Urban Ecoist

I ran across this on the Care2 network. I don’t think I am going out on a limb by assuming that many Urban Ecoists out there have gardens or at least a few pots of things growing. Why not help out in the Great Sunflower Project and count bees this next growing season?

It’s really quite simple, or so the website claims. This will be my first year participating, so if anyone participated last season, leave a comment or two describing your own experience if you are so inclined.

The Great Sunflower Project is meant to study the health of the urban bee. It is well documented that bees are disappearing in the wild and in agricultural areas, and as bees are a very valuable resource for pollinating many of the things we eat and use in our daily lives, the health of bee populations could not be more important. Studies focus on the wild bees, but fewer studies have looked at the health of urban bee populations.

We know that pollinators are declining in certain wild and many agricultural landscapes. However, little is known about urban pollinators. Our recent data on bumble bees in an urban setting suggests that urban bees may also be declining (McFrederick & LeBuhn 2006, Fenter and LeBuhn submitted). While the loss of these pollinators is important, it is more important to understand what effect these losses have had on pollinator services.

We do not know much about how healthy bee populations are maintained in an urban environment. Because natural habitats are uncommon in urban landscapes, they may not provide enough resources to support viable pollinator communities. However, if other habitats, such as urban gardens and restored areas, are sufficiently connected to natural habitat, then native populations may thrive. — The Great Sunflower Project

I tend to advocate making your urban garden a home to all things wild and helpful, so putting in a sunflower or two, in addition to the beauty they bring, will also bring bees to your garden. The bees will pollinate everything else you grow or let grow, and in return you get vegetables, fruit, and seeds for your next season.

If you join the Great Sunflower Project, you will receive seeds for a wild, native sunflower variety called the lemon queen. Plant the seeds (sunflowers are notoriously easy to grow from seed) and sit back. You can plant the sunflower in pots if you don’t have traditional garden space. While sitting back enjoying your garden, write down how many bees come to the flowers on your sunflowers. Make a note of what time of day, the temperature, and the date. That’s all there is to it. You enter the data on the website under your account. The Project is specifically interested in how long it takes five bees to visit a single plant. And if you can identify the type of bee, even better.

So get the kids involved in this one. The website offers lot of interesting info on bees of all shapes and sizes, as well as how to attract more bees to your garden. There is also resources for teachers and students.

urban garden, city garden, bees, honeybees, pollination, colony collapse disorder, wild bees, bee health, flowers, vegetables, seeds, sunflower, great sunflower project, kids, gardening