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The Native Bees of Utah

Male Melissodes Bees
Sleeping on Sunflower
Courtesy and
Copyright © 2010 Jim Cane

The industry and cooperation of honeybees have inspired many a philosopher and society, including the Mormons who settled along the Wasatch front. The hive, or more specifically a skep, was later chosen as the emblem for the new state of Utah. But the honeybee, like it’s pioneer admirers, is a recent European immigrant, brought over for the wax and honey that colonies produce.

Utah did not lack for pollinators, however, prior to European settlement. More than 1000 species of native bees inhabit Utah, with several hundred species in any given county. A few of these bees — bumblebees and sweat bees — are social. They produce annual colonies headed by a queen. However, the vast majority of our bees are not social. For these, each adult female makes her own nest with no help from her sisters or mate.

Most solitary bee species nest underground; others use old beetle burrows in deadwood. The resident female subdivides her tunnel into bee-sized cavities. Each cavity receives a cache of pollen moistened with nectar and a single egg. There each grub-like larva will feed and develop in solitude. Most solitary bees will spend the winter here in their natal home.

Bombus griseocollis Queen
Foraging on Hedysarum
Courtesy and
Copyright © 2008 Jamie Strange

Native bees pollinate many of Utah’s wildflowers, doing so inadvertently as they busily gather pollen for their progeny. Many solitary bee species are taxonomic specialists, focusing all of their pollen foraging efforts on one or a few related genera of flowering plants. Some common hosts for specialist bees in Utah include squashes, sunflowers, globemallows and penstemons. Sweet honey does not result from the labors of solitary bees, but fruits and seeds do. The industry of Utah’s native bees merits our attention and admiration.

This is Linda Kervin for Bridgerland Audubon Society.

Credits:

Text: Jim Cane, Bridgerland Audubon Society

Additional Reading:

USDA-ARS Pollinating Insects – Biology, Management and Systematics Laboratory, https://www.ars.usda.gov/main/site_main.htm?modecode=54-28-05-00

Crop domestication facilitated rapid geographical expansion of a specialist pollinator, the squash bee Peponapis pruinosa, Margarita M. López-Uribe, James H. Cane, Robert L. Minckley, Bryan N. Danforth
Proc. R. Soc. B 2016 283 20160443; DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2016.0443. Published 22 June 2016https://rspb.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/283/1833/20160443.abstract

Hager, Rachel, Bees, Bees And More Bees! Researchers Find Over 650 Bee Species In Grand Staircase-Escalante, UPR-Utah Public Radio, Nov 20, 2018, https://www.upr.org/post/bees-bees-and-more-bees-researchers-find-over-650-bee-species-grand-staircase-escalante

Bumblebee Watch, https://www.bumblebeewatch.org/
Bumble Bee Watch is a citizen science project through the partnership of The Xerces Society, the University of Ottawa, Wildlife Preservation Canada, BeeSpotter, The Natural History Museum, London, and the Montreal Insectarium.

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USA National Phenology Network

Courtesy USA National Phenology Network

The study of recurring plant and animal life cycle events is phenology. It is the calendar of nature. This includes when plants flower, when birds migrate and when crops mature. Phenology is relevant to interactions between organisms, seasonal timing and large-scale cycles of water and carbon. Phenology is important to us for many reasons. Farmers need to know when to plant and harvest crops and when to expect pests to emerge. Resource managers use it to monitor and predict drought and assess fire risk. Vacationers want to know when the best fall colors will be or when the wildflower blooms will peak. Timing varies but we can discern patterns.

The USA National Phenology Network monitors the influence of climate on the phenology of plants, animals and landscapes. They encourage people to observe phenological events such as flowering, migrations and egg laying. The Phenology Network provides a place to enter, store and share these observations, which are then compiled and analyzed nationwide. Participants range from individual observers in their own backyards to professional scientists monitoring long-term plots. My husband and I monitor leafing and flowering of lilacs, a key species in the program.

These observations support a wide range of decisions made routinely by citizens, managers, scientists and others. This includes decisions related to allergies, wildfires, pest control, and water management.

I urge you to participate. The National Phenology Network has many public, private and citizen partners. It is a great way to become involved in a nation-wide effort to better understand our environment. All this information and much more is available at the National Phenology website, to which there is a link from our Wild About Utah website.

This is Linda Kervin for Bridgerland Audubon Society.

Credits:

Text: Linda Kervin, Bridgerland Audubon Society
Additional Reading:

Linda Kervin’s pieces on Wild About Utah

Phenology Tools for Community Science
USA National Phenology Network, https://www.usanpn.org/
Nature’s Notebook Education Program, US National Phenology Network, https://www.usanpn.org/nn/education

North American Bird Phenology Program, USGS Patuxent Wildlife Research Center, https://www.pwrc.usgs.gov/bpp/BecomeAParticipant.cfm

eBird, https://www.ebird.org/

iNaturalist, https://www.inaturalist.org/

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Blackbears

Black Bear Sitting
Photo Courtesy US FWS
Mike Bender, Photographer

Hi, this is Mark Larese-Casanova from the Utah Master Naturalist Program at Utah State University Extension.

I have to admit that it didn’t make much sense to me that yesterday was the start of summer. While sitting in the warm sun, feeling like winter forgot to give spring a turn in the seasonal cycle, I though of the American black bear, another mammal that also probably wondered when the warm weather would finally arrive.

