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www.insideHALTON.com | OAKVILLE BEAVER | Thursday, August 22, 2013 | 6 Spotlight No longer a beehive of activity Pollinators under pressure, in decline, says Conservation Halton by Nathan Howes Special to Oakville Beaver "Connected to your Community" While much of the recent media attention on bees has focused on honeybees, a Conservation Halton natural heritage ecologist says we're going to have to rely on both honeybees and wild bees for crops in the future. "The wild bees have been providing huge pollinator bene ts and we just haven't realized it until they've started to decline. All of a sudden, we wonder why we don't have any strawberries this year. Well, it's because you killed all of your bees that were pollinating it," said Brenda Van Ryswyk. While the exact number of native bees in Halton is unknown, she estimates there are at least a "couple hundred" different species in the region and about 4,000 across North America. About 90 per cent of wild plants are pollinated by bees. "If we lost the wild bees, we would lose all of our owering plants. If we lost all of our wild pollinators, we would really have a very different landscape," said Van Ryswyk. "They're much more ef cient than the European honeybee." She noted wild bees, such as bumblebees, are very important pollinators. Many crops, including tomatoes and strawberries, wouldn't exist without them. But bumblebees are under a lot of pressure from different sources and are in decline "for the same reason as honeybees." "Bumblebees are being attacked by diseases right now because a lot of greenhouses bring in cultivated bumblebees from other areas. Sometimes the domesticated bumblebees will have parasites and the parasites have been found to migrate to the wild popula- tions," said Van Ryswyk. Bumblebees don't create their own nests -- they nd an abandoned mouse hole and nestle inside it. However, if there's no habitat for the mice, there's no habitat for the bumblebees, Van Ryswyk explained. "In previous farming practices, they used to have a lot of hedgerows with a lot of wild owers and shrubs that grew. That area was prime habitat for bumblebees and wild bees to nest in," she said. "A lot of farms these days feel it's more ef cient to clear those away and have more of a factory farm." The rusty-patched bumblebee is in danger, for example, and is a newly listed endangered species in Canada -- it is the rst federally listed bee in North America, according to Wildlife Preservation Canada. In Canada, only three individual rusty-patched bumblebees have been located in the past 10 years with the only current known population residing at Pinery Provincial Park. "From the scienti c community, there's been a lot of concern about (wild bees) as well. When a lot of people think of bees, they think of the honeybees, (but) there are about 900 other species of bees in Ontario alone. They're part of our ecosystem," said Paul Kozak, an apiary specialist with the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and Food and the Ministry of Rural Affairs. While beekeepers play a big role in sustaining honeybee populations, there are certain things a homeowner can do to help the wild bees, said Van Ryswyk. For example, people can plant native owers that provide nectar and pollen, see Crops on p.11 Pictured above is a possible digger bee, which belongs to the Genus Anthophora, says Brenda Van Ryswyk of Conservation Halton, as well as a sweat bee, below left, part of Family Halictidae. Sweat bees are one of at least 200 species of native bees in Halton, according to Van Ryswyk. Below right, a small bee bundle set up outside the Conservation Halton of ce to help wild bees nest. | photos by Conservation Halton Volume 51 | Number 100 467 Speers Road, Oakville ON (905) 845-3824 Oakville Beaver is a member of the Ontario Press Council. The council is located at 80 Gould St., Suite 206, Toronto, Ont., M5B 2M7. Phone (416) 340-1981. Advertising is accepted on the condition that, in the event of a typographical error, that portion of advertising space occupied by the erroneous item, together with a reasonable allowance for signature, will not be charged for, but the balance of the advertisement will be paid for at the applicable rate. The publisher reserves the right to categorize advertisements or decline. Editorial and advertising content of the Oakville Beaver is protected by copyright. Unauthorized use is prohibited. NEIL OLIVER Vice-President and Group Publisher DAVID HARVEY Regional General Manager JILL DAVIS Halton Region Editor in Chief Editorial Department: (905) 632-0588 Advertising Department (905) 845-3824 Classi ed Advertising: (905) 632-4444 Circulation: 5300 Harvester Rd., Burlington (905) 631-6095 DANIEL BAIRD Director of Advertising ANGELA BLACKBURN Managing Editor