PolliNation Podcast

 Guest Mario Lupino joins host Andony Melathopoulos to discuss his PhD research on wildflower plantings in commercial apple orchards and a multi-year study testing pollinator attractant products. Learn how dedicating just 3–5% of orchard margins to native flowers can support nearly 100 of Washington's 600 native bee species — and whether commercial attractant sprays actually work.  Key Topics Covered: How Xerces Society and Pollinator Partnership help growers establish wildflower strips along field margins, ditches, and irrigation ponds Why only 3–5% of orchard landscape needs to be dedicated to plantings — with no loss of production area Findings that ~80% of bees were found in wildflower plantings just 1–3 feet wide running the orchard length ~100 native bee species discovered in orchard plantings (roughly 1/6 of Washington's 600 native species) Whether wildflower strips distract honeybees from fruit blossoms during peak bloom A 4-year study of commercial pollinator attractant products (pheromone sprays and hanging dispensers) in apple and pear orchards Results showing no significant difference in bee visitation or fruit quality between treated and untreated trees A marginal benefit to apple seed set in treated blocks, potentially correlating to sweeter fruit Why backyard growers should skip attractants and just plant more flowers  Resources & Organizations Mentioned:  Xerces Society (xerces.org) — designs and implements pollinator habitat plantings; seeds may be available free Pollinator Partnership (pollinator.org) — West Coast group assisting with wildflower seed mixes and planting design NRCS (Natural Resources Conservation Service) — partner biologists available to help growers establish habitat Wildflower planting options include perennial low-growing flowers, shrubs, and tree-based designs

Harry and Andony welcome back Northern California queen producer and almond pollination broker Russell Heitkam of Heitkam's Honey Bees to discuss looming challenges for the 2027 almond season. Heitkam reports high trucking costs driven by diesel prices (especially in California), labor increases, and expensive but necessary mite treatments, arguing beekeepers need to negotiate a per-hive increase of at least $15 per hive to cover transport and stay viable. He shares regional intel on elevated mite pressure, poor honey crops, tight finances, and early demand for Florida-made splits, suggesting pollination hive availability and quality could be tight even before winter losses. He also warns that a potential "super El Niño" could require heavy feeding and strong stocking rates. 

  Join us for a conversation with Shannon Mayhew, Stewardship Director and Biodynamic Estate Gardener at Brooks Wine. Shannon and the Brooks team were honored with the 2025 Oregon Bee Project Bee Steward Excellence Award for their outstanding commitment to pollinator health — from diverse flowering cover crops between vine rows to two acres of gardens designed to provide consistent forage for bees and other pollinators across the entire growing season. In this episode, we dig into what day-to-day stewardship looks like at a biodynamic winery, why pollinators matter to wine, and what other growers can learn from Shannon's approach.  Links: Brooks Wine: https://www.brookswine.com Oregon Bee Project — Brooks Wine: https://www.oregonbeeproject.org/brookswine

 Dr. Jordanna Sprayberry, Associate Professor & Director of Undergraduate Biology at Stony Brook University, joins the Pollination podcast to explain how agrochemical odors interfere with bees' ability to find flowers — and why that matters for entire ecosystems. Dr. Sprayberry is a pollination neuroethologist who studies how nervous systems process sensory information and how that processing drives foraging behavior. In this conversation, she breaks down her lab's groundbreaking "odor geometry" system for measuring olfactory pollution thresholds, shares findings from wind tunnel experiments on how bees search at different distances, and makes the case for replacing lawns with native plants — even before the science is fully settled. KEY FINDINGS DISCUSSED: Fungicide odor alone (without ingestion) changes bee foraging behavior Bees searching far from a flower patch weight color and odor equally; bees searching nearby rely primarily on color Beyond 30° of odor "distance" (measured via Euclidean odor geometry), bees no longer recognize floral scents as food Odor pollution may be most impactful for bees searching for new flower patches, not those foraging in established meadows Bumblebee colonies that fall below a resource threshold cannot produce queens, potentially crashing local populations Atmospheric pollutants (ozone, nitrous oxides) degrade floral odor blends as they travel, reducing perceptual range LINKS: Dr. Sprayberry's Lab (SPRAY Lab): https://sites.google.com/stonybrook.edu/spraylab/home Stony Brook University Department of Biology: https://www.stonybrook.edu/biology

 Slovenia — a country the size of New Jersey — is home to 575 bee species, more than a quarter of all species known in Europe. It's the birthplace of the Carniolan honeybee, but it's also a hotspot for wild and solitary bees. This week, we sit down with Dr. Danilo Bevk, a researcher at the National Institute of Biology in Ljubljana and founder of the SloBees Society (Čmrljica), to talk about Slovenia's remarkable pollinator diversity, a citizen science project tracking bumblebee queens across the country, and a new Europe-wide monitoring scheme about to transform how we track these crucial insects.  Links: Dr. Danilo Bevk — National Institute of Biology: https://www.nib.si/en SloBees Society (Čmrljica) Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cmrljica Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cmrljica_slobees/