Black bears are native to most of North America, even into northern Mexico. In Utah, black bears are common throughout many of the state’s forests. Contrary to its name, black bears tend to be medium to dark brown in the western US, although its color can range all the way from blonde or cinnamon to black.

As black bears emerge from their winter slumber, they are particularly hungry from several months of living mostly off of fat reserves. This is an even greater challenge for females because cubs are born in January or February and survive on the mother’s milk until spring. So, when spring arrives, they are more than happy to feed on a wide variety of foods, including fruits, nuts, grubs and other insects, small vertebrates, and carrion. Bears are most actively feeding around dawn or dusk, but may feed at other times of day if they become habituated to human food sources.

Young Male Blackbear Climbing Tree
Photo Courtesy US FWS
Steve Maslowski, Photographer

Black bears have been known to attack humans, although usually very infrequently. Attacks most often happen when a black bear is defending cubs or food, or as a result of becoming accustomed to obtaining food from people.

Will the black bears be as hungry for summer as we are? It might be best to not take any chances while out exploring the mountains this summer. When not eating, be sure to carry all food, garbage, and scented items, such as toothpaste and chapstick, in an airtight plastic bag or securely store them in a vehicle or bear-proof container. I’d even recommend carrying bear spray just to be safe. And, don’t forget to hold on tight to those pic-a-nic baskets!

For Wild About Utah, I’m Mark Larese-Casanova.

Credits:

Images: Courtesy US FWS: https://Images.fws.gov
Text:     Mark Larese-Casanova, Utah Master Naturalist Program at Utah State University Extension.
Additional Reading:

Burt, W. H. and R. P. Grossenheider. 1980. A field guide to the mammals. Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston. 289 pp.

Safety in Bear Country https://wildlife.utah.gov/dwr/learn-more/bear-safety.html

Utah Division of Wildlife Resources Utah Conservation Data Center https://dwrcdc.nr.utah.gov/rsgis2/Search/Display.asp?FlNm=ursuamer

 

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Wind, Hold on to Your Hat!

Graphical Forecasts – Central Rockies
NOAA National Weather Service
Western Regional Headquarters

Hi I’m Holly Strand.

On a recent camping trip on Utah’s Colorado Plateau, my brother and I were buffeted by strong sand-blasting winds for two days straight. Setting up camp was nearly impossible. Strong gusts ripped the tent away from us. Catching only the guylines, we flew the big green tent like a kite through the sagebrush. Eventually we pulled it down and got stakes in the ground. Unable to make a fire, we ate a cold dinner and tried to sleep –until the tent collapsed under the persistent onslaught of meteorological Furies. The next day, the sand-infused wind whipped us painfully as we descended into Horseshoe Canyon. Dust devils pursued us along the canyon floor.

Arriving home I read up on the cause of our discomfort. In simplest terms wind is caused by air moving from high to low pressure. The steeper the air pressure gradient—that is –the change in air pressure per unit distance–the stronger the resulting wind speed. Differences in air pressure are often caused by localized warming of air temperature. The warm air rises creating a spot of relatively low pressure ; then cooler air from a high pressure region rushes in to replace it.

Wind tends to blow much more forcefully near a frontal boundary. And our camp was located very close to the low pressure center of a stationary front. Although the wind was a nuisance, it was probably only blowing around 35 miles an hour. Meanwhile the record in Utah is 124 miles an hour –a wind gust measured at 11000 feet Snowbird. The strongest wind gust here in Logan was 94 miles an hour. Compare this to the highest wind on record anywhere—a gust measuring 253 miles per hour on Australia’s Barrow Island during a tropical cyclone. The record in the United States is 231 miles per hour on top of Mt. Washington in New Hampshire. Higher wind speeds than these may occur in tornadoes, but anemometers tend to malfunction at extreme speeds .

Luckily, we don’t have to worry much about tornadoes. Utah ranks very low in terms of tornado frequency. We average 2-33 a year with most of them occurring May through August. Utah tornadoes tend to be small and not last very long. Whirlwinds or dust devils are much more common. About 90% of them occur in the West Desert where there is plenty of loose, dry dust and sand to swirl around in the air.

Thanks to Marty Booth of the Utah Climate Center for help in developing this Wild About Utah episode.

For Wild About Utah, I’m Holly Strand.

Credits:

Photos: Courtesy US NOAA
Text: Holly Strand

Sources & Additional Reading:

National Weather Service (NOAA) “Dust Devils” https://www.wrh.noaa.gov/fgz/science/dustdvl.php?wfo=fgz [Accessed June 15, 2011]

National Weather Service (NOAA) Jetstream Online School for Weather. “Origin of Wind” https://www.srh.noaa.gov/srh/jetstream/synoptic/wind.htm [Accessed June 15, 2011]

National Weather Service (NOAA) Daily weather maps https://www.hpc.ncep.noaa.gov/dailywxmap/ [Accessed June 15, 2011]

Utah Climate Center https://climate.usurf.usu.edu/

Pope, Dan and Clayton Brough (eds.) Utah’s Weather and Climate. 1996. Salt Lake City: Publisher’s Press. https://www.amazon.com/Utah-Weather-Climate-D-Pope/dp/1567131743

https://www.photolib.noaa.gov