and yet somehow i hadn’t seen a native wildflower until i turned 15 and even then it was one singular beautiful yellow flower with greenish red leaves blooming on a cold march day. this trout lily, erythronium americanum, was my first experience with a wildflower. how could it have taken me that long to see a wildflower? this question sent me on a crusade of research to find out the answer.

a wildflower journey

the united states is home to a large variety of wildflowers that provide a vast array of services such as habitat and food for many native insect and animal species. unfortunately, due to the vast decline of important wildflowers such as milkweed, many populations of specialist species of insects that depend on these flowers have also declined as a result.

one staff member at suny college of environmental science and forestry, molly jacobson, a pollinator ecologist at the school, has helped restore some of these plants by helping esf become an affiliate with bee campus usa. the initiative at esf is part of a larger national initiative to help conserve native pollinators.

the bee campus is just one part of the bee city usa initiative created by the xerces society for invertebrate conservation. this is an international nonprofit organization that protects the natural world through the conservation of invertebrates and their habitats. when i asked jacobson about what it means to be a “bee campus,” she said it’s a pledge to create pollinator habitats, decrease pesticide use, and perform community outreach each year as well as a variety of other things. esf became an affiliate in 2022, continuing a long history of commitment to the environment. 

clearly it’s important to protect wildflowers and spaces for the pollinators, but the pollinators themselves must also be proactively protected. according to jacobson, pollinators are incredibly diverse and the term pollinator can include bats, birds, bees, flies, and even beetles depending on where in the world you live. 

however it’s also important to know that no pollinator purposely pollinates plants, but it’s more of an “accident” through evolution and some species are better at pollinating than others. for example, a bee with a lot of hairs is better than a wasp with few to no hairs, however without any of these species, many of our flowering plants and flowering crops would struggle. 

furthermore, without many of these native flowers certain more specialized insects would also struggle to survive. in fact, jacobson even mentioned that the biggest threat facing pollinators is a loss of habitat, meaning that planting even a five foot area of native flowers could make a huge difference in the ability of pollinators to survive in your local area.

she went so far as to say, “restoring habitat on any scale makes a difference.” but, was the reason for me not seeing many native wildflowers due to a lack of diversity in native pollinators or was it due to me not knowing where to look?

planting flowers to protect the “specialists”

this question led me to talk with jeffry petracca, an entomologist from long island, ny. petracca explained that native plants are irreplaceable, as you decrease the biodiversity of native flowers and plants, you lose the amount of native pollinators whether they are insects or other animals, especially in animals that are “specialist” species, those that may only get their nectar from one species of flower. this relationship works both ways and some plants are only pollinated by a few or even one species.

according to petracca, the biodiversity of pollinators on long island, whether they are bees, wasps, flies, beetles, or butterflies; has overall decreased significantly over time. there are subsequently less and less native flowers being seen as well, which he believes is mostly due to habitat destruction through the development of housing, roads, and shopping centers.

but why is biodiversity and the presence of flowers so important? petracca explained that the more biodiversity a region has, the more stable and resistant to changes the local environment and ecosystem becomes. for example, in an area of low diversity, a flower may only be getting pollinated by one species of beetle, but if there is a cold snap that devastates the population of that beetle, then the flower is no longer going to be pollinated that season. 

conversely, in an area of high biodiversity, that flower may be getting pollinated by 10 or 20 species of bees and beetles. so while a few of those species may suffer due to the cold, the ecosystem as a whole is less affected. 

similarly to jacobson, petracca believes that planting native plants in your garden and yard is a great way to help native pollinators in your area. however, when buying plants you must be careful that the plants you are buying are a wild strain and haven’t been specially bred to to not make pollen or nectar.

when buying these “native” flowers you must also make sure they are a species native to your area or state, as some species of native flowers may be native to the united states but not necessarily your area and would provide less of a beneficial effect. 

there are many state government environmental agencies that have sheets and information online to help people locate information about which plants are native to their region. many participants in the bee campus program are also putting out information online and, of course, there are a wide variety of books that are available that have native plants local to your area.

globally, over 40% of insect species are declining in population. their disappearance is happening faster than plant or bird populations. the main threat is habitat loss created by expanding agricultural fields, followed by chemical pollution, according to a 2019 study.

