January 2023
Happy Knee Year!?
Head’s up everyone! If you need some info and Jen Larsen has been your go-to person for this, note that she will be out of the office for a knee replacement for a couple of weeks in mid-January, returning around the 23rd. Even when she returