Episode 20

The Very Real Importance of Pollinators with the Xerces Society

Published on: 28th April, 2024

The Very Real Importance of Pollinators

Episode Introduction

In today’s episode, The Very Real Importance of Pollinators, we chat with Jennifer Hopwood and Rae Powers from the Xerces Society about the importance of pollinators in what foods make it to our plate, why European honeybees can't do all of the work, and some ways you can help pollinators at home.

Host Stephanie Barelman

Stephanie Barelman is the founder of the Bellevue Native Plant Society, a midwest motivational speaker surrounding the native plants dialogue, and host of the Plant Native Nebraska Podcast.

Guest Jennifer Hopwood

Jennifer Hopwood is Senior Pollinator Conservation Specialist at the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation and is based in Omaha, Nebraska. She has a master's in entomology from the University of Kansas. She provides resources and training for pollinator and beneficial insect habitat management and restoration in a variety of landscapes. Jennifer is co-author of several books, including Farming with Native Beneficial Insects, Farming with Soil Life, 100 Plants to Feed the Bees, and a roadside revegetation manual.

Guest Rae Powers

Rae Powers is a Pollinator Conservation Specialist with The Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation. Rae works with farmers, ranchers, and others to identify wildlife conservation opportunities and promote pollinator and beneficial insect habitat across landscapes through the Natural Resources Conservation Services. She has a master's in plant ecology from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and has worked in grassland restoration and management and native plant production.

Episode Sponsors

Today's episode sponsored by Midwest Natives Nursery:

https://www.midwestnativesnursery.com/

https://www.facebook.com/midwestnatives

https://www.instagram.com/midwest_natives_nursery/

Today's episode is also sponsored by Lauritzen Gardens:

laurtizengardens.org

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Episode Content

Pollination 101

Male and female structures of plants coming together! You know, very much a birds and the bees scenario here.
Pollination can happen in very strange ways. Even nature is creative...
80-85% plants worldwide need animal-assisted pollination, mostly insects: bees, butterflies, moths, beetles, flies, and wasps.
Pollination is not intentional by pollinators, instead it is a byproduct of pure insect gluttony and opportunistic plants.

Big-Ag and The Little Guys

Think fruits and veg, oils, spices- most need pollinators, bruh, to the tune of 18 billion dollars...
Even dairy cattle need insect pollination for their feed, BTW cattle for meat also need to forage. 20 to 30 percent of livestock diets are actually wildflowers and shrubs primarily pollinated by native pollinators. Some examples are legumes like lead plant, milkweeds like common and showy milkweed, snowberry, plum thickets... Imagine that to get really good waygu beef, a farmer had to listen to some conservation hippy first. The irony...
Potato chips= gift from pollinators. You're welcome.
Pollinators and insects also provide pest control, keep soil healthy.

Honeybees

Shelter belts of wildflowers are being removed. Meaning less habitat for native pollinators. At the same time, population is growing and more food needs to be produced. So more honeybees are being brought in. But guess what? They can't do all the work and they can't take the place of every pollinator in North America. Honeybees are efficient but they can't do 100 percent of the work. Let's say it again, they can't do all the work.

Ecosystem Support

Pollinators support endangered plant species. Example: fringed orchid and hawk moths
Pollinators support bird populations:

-Especially young birds

-Think grasshoppers, ants, crickets, beetles

-Loggerhead shrike= 70 percent of their diet is insects

-Burrowing owls? They're like your messy sister with a penchant for dung beetles and who therefore also hoards poop with the rest of her trash.

Keystone insects?

Hear about keystone species? Well, insects are pretty much vital in the same way for ecosystem function

Plants and Pollinator Interactions

Monarchs and Milkweed
Bees and their pollen-reared young: golden Alexander, spring beauty, coneflowers, black-eyed Susans

Adult bugs are the pollinators, so help insects reach adulthood! Just do three simple things:

Plant native plants.

Embrace the untidy.

Limit pesticides and herbicides.

Additional content related to this episode:

What makes a plant native?

http://bonap.net/fieldmaps Biota of North America North American Plant Atlas database-select Nebraska

https://bellevuenativeplants.org Bellevue Native Plant Society

native (wild type) vs. nativar/native cultivar (native plant cultivated by humans for desirable characteristics)

On the Web

BONAP aforementioned

BNPS aforementioned

http://www.facebook.com/groups/bellevuenativeplantsociety- BNPS on Facebook

Books & Authors

Rick Darke- The Living Landscape

Douglas Tallamy- Professor and Chair of the Department of Wildlife Ecology and Entomology at the University of Delaware, author of The Living Landscape, Nature's Best Hope, naturalist, and curator of "Homegrown National Park".

Enrique Salmon- Iwigara

Daniel Moerman -Native American Ethnobotany

Heather Holm- https://www.pollinatorsnativeplants.com

Native Plants of the Midwest

Planting in a Post-Wild World

Jon Farrar's Field Guide to Wildflowers of Nebraska