“many towns, and most farmers, are using very potent chemicals to kill off insects to protect their crops…but there’s been a real neglect of the reality that those chemicals are toxic to the small insects that need to pollinate things, so there’s nothing left to do the pollinating,” says jackie algon, co-founder and current board member of pollinator pathway.

forging a new path

pollinator pathway, an organization founded in wilton, connecticut in 2017, seeks to combat the issues that pollinators and their habitats face. their aim is to create north-to-south migration corridors across north america by planting pollinator-friendly gardens with native plants, and to stop the use of pesticides. individuals or groups can register their gardens or even flower boxes as official pollinator gardens. the organization now has pathways in over 350 towns in 13 states, most in the northeast, as well as one in ontario, canada. just this year, it was registered as a 501(c)(3) organization.

the original pollinator pathway was conceptualized and founded by artist sarah bergmann in 2007, and her concept inspired the pollinator pathway organization, according to their website. bergmann’s goal was to connect two green pieces of land in seattle’s urban landscape by planting along sidewalks and in other underutilized areas, according to her website. 

last spring, a group of mansfield residents registered the township with pollinator pathway. the process started with mansfield’s sustainability committee successfully passing a resolution that declared the town a “pollinator-friendly community” in early 2020. due to this resolution, getting municipal approval to build and maintain pollinator gardens became easier, and helped with getting pollinator pathway on board with the group’s proposed garden, according to melissa sheardwright. a private-practice psychologist by day, sheardwright handles outreach in the mansfield chapter of pollinator pathway. 

mansfield and wilton show the successes of local sustainability advocacy, however, both towns are suburban areas surrounded by woodland. migratory species, which pollinator pathway focuses on, are most affected by habitat loss caused by urbanization and suburbanization. this is why the end goal of the organization is to create stretches of pollinator-friendly land in both urban and rural areas. without adequate “pit stops,” the pollinators cannot survive the trip.

restoring pollinator habitats

monarch butterfly populations in north america have decreased by more than 90% over the last two decades, according to the national wildlife foundation. the areas in which the migratory butterflies seek food and rest are disappearing, taking monarch populations with them. this is caused not only by urban/suburbanization, but also by global warming, which shifts the seasons and throws off the growing cycles of many organisms. this causes the species that rely on each other to fall out of sync, affecting food and shelter availability.

“the insects’ life cycles are now out of sync with the birds’ hatching cycles or with the trees’ leafing out cycles, so nature is confused,” said algon.

monarchs are just one example of the many pollinators whose numbers have been decimated. bees, flies, bats, birds, and other organisms also face migration and habitat issues. bees are a quintessential example, but most people mistakenly think of honeybees as the main pollinators. 

“honeybees are not native bees…they do a lot of important pollinating, especially for farmers, but 40% of the pollinating that gets done is done by what’s called ‘solitary bees.’ people spray their yards with pesticides to get rid of them, but they can’t sting you,” said algon. 

it’s important to restore plant life to developed areas. but supporting pollinators doesn’t just call for more greenery. the pathways must comprise native plant species that pollinators rely on.

algon’s first brush with native plant species and habitat protection came when she moved to wilton with her husband. she wanted to plant some colorful bushes on their property, but the landscape architect told her that part of the property is on wetlands, and those bushes were invasive. “at that moment, i realized that i was dangerous to the ecology because i didn’t know anything,” she said. 

this lack of knowledge is all too common. many of the most popular plants sold in traditional garden centers are non-native. forsythia, for example, looks beautiful in a garden, but “it’s not native and it doesn’t feed the insects,” sheardwright said.

according to the pennsylvania department of conservation and natural resources (padcnr), invasive plants usually are species that can survive in many conditions, and that rapidly grow and reproduce. this allows them to crowd out native species, especially since invasive plants have few natural predators in the new areas. moreover, invasives directly affect pollinator reproduction. garlic mustard, a widespread invasive species, attracts monarch butterflies, who lay their eggs on the plant. but the plant does not provide adequate nutrition for the emerging caterpillars, causing them to die off or grow improperly.

invasive species have cost the united states an average of $26 billion annually in the 2010’s, according to a 2021 study. this is a substantial rise from the $2 billion per year spent in the early 1960’s.

