Lab News
Research News
Below are some highlights of recent activities in the lab.
Tobias Mueller passed his A-exam on June 8th
Project GNBee receives funding from Cornell Atkinson Center for Sustainability
https://www.gnbee.org/Project GNBee
NE-SARE grant
Empire State Native Pollinator Survey report released
Sym-BEE-o-sis
Sym-BEE-o-sis is now available on the HHMI Tangled Bank Studios’ YouTube channel
Macropis research at the Huyck Preserve in July, 2021
Kass Urban-Mead has accepted a job with the Xerces Society as Mid-Atlantic Pollinator and Beneficial Insect Conservation Planner and NRCS Partner Biologist!
Graduate student Mark Buckner recently developed a free instructional resource for high school science educators who want to enrich their curriculum and foster a greater understanding of bee biology and conservation. Mason Bee Edu is available through the Crown Bees website.
New York Times, 7 December, 2020. Article on the newly established U.S. National Native Bee Monitoring Research Coordination Network.
The US National Native Bee Monitoring Research Coordination Network (RCN) is now online.
Wild Bees Amidst the Trees
https://www.danforthlab.entomology.cornell.edu/wp-content/uploads/NYFOA_January-February_2020-Kass-article.pdfThe New York Forest Owner, January/February 2020. Article on Kass Urban-Mead’s work on bee diversity in the forest canopy
Our new exhibit, Bees! Diversity, Evolution, Conservation, opened September 27th, 2019 at the Museum of the Earth in Ithaca, NY. The exhibit will run through January 15, 2021.
Hive Mind: With its long tradition of honey bee research, Cornell is a leader in the fight to protect pollinators
http://cornellalumnimagazine.com/hive-mind/Cornell Alumni Magazine, September 2019. Article on bee research at Cornell.
Natural habitats, bee diversity key to better apple production
http://news.cornell.edu/stories/2019/01/natural-habitats-bee-diversity-key-better-apple-productionCornell Chronicle, 17 January, 2019. Article on Heather Grab’s work on landscape simplification and “phylodiversity” of apple pollinator communities.
The interaction between mass flowering in apples and fruit set in strawberries
http://www.news.cornell.edu/stories/2017/03/set-strawberry-alarm-clock-post-apple-bloomCornell Chronicle, 30 March, 2017. Article on Heather Grab’s work on the implication of co-flowering in strawberry and apple on wild bee abundance and seed set.
Rusty patched bumblebee listed as an endangered species
http://www.xerces.org/2017/01/10/rusty-patched-bumble-bee-protected-as-an-endangered-species/Responding to a petition from the Xerces Society, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will list the rusty patched bumble bee (Bombus affinis) as an endangered species under the Endangered Species Act.
Leap of faith proves pollination can be honeybee free
http://news.cornell.edu/stories/2015/06/leap-faith-proves-pollination-can-be-honeybee-freeCornell Chronicle, 3 June, 2015. Article on Cornell Orchards increased reliance on wild bees for apple pollinatin.
Betting on nature to solve the bee crisis
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-05-15/betting-on-nature-to-solve-the-bee-crisisBloomberg Businessweek report on how apple growers are increasingly relying on wild bees for apple pollination.
Impacts of fungicides on wild bees in apple orchards
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/jun/18/bees-fungicide-flowers-farm-insecticideThe Guardian, 18 June, 2015. Article on Mia Park’s work on apple bees.
New York state establishes pollinator protection plan
http://www.governor.ny.gov/news/governor-cuomo-announces-taskforce-develop-pollinator-protection-plan-protect-new-yorksNew York State Governor Mario Cuomo announces taskforce to develop a Pollinator Protection Plan to protect New York’s agricultural economy.
Empire State Native Pollinator Survey
Our lab is involved in a state-wide survey of bees and other pollinators as part of an effort led by the NY Natural Heritage Program to develop an “Empire State Native Pollinator Survey”. The goal of the Empire State Native Pollinator Survey is to determine the conservation status of a wide array of native insect pollinators in nonagricultural habitats, including bees.
The project will involve extensive surveys throughout NY state to help determine the conservation status of the most important pollinators in the state, with a focus on Andrena, Megachile, Melissodes, Macropis, and Bombus. In addition to the extensive surveys we will be conducting targeted habitat surveys, focused on habitats that are rare of threatened and targeted species surveys, focused on specific taxa including oil bees in the genus Macropis and bumble bees. The project will have a significant “citizen science” component.