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This part of the country, the Northern Great Plains
has always been a very important part of the country for wildlife
This has always been of critical importance to pollinators
Specifically the commercial honeybee keeping industry.
So the beekeepers bring their bees here
during the summer time to get them fat and happy
off of all the forbs we have available to them
So then those bees can then go to other parts of the country
and provide that pollination service
In the US we require both domestic and wild pollinators
for pollinating a variety of our agricultural crops
Most of our bees here in the Dakotas
they go on to pollinate almond crop in California
but the list goes on and on
pretty much you walk through the produce aisle
you can bet that a majority of those fruits and vegetables that are in there
are there because some insect provided that pollination service
About 1/3 of all the bites of food we take
we can attribute that to insect pollinators
The Northern Great Plains have historically supported
honey production
This is also an area of the country now
where a lot of corn and beans are being planted on the land
replacing some of those bee friendly crops
And all of the agricultural practices
that come along with those changes
and in land use increase agrochemical use, specifically the pesticides
We know that that reduces the overall forage availability
So what we are doing is basically capturing that change in land use
and what's the effect on honey bee colonies as a result
We are actually in a cow pasture right now
there's a soybean field over there and a little bit of corn
but for the most part immediately surrounding this hive
yard there is a lot more just grassland
Usually we get a lot of pollen out of this yard
Honey bees really have an intimate relationship with the environment
and the landscape in terms of their colony growth
and colony dynamics
The pollen is the main resource that is driving colony growth
It’s the pollen that is the sole protein source for honey bee colonies
It's important to have a diversity of pollen sources
because each flower species offers different amino acids
We always like to make the analogy that you can eat crackers your whole life
and still live but you are not going to be very healthy because you are not getting all the
vitamins and minerals that you need
same thing with bees
So the more flowering species that they have the more protein they are going to get
Bees are faced with a whole myriad of diseases
and insect pathogens
One measurement we need to be apprised of
in our health assessment colonies is the varroa infestation rate
So that little mite that you see there is
responsible for the biggest problem that beekeepers face
President Obama recently released
a federal strategy for improving pollinator health
so they have a couple key goals that they establish
Federal Government needs to do a better job in
trying to promote pollinator health
reducing the number of honey bee colonies that are lost on an annual basis
and putting in seven million acres of pollinator habitat
either through restoration or landscape enhancement
all of our research objectives fit
squarely within the presidential memorandum
So we are looking at how land use change is
effecting colony survival, colony health
and then also looking at specific USDA conservation program lands
and what kind of contribution they are making
to the honey bee diet over the summer
The US Department of Agriculture
they're one of our main partners in this research
The information we collect as scientists, that my team collects
we pass that information on to the US department of Agriculture then
so we can say whether bees are actually using those USDA conservation lands
And if they are not
then we will be able to make some recommendations on ways to improve their seed mixes
So that they can make better and more informed management decisions
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I think in the Northern Great Plains we get overlooked quite a bit
just because there are not many people that live out here
and yet we see profound changes taking place here
So we need to bring all these people to the table to find solutions
If we don’t have migratory commercial honey bees
our dinner basically looks a lot less colorful and diverse
If we can get some great results
and get those out there to policy makers
I think we have a great opportunity right now to actually affect some change thats going to have some lasting
impact on the fate of pollinators.
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