“[invasives often] have multiple seeds that spawn more than our natives do, so they take over easily,” said pamela nobumoto, a resident of wilton and frequent collaborator with pollinator pathway. a stay-at-home mom, she started gardening as a hobby. but she has since turned it into her passion. she was certified as an “advanced master gardener” through uconn extension, a program offered by the college of agriculture, health, and natural resources.

much of her work involves restoring the dunes and native grass at the beach on sherwood island in westport, conn., for which she has applied for and received multiple grants. she has also planted pollinator gardens on the island and in wilton.

as a result, she has seen a dramatic increase in the numbers and types of pollinators that visit the area. “a lot of the things i put in are like magnets for butterflies, bees [and] hummingbirds.”

preserving a future for connecticut pollinators

in addition to planting gardens, pollinator pathway places a heavy emphasis on educating people about the environment around them. one of the main goals of the founders was “making people aware of what they could do,” said algon.

making your yard pollinator-friendly doesn’t necessarily mean ripping up your grass lawn and planting trees and bushes. sometimes, it can be as simple as not mowing as often. algon has seen people do this in her neighborhood. “we encourage people to embrace dandelions, and to love clover; if you let them just grow, they will provide a great food source and some habitat.”

as a result, lawns would require less maintenance. “the less you do, by taking out more of your lawn, by converting it into little meadows or garden beds…the less you have to do.”

sheardwright and nobumoto also emphasized the importance of educating community members about native species and pollinators. sheardwright described her work as “neighbor education”. nobumoto sometimes works at a plant clinic, wherein people can bring in plants to identify or treat for diseases. she said that gardening is a community. 

“it’s a lot of sharing knowledge; it’s not just [for] yourself, but helping others.”

as vallejo-marin spoke to the harvard scholars in late 2021 about his goal to use a vibrating source to conduct a controlled study on the characteristics of pollination in different species of bees, an eager hand shot up in the audience. the hand belonged to noah jafferis, ph.d., a professor of electrical and computer engineering at the university of massachusetts. jafferis felt that he could help vallejo-marin achieve his goal by using a completely novel bio-robotic bee to replicate certain types of pollination in experiments. vallejo-marin’s first thought was one of skepticism, as the two researchers come from entirely different scientific backgrounds, but the more they talked, the more they realized that their interests seem to intertwine perfectly.

in march 2022, within months of meeting each other, vallejo-marin and jafferis secured an $840,000 grant from the human frontier science program, an organization that promotes international interdisciplinary research related to living organisms.

“this is one of the best pieces of news that you can receive as a scientist,” vallejo-marin said, with excitement in his voice. “grant writing and getting funds in science is a very difficult process where there is a lot of chance, luck, and being in the right place at the right time.”

vallejo-marin’s biology lab in scotland is filled with the deafening sound of buzzing, which shakes the entire room with high-pitched vibrations. the source of this buzzing becomes clear as vallejo-marin walks over to a large tank in the corner of the lab, looking affectionately at the hundreds of yellow and black insects flying and landing on artificial flowers. the focus of this lab is buzz pollination, which is a fairly rare and under-researched type of bee pollination that is vital to the health and fertilization of over 20,000 plant species and crops across the globe.

“buzz pollination is used on many different plant species, including a number of crops that humans rely on for food sources such as tomatoes and blueberries,” vallejo-marin said. understanding how bees do it and which species do it could improve agriculture and help explain the importance of protecting rare species to maintain bee biodiversity.

not all bees buzz… pollinate

only certain bees can buzz pollinate, and only certain plants can be pollinated in this way. most bees pollinate by landing on flower petals and passively collecting pollen in the hairs on their bodies, which is then spread throughout the area as they fly. however, when the right kind of bee lands on the right kind of flower, the bee will contract the muscles in its thorax and start actively producing vibrations that make the entire flower shake. this motion causes the pollen grains inside to bounce back and forth and eventually shoot out of the flower.

“you can see a shower, almost like a jet stream of pollen coming out of the flower,” vallejo-marin said. “this happens in a fraction of a second, and it takes less than a hundred milliseconds for the bees to shake free thousands and thousands of pollen grains.”

the main challenge that vallejo-marin has faced throughout his research is determining the morphology of buzz pollinators. this information would allow him to decipher what enables buzz pollinators to biologically pollinate in this way, compared to species of bees that cannot produce buzz vibrations. 

“we know very little about what makes a bee buzz a certain way, whether it’s size or speed or ecology or a combination of all of those factors,” vallejo-marin said. he has found that it is extremely difficult to replicate the incredibly fast vibrations that a such a tiny insect produces on a flower. this is where dr. noah jafferis comes in, and this is where bee research will take a turn into the unknown.

creating the prototype

jafferis has been interested in bio-inspired microrobots since he was in graduate school at harvard university, where he helped develop a winged microrobot that was able to fly like a bee and simulate some of the aerodynamic aspects of insect flight. 

