Pollinator Paradise Pollination
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Trapnesting Wasps and
Bees
Books on Osmia management. See below to learn more.
Books about Solitary Bees
Books about Pollination
Crop pollination
Articles - General Reader
Articles - Technical
Bumblebee rearing and general information
Identifying bees
More bee websites (Tom
Clothier website)
Bee Gardens
Websites on Pollinators, Bees and Pollinator Habitat
Andrews, Sir Christopher. 1969. The Lives of Wasps and Bees. Chatto Windus, London. 204pp. This book focuses on British species, but the basic biology is similar to US species.
Bosch, J. and W. Kemp. 2001. How to Manage the Blue Orchard Bee, Sustainable
Ag. Network Handbook series, Book 5.
This book has excellent color photos, lots of details, and
especially good sections on parasites and predators, and on incubation and
emergence. Excellent if you know
these bees; a bit technical for a beginner.
Now available free in PDF format at the SARE website:
http://www.sare.org/Learning-Center/Books/How-to-Manage-the-Blue-Orchard-Bee
Dogterom, M. 2002, revised 2009.
Pollination with Mason Bees. BEEDIVERSE™ BOOKS
$16.45 U.S.
plus shipping and handling.
Black and white drawings, all of the basics of Osmia
management plus information on other kinds of bees. If you are just discovering orchard bees, this is a great book to start with.
Also contains a discussion of loose cocoon management, particularly useful for
controlling hairy-fingered mites (they
don't affect honeybees).
To order see below:
To order, send check made out to Karen
Strickler / Pollinator Paradise to: 31140 Circle Dr., Parma, ID 83660.
Or, pay with credit card on PayPal.
Foreign orders contact Pollinator
Paradise for shipping and handling costs.
Fabre, Jean Henri. 1915. Bramble-bees and Others. (Translation by Teixeira de Mattos) Dodd, Mead and Co. Includes essays on Osmia behavior. Also, Fabre's 1914 book, The Mason Bees, is worth reading, although this group of bees is rare in the US).
Krombein, Karl V. 1967. Trap-nesting Wasps and Bees. Smithsonian
Press.
A classic, full of loads of information on solitary bee and wasp species, how
they make their nests, predators and parasites, etc. Out of print, but
worth ordering through interlibrary loan or through a used book dealer.
Portions now
available online.
Griffin, Brian L. 1993. The Orchard Mason Bee. Knox Cellars Publishing.
Matheson, A., S. L. Buchmann, C. O'Toole, P. Westrich and I. H. Williams. 1996. The conservation of bees. Linnean Society Symposium Series 18, Academic Press. Somewhat technical.
Michener, C.D., R.J. McGinley, and B.N. Danforth. 1994. The Bee Genera of North and Central America
(Hymenoptera: Apoidea). Smithsonian Institution Press.
Technical keys, but some good drawings of different kinds of bees, and information on their biology.
O'Toole, Christopher and Anthony Raw. 1991. Bees of the World. Facts
on File, New York. 192 pp.
One of the best general reading books on bee biology and diversity.
Stephen, W.P., G.E. Bohart, and P.F. Torchio. 1969. The biology and external
morphology of bees. Oregon State University Agricultural Experiment Station.
Technical keys; focuses on Northwestern America, but the basic biology is universal.
Dafni, A. 1992. Pollination Ecology: A practical approach. IRL Press at Oxford University Press.
Faegri, K. and L. van der Pijl, 1979. The principles of pollination ecology. 3rd edition. Pergamon Press, Oxford, England. (A new edition of this book has been published more recently).
Kearns, Carol Ann and David William Inouye. 1993. Techniques for pollination biologists. University Press of Colorado.
Nabhan, Gary and Steve Buchmann. 1996. The Forgotten Pollinators. Island Press, Washington D.C. 292pp.
Proctor, M. and P. Yeo. 1973. The pollination of flowers. Taplinger Publishing Company, New York.
Two books have been published by the Entomological Society of America about bees and crop pollination. Read about them and order at the ESA web site (scroll down to find the books)
C.S. Stubbs, F.A. Drummond, eds. 2003. Bees and Crop Pollination - Crisis, Crossroads, Conservation. Thomas Say Publications of the Entomological Society of America.
Strickler, K. and J. H. Cane, eds. 2003. For Nonnative Crops,
Whence Pollinators of the future? Thomas Say Publications of the
Entomological Society of America.
Summary and Table of contents
_______________________________________
Delaplane, Keith S. and Daniel F. Mayer. 2000. Crop Pollination by Bees. CABI Publishing
Free, John B.. 1993. Insect Pollination of Crops. Academic Press. Now available on-line.
