A small wooden box built in a backyard may not seem like much, but Ilan Domnich says it can provide important habitat for Alberta’s native bumble bees.
The Lesser Slave Watershed Council and Alberta Native Bee Council are inviting residents to learn about native pollinators and build their own bumble bee nesting boxes during upcoming workshops in Widewater and High Prairie.
The workshops will be held Aug. 5 at the Widewater Community Complex from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m., and Aug. 6 at the High Prairie Agriplex from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. The workshop costs $10, which includes materials, snacks and refreshments. Participants are encouraged to bring work gloves and safety glasses, as well as a cordless drill if they have one.
Alberta is home to more than 330 species of native bees, making them one of the province’s most important groups of pollinators. Unlike the European honey bee, native bee species have evolved alongside Alberta’s wildflowers and are well adapted to the province’s climate.
Native bees play a vital role in maintaining healthy ecosystems by pollinating wild plants, while also contributing to agriculture by helping pollinate crops such as canola, alfalfa, berries and various fruits and vegetables, Domnich says.
Among Alberta’s native bees, bumble bees are considered some of the most effective pollinators. Their large, fuzzy bodies collect and transfer pollen efficiently, and they can fly in cooler, cloudy and windy conditions that keep many other pollinators grounded.
Bumble bees are also capable of “buzz pollination,” a technique where they vibrate flowers to release tightly held pollen. This process is important for crops such as tomatoes, peppers and blueberries, as well as many native flowering plants.
However, Domnich says native bumble bees are facing increasing challenges from a combination of pressures, including habitat loss, pesticide exposure, climate shifts, disease and competition.
“As land gets converted for human use, bees lose the nesting spots and continuous flowers they rely on throughout the season,” Domnich says. “Patchy resources can isolate populations and make them vulnerable to disease and cause inbreeding depression.”
Domnich says pesticide exposure can also affect bees in ways that are not always immediately visible.
“Even though pesticides aren’t meant to target bees, we see significant sub-lethal impacts,” he says, adding that exposure can affect bees’ ability to navigate, forage and reproduce.
Changing weather patterns are also creating challenges by affecting the timing of bee emergence and the availability of flowering plants.
Domnich says residents can help support native pollinators by planting native flowers, reducing pesticide use and creating habitat in their own yards.
“Because insects are so small, even a single square metre of yard is like a whole metropolis to them, so every little bit really does make a difference,” he says.
A bumble bee box provides a potential home for a colony while also allowing residents to take part in conservation research through the Alberta Native Bee Council’s Bumble Bee Box Monitoring Program. Participants can place boxes in their yards in the spring, observe activity during the summer and report their findings in the fall.
Domnich says even boxes that are not colonized provide valuable information for researchers.
“Even reporting a box that didn’t get colonized gives us super valuable data,” he says.
The Lesser Slave Lake region is home to several species of conservation concern, including the Gypsy Cuckoo Bumble Bee, Suckley’s Cuckoo Bumble Bee and Yellow-banded Bumble Bee. Three of Alberta’s four protected native bumble bee species occur in the area, he says.
Domnich says native bees have not historically been monitored as extensively as birds, mammals or agricultural pests, making it difficult to identify long-term population trends in many regions. The Alberta Native Bee Council launched its monitoring program in 2018 to help collect more information and better track changes in bee populations.
The upcoming workshops will give residents a practical way to support local conservation efforts and learn about Alberta’s bee species.
William Hetherington
Lakeside Leader