“the wings in those robo-bees were powered by piezoelectric actuators that bend back and forth, similar to the muscles that pull a bee’s wings back and forth,” jafferis said. “i realized that these same muscles also produce the vibrations for buzz pollination, and my microrobots may be able to help in mario’s research.”  

piezoelectric actuators are mechanical devices that take electrical energy and convert it directly into linear motion with high speed and force. unlike larger robotic mechanisms, these actuators would be able to vibrate the body of the micro-robotic bee with extreme accuracy and precision while still maintaining the weight and size of an actual bee. although the robo-bee pollinators are currently just prototypes, jafferis is confident that he will be ready to begin the coding process in the near future. 

over the next year, vallejo-marin will be using biomechanical equipment to analyze the buzz patterns of different bee species in his lab, even attempting to put tiny monitors directly on the bees to measure their movements during buzz pollination. 

“there is a variety of information that mario will be measuring, such as the frequency and amplitude of the vibrations in buzz pollination, which i can plug directly into our robo-bees and tell that to vibrate with the same frequencies and amplitudes,” jafferis said. 

but, what can these robotic bees actually tell researchers that living bees cannot, and how would the data influence bee conservation and crop production? 

bio-inspired robots have been utilized to study the behavior and anatomy of many animal species in recent decades, and their use is only growing as they are able to provide novel information that scientists have never before been able to retrieve.

“biomimetic robots enable us to control individuals in experiments, and we can pinpoint differences in the behaviors of live animals, which we cannot do in any other setting,” said david bierbach, a bio-robotics researcher, in a 2021 press conference at the university of konstanz.

jafferis believes that robotics could be the key to achieving detailed analyses of buzz pollination, illustrating how a bee’s characteristics affect their ability to buzz and what types of vibrations are most effective for pollination.

“we can’t tell an actual bee, ‘hey we want to see what happens if you let go of one of your feet,’ but with a robot we can,” jafferis said. “we can tell the robots to vibrate and grab flowers and do things in different ways that a bee is not doing on its own.”

the need for bees

bees are in a current state of worldwide decline, and their biodiversity is suffering in a way that may lead to the complete extinction of certain rare species in the near future.  

“we fear bee decline,” said michael roswell, ph.d., an entomologist at the university of maryland. “with 4,000 species of bees in the united states and 20,000 species on earth, we expect that some will be doing better than others at any given time, but we’re certainly afraid that many rare species are doing worse and worse.”

roswell published a study in april 2022 that highlighted the importance of rare bees in plant-pollinator networks. he and his team were able to show that less common species, many of which were buzz pollinators, often fertilize plants that more common species do not pollinate at all. roswell believes that vallejo-marin and jafferis’ study would expand his research in a way that could help to target bee conservation efforts towards the buzz pollinators that are most in need of protection and that are needed most by their ecological environments.

“we are trying to use this project as a platform to help people realize that not all bees are the same and that different bees do different jobs,” vallejo-marin said. “it is important to maintain the biodiversity of bees so that not just one or two species are doing well, because every species is vitally important.”

if the robotic bees are able to successfully replicate buzz pollination, they may be able to aid in sustainable methods of crop production as well.   

“if one bee species is suffering, the robots could tell us if there is another species that can fill in and pollinate these vital crops instead, or if we need to focus all of our resources on the conservation of that species,” jafferis said.

the researchers are optimistic that they will eventually be able to pair the optimal bee with the optimal crop, which would not only supply humans with an effective and environmentally conscious method of crop fertilization, but would also help bees to strengthen their populations in areas with bounties of plants that match their pollination styles.

over the next three years, vallejo-marin and jafferis will be working toward these sizable goals, combining their expertise to create a groundbreaking interdisciplinary device that may be able to positively influence bees, humans, plants, and the environment as a whole.  

“it is hard to work with bees and not fall in love with them,” vallejo-marin said. “they are such charismatic creatures, and once you care about them you will care about them forever.”

the university of mississippi recently joined the worldwide efforts to save honeybees and prevent pollinator extinction by becoming a pollinator friendly campus. as part of this campus initiative, umfs recently became home to the university of mississippi beekeeper club‘s honey bee hives.

club president katelyn pennington and staff advisor douglas sullivan-gonzalez reached out to field station director scott knight in 2019 to use part of their land for their 3 hives. knight said he was happy to help. the hives now reside on part of the 800 acres of land in an old yam field.  