 This week, we catch up with Sam Droege with the US Geological Survey and Clare Maffei with US Fish and Wildlife Service to discuss the origins and evolution of the Bee Lab and its role as a support hub for bee biodiversity work. Sam describes shifting from designing national monitoring programs for birds and other taxa to pollinators, finding bee monitoring statistically difficult due to high year-to-year variance and identification bottlenecks, and pivoting to developing sampling techniques, the Very Handy Bee Manual, Discover Life online ID guides, photography resources, and a large specimen database with substantial backlog. Claire outlines her path through a US Fish and Wildlife Service pollinator fellowship into a refuge-support role, producing updated bee inventory/monitoring frameworks and protocols, data management, and publishing over 500,000 records to GBIF. Together they emphasize collaboration with students, refuges, parks, and researchers, training via weekly livestreamed bee ID videos, and ongoing method development (e.g., emergence trapping, brine in traps, hanging shrub traps) while noting funding uncertainty and focusing on practical conservation through plant–bee relationships and better baseline data. Bee Lab website:  https://www.usgs.gov/centers/eesc/science/usgs-bee-lab-eastern-ecological-science-center

 Dr. Bryan Danforth of Cornell University joins the podcast to discuss a new Apidology study led by Steven Hodge on emergence dynamics and host–parasite associations in a massive cemetery nesting aggregation of the solitary bee Andrena regularis. Using emergence traps checked daily for 40 days at East Lawn Cemetery near Cornell, the team estimated a mean population size of 5.5 million emerging bees within a compact area and documented synchronized host emergence with more gradual, delayed emergence by Nomada cuckoo bees, plus low-frequency associates including a meloid beetle and a conopid fly. Danforth explains A. regularis biology and its exceptional importance and effectiveness as an apple pollinator, highlights evidence for greater female investment as a potential sign of abundant resources, and argues cemeteries and other nest sites may be overlooked conservation assets, supported by Cornell's Ground-Nesting Bees iNaturalist initiative. Danforth Lab: https://www.danforthlab.entomology.cornell.edu GNBees: https://www.gnbee.org Hoge, S.T., Kueneman, J.G., Fordyce, R., Dobler, C., Odanaka, K. and Danforth, B.N., 2026. Emergence dynamics and host-parasite associations in a large aggregation of Andrena regularis (Hymenoptera: Apoidea: Andrenidae). Apidologie, 57(2), p.29. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s13592-026-01256-6?cjdata=MXxZfDB8WXww&utm_medium=affiliate&utm_source=commission_junction&utm_campaign=CONR_BOOKS_ECOM_GL_PBOK_06YUE_GL_ALWYS_DEEPLINK&utm_content=textlink&utm_term=PID100052570&CJEVENT=684ba1913cbf11f182b202450a18b8fc 00:00 Bee Numbers In Perspective 00:53 Solitary Bee Megasites 01:14 Meet Dr Brian Danforth 05:13 Cemetery Nesting Twist 06:14 Bee Biology And Pollination 08:54 Why Cemeteries Work 12:27 Biodiversity And History 14:00 Emergence Traps Method 16:34 Parasites And Phenology 21:07 Sex Ratios And Health 24:04 Millions Of Bees Estimated 26:44 Conservation and iNaturalist  28:38 Can We Build Bee Beds

Wasps are an often underappreciated and underdiscussed pollinator group. In today's episode, we will dive into their fascinating world. We'll define what exactly a wasp is, the diversity of wasps around the world, their specialized hunting skills, and far beyond. Sloan Tomlinson is a science communicator, insect photographer, and regulatory contributor to wasp educational programs. Check out That Wasp Guy on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thatwaspguy/ Visit the UMass Extension pollinator resources page: ag.umass.edu/pollinators

Log landings serve as a unique way to provision habitat in otherwise closed-canopy forests, providing refuge for wild bees and wasps. UMass Amherst PhD candidate Aliza Fassler unpacks her research on seeding log landings with native plants, and speaks to the pollinator assemblages that use them.   Learn more about Aliza's research in this technical report: https://t.ly/gM2hR Visit the UMass Extension pollinator resources page: ag.umass.edu/pollinators

 Thyra Mckelvie joins PolliNation to discuss managing blue orchard bees (mason bees). Thyra is the Managing Director and Solitary Bee Educator at Rent Mason Bees. She outlines three essential care steps: start with clean, openable nesting material of proper size, remove nests at the end of spring to protect developing bees from summer predators, and harvest/clean cocoons in fall to control pests and disease. In addition, Thyra covers the key pests of mason bees include pollen mites, Houdini flies, chalkbrood fungus, and monodontomerus wasps, plus sterilization methods. Rent Mason Bees website: https://rentmasonbees.com Rent Mason Bees YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@RentMasonBees Houdini Fly Hunt - report if you have Houdini Flies: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScwkcEVe6CfNoaoTDcSlXmIpX0HYUTmhOsZJihPvn8rCXNn8A/viewform?pli=1 00:00 Welcome to Mason Bee Season 01:01 What Are Blue Orchard Bees 02:39 Gentle Bees for Schools 04:06 Bee Hotels Need Maintenance 05:42 Avoid Bamboo and Log Hotels 07:01 Three Steps to Protect Cocoons 11:49 Predators and Parasites Explained 12:05 Inside a Nesting Chamber 13:09 Pollen Mites and Houdini Fly 16:02 Chalkbrood and Monodontomerus Wasps 18:33 Cleaning and Sterilizing Trays 19:56 Sterilize Nesting Trays 20:20 Spot Houdini Fly Signs 20:41 Cardboard Liner Hack 21:22 Spring Cleanup Routine 21:56 Vacuuming and Tanglefoot 22:43 Join Houdini Fly Research 24:11 Bee Emergence Timeline 25:13 Remove and Store Blocks 26:16 Summer Storage Tips 27:55 Fall Harvest and Washing 29:54 Dispose Pests Safely 30:27 Releasing From Old Materials 32:48 Rent Mason Bees Explained 34:52 Wrap Up and Thanks