of our counts of bumblebees dropped, so I was a bit worried. This year we’re not sure because we haven’t collated all our numbers yet.”

Image Credit: CFJC Today

Samantha Suppanz was one of the counters out spotting bees Saturday. She says she saw plenty of pollinators doing their thing.

“So many bumblebees, it’s quite crazy,” Suppanz said. “Usually, when I do this survey, there are more honeybees. It’s nice to see that there are more bumblebees because they’re a native species.”

Suppanz is a recent TRU Biology Grad, and thus, knows the importance of bees and similar pollinators to the health of our ecosystem.

Image Credit: CFJC Today

“I think it’s like 80 percent of our crops are pollinated by bees,” Suppanz said. “If the bees were to disappear, that would heavily impact us.”

Saturday’s weather might have harmed the numbers of certain species of bees out pollinating. But for Sedgman, it’s essential we take steps to protect bee populations in our community, including preserving habitat and maintaining good sources of food.

“We really need flowers that bloom throughout the year, especially for bumblebees,” Sedgman said. “They start foraging early in the spring and go on late in the fall. They need flowers which are rich in pollen and nectar throughout the whole summer.”