“i love having students, helping with projects, and facilitating that,” knight says. “it’s really rewarding to inspire folks and getting them to come out to the field station, enjoying the property and using it.”

the field station benefits the bees by avoiding the use of insecticides as well as providing a pollinator garden full of wildflowers. the bees, however, are not the only ones benefiting from their new home. knight said he believes the bees have positively impacted the field station by pollinating their facility’s plants as well as teaching him the importance of pollinators and the dangers that come with their decline. 

“we are losing pollinators all over the world,” knight said. “there is a lot of debate as to why. it could be insecticide use or other pollutants that we are not even aware of. habitat loss is usually a factor in any animal that is beginning to disappear, and then there is a mite that is a problem for bees.”  

the um beekeepers have been tending the hives at its new location for one year, but the field station has been involved in pollinator research for about 5 years now. for instance, david wedge from usda natural products laboratory said his hives were at the field station to conduct research on natural mite repellent. he had read that the oil from mint leaves could be used as a natural repellent of mites, so the field station helped wedge in his experiment by planting mint and assisting with data collection. 

the beekeeper club is focused more on learning the art of beekeeping, but also play an active part in saving the bees. sullivan-gonzalez said he started um beekeepers organization when students heard he had hives and showed interest in learning about the hobby of beekeeping. he said the best way to help pollinators is to plant trees, shrubs and plants. 

“pollinators in general within the insect world have diminished drastically, and their loss represents a fundamental threat to the food chain,” he said. 

this new relationship between the umfs and the um beekeepers has made it possible to reduce the threat in a small way and move scientists closer to solutions. the field station has provided the trees, shrubs and plants needed to support pollinators, and it has allowed um to educate others on pollinator issues through hands-on experience.  

ultimately, this relationship has allowed the university of mississippi to become an important part of the global effort to save the bees. 

bats have always been shrouded in our own fearful projections. in the time of the coronavirus pandemic, this comes to a head. but it is important to remember their place on our planet: vital supporters of our ecosystems and overall well-being.

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washington—native bees contribute an estimated $3.5 billion to the u.s. economy each year, but their dwindling numbers must be addressed to avoid possible extinction of some species, department of agriculture officials said june 28.

among all native, or u.s.-born, bee species, more than half—about 750—are declining in population and nearly one in four is imperiled and at increasing risk of extinction, a recent study by the center for biological diversity said.

the prolific pollinators are vital to natural ecosystems and enhance the yield of fruits, vegetables, nuts, specialty crops, horticultural plants, and native wildflowers. commercial tomato growers rely heavily on native bees to pollinate their crops, said mary purcell of the national institute of food and agriculture.

“when we are counting the density of native bees in a crop, we are finding significantly more yield, and we are talking about native bees that are local to an area, to a region, and are the most prolific for that season,” said dave hunter of crown bees, a washington-based beekeeping business.

“the world resource institute suggests that between 2016 and 2050 the world needs 69 percent more calories,” he said, “and we can do that with bees.”

president barack obama’s landmark 2014 pollinator memorandum created a task force from the usda, the environmental protection agency, and a dozen other government agencies, to work together on a plan to restore the native bee population. the 2018 farm bill specifies $75 million for the creation and implementation of the plan.

in 2015, the task force released its research plan to “develop baseline data, assess trends in pollinator populations, expand bee identification capacities, and expand collaboration between government and university scientists.”

the government accountability office issued a report last year that concluded, ‘‘the usda has increased monitoring of honey bee colonies managed by beekeepers to better estimate losses nationwide but does not have a mechanism in place to coordinate the monitoring of wild, native bees.”

this year, the usda and others are holding meetings to gather outside testimony as the task force finalizes its plan, pending funding from the farm bill.

at a recent meeting, university of virginia graduate student kathryn lecroy emphasized the importance of the citizen scientist in monitoring bee losses.

“we engaged 98 citizen scientists throughout virginia, with participants using pan trap data and trap nesting data,” lecroy said. “the … study reveals that virginians are passionate about bee data and the demand for more knowledge on bees is strong. they are very interested to see the full results of our study when they come out.”

to get the needed nationwide data, studies like lecroy’s need to be standardized and conducted in every state because there are many species of bees to tabulate and only a handful of bee experts to evaluate the samples, said jonathan mawdsley, science advisor at the association of fish and wildlife agencies.

the task force next will meet with scientists and farmers as it aims to create a standardized method of tracking native bees.