McGregor, S.E. 1976. Insect pollination of cultivated crop plants. Agriculture Handbook No. 496, Agricultural Research Service, USDA, Washington, DC. Available now on the web, at the GEARS site of the USDA bee labs in Tucson, Arizona: http://gears.tucson.ars.ag.gov/book/index.html
Kevan, P. 1999. Sustainable Pollination Services for Ontario's Crops. Ontario Research Enhancement Program, Ag. Canada.Batra, Suzanne W. 1989. Japanese Hornfaced bees, gentle and efficient new pollinators. Pomona 22(2): 3-5.
Batra, Suzanne W. 1994. Diversify With Pollen Bees. American Bee Journal 134(9):591-593.
Batra, Suzanne W. 1997. Solitary Bees for Vaccinium Pollination. Proc. Sixth Int. Sym. Vaccinium, D.E. Yarborough and J.M. Smagula, eds. Acta Hort. 446 p 71-76.
Bosch J. and W. P. Kemp. 1999. Exceptional cherry production in an orchard pollinated with blue orchard bees. Bee World 80: 163-173.
Farner, Tom. 1993. A Busier Bee. Harrowsmith Country Life May-June 62-64.
Gill, Brad. 1995. Orchard Mason Bees. Bee Culture 291-294
(includes a few additional references).
Goodstein, Carol. 1997. Imperiled Pollinators! Brooklyn Botanic Garden Plant and Garden News, vol. 12 no. 1 p. 3,11-13.
Gordon, David M. Feb. 2000. Enhancing Alternative Pollinators. Western Fruit Grower, vol. 120 no. 2, p. 17-20
Henkes, R. 1997. Calling All Pollinators. The Furrow 10-13.
Javorek, S., K. MacKenzie, and D. Rogers. 1996. Bee Pollinators of Apple and Lowbush Blueberry in Nova Scotia. Nova Scotia Dept. of Agriculture and Marketing. This $2 (Canadian) brochure explains how to identify several important groups of bees. It should be relevant to Eastern United States as well as Nova Scotia. Contact Dick Rogers, NS Dept. of Agriculture and Marketing, Agriculture Centre, 32 Main Street, Kentville, Nova Scotia B4N 1J5 for a copy.
Jesiolowski, Jill. May-June 1996. Get bugs to boost your yields! Organic Gardening pp. 28-35.
Lang, H. 1996. Orchard Mason Bees. Gardens West Nov./Dec. p. 47.
Lovejoy, Sharon. 1997. Bee Prepared. Country Living Gardener Jan./Feb.
University of Maine Bulletin Understanding Native Bees
Wood, Marcia 2003. "Blue Orchard Bee—A Champion Cherry Pollinator" Agricultural Research magazine. January 2003 http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/AR/archive/jan03/bee0103.htm
Wright, Amy Bartlett. May-June 1997. The other pollinators. National Gardening.pp. 32-37+
Xerces Society Farming for Bees
USDA ARS Bee Biology and Systematics Labs, Logan Utah
Logan bee mail shelter
Build a nest block
Stick and stake nests
See also the list of publications available on the web site for the USDA ARS Bee Biology and Systematics Lab in Logan Utah.
Bosch, J.,and W.P. Kemp. 2000. Development and emergence the orchard pollinator of Osmia lignaria (Hymenoptera: Megachilidae). Environ. Entomol. 29:8-13.
Bosch, J., W.P. Kemp, and S. S. Peterson. 2000. Management of Osmia lignaria (Hymenoptera: Megachilidae) populations for almond pollination: Methods to advance bee emergence. Environ. Entomol. 29:874-883.
Tepedino, V.J. and P. F. Torchio. 1982. Phenotypic variability in nesting success among Osmia lignaria propinqua females in a glasshouse environment (Hymenoptera: Megachilidae). Ecological Entomol. 7:453-462.
Torchio, P.F. 1982. Field experiments with the pollinator species, Osmia lignaria propinqua Cresson, in Apple Orchards: II, 1976 Studies (Hymenoptera: Megachilidae). Journal of the Kansas Entomological Society 55(4):759-778.
Torchio, P.F. 1982. Field experiments with the pollinator species, Osmia lignaria propinqua Cresson, in Apple Orchards: V (1979-1980), Methods of Introducing Bees, Nesting Success, Seed Counts, Fruit Yields (Hymenoptera: Megachilidae). Journal of the Kansas Entomological Society 58(3):448-464.
Torchio, P.F. 1987. Use of Non-Honey Bee Species as Pollinators of Crops. Proc. ent. Soc. Ont. 118:111-124.
Torchio, P.F. 1989. In-nest Biologies and Development of Immature Stages of Three Osmia Species (Hymenoptera: Megachilidae). Ann. Entomol. Soc. Am. 82:599-615.
Torchio, P.F. 1990. Diversification of Pollination Strategies for U.S. Crops. Environ. Entomol. 19:1649-1656.
Torchio, P. F. and V. J. Tepedino. 1980. Sex ratio, body size, and seasonality in a solitary bee, Osmia lignaria propinqua Cresson (Hymenoptera: Megachilidae). Evolution 34:993-1003.
Bumblebee Rearing and Information
Kearns, C.A. and J. D. Thomson. 2001. The Natural History of Bumblebees: A Sourcebook for Investigations. University Press of Colorado.Morgan, P. and M. Percival. 1967. The rearing and management of bumble bees for students of biology. Bee World 48:45-58, 100-109.
Alford, D.V. 1975. Bumblebees. London: Davis-Poynter.
Pomeroy, N. & Plowright, R.C. 1980. Maintenance of bumble bee colonies in observation hives (Hymenoptera: Apidae). Canadian Entomologist, 112, 3321-6.
Prys-Jones, O. E. and S. A. Corbet. 1991. Bumblebees. Richmond Publishing Co. Lit, Slough, England (Chapter 4: Nests and their establishment in captivity).
Brian Griffin from Knox Cellars (see supplier's list) also has published a book on bumblebees, and he and several seed companies around the US sell nest boxes that bumblebees may use.
Bumblebee series by Dr. Keith Delaplane, Extension Entomologist, University of Georgia:
Why Bumble Bees pp 459-460 American Bee Journal,
July 1995
Bumble Beekeeping: The Queen Starter Box ABJ, Nov, 1995
Bumble Beekeeping: Introducing Queens to Nest in
Captivity"" ABJ, Jan,1996
Bumble Beekeeping: Handling Mature Colonies, Mating
Queens"" ABJ, Feb, 1996
The American Bee Journal,
Dadant & Sons,
51S. 2nd St.,
Hamilton, IL 62341
217-847-3324
http://www.dadant.com
Bumblebees of Washington (Evergreen State University)
Bumble bees of Utah (USDA ARS Bee Biology and Systematics Lab, Logan UT)
Heinrich,
B. 1979. Bumblebee Economics. Harvard University Press,
245 pp.
This book is not about rearing bumblebees, but is a very readable account of
their ecology and natural history, focusing on how and why they choose to forage
on particular plants. There is also a page of drawings of the species of Bombus
of North and Central America that is useful for identification.
Is it a bee? The Logan bee lab helps you distinguish bees from other similar insects. See also FAQ pages for this web.
The NBII (National
Biological Information Infrastructure)
Pollinators Project
including information about
bees and wasps
The Great
Sunflower Project, (San Francisco State University)
bee guides
Bees of
eastern Canada (University of Alberta) has excellent photos and
discussion of bee species that is relevant to the rest of North America.
This publication takes a while to download; it is 31MB.
The Bug Guide's bee pages.
Lots of great photos. Visit the other tabs at the top of the site for
taxonomy and other information.
To identify bees you need to collect a few of them so you can have a close look at the wing veination, the tongue and other characters that depend on the particular group of bees and how detailed you want to identify them. The Peterson and Audubon field guides to the Insects both have some information on the families of bees, and will give you an idea of the characters that you have to look for.
More technical keys for the true connoisseur (you will need to find an expert and a museum collection for comparison to get the most out of these keys):
Michener, C.D. 2000. Bees of the World.
A list of bee genera of the world, based on this book can be found at
here, courtesy of Doug Yanega.
Also available, a
Key to bees of the world.
Michener, C.D., R.J. McGinley, and B.N. Danforth. 1994. The Bee Genera of North
and Central America
(Hymenoptera: Apoidea). Smithsonian Institution Press.
Technical keys, but some good drawings of different kinds of bees, and information
on their biology.
www.discoverlife.org has an online
guide to the bees of the Eastern United States:
Theodore Mitchell's two volume set The Bees of the Eastern United States was
published in 1960 (part I) and 1962 (part II), North Carolina Ag. Exp. Stat.
Tech. Bul. No. 140 & 152. It is now available on the
web:
http://www.cals.ncsu.edu/entomology/insectmuseum/easternBees.php
Many
of the keys have also been improved upon at the Discover Life web:
http://pick14.pick.uga.edu/20/q?search=Apoidea
Stephen, W.P., G.E. Bohart, and P.F. Torchio. 1969. The biology and external
morphology of bees. Oregon State University Agricultural Experiment Station.
Technical keys; focuses on Northwestern America, but the basic biology is universal.
Top of Page Pollinator Paradise Pollination
Ecology at UI The
Solitary Bee Web
Rearing Solitary Bees
Suppliers References
Bee Gardens FAQ
Links Contact
Us
New Mexico Native Bee Pollinator Project About
Dr. Strickler
Bee Nests and Accessories Bee Photo
Gallery
Trapnesting Wasps and
Bees
Updated August 6, 2009
Copyright © 2000, Karen Strickler. All rights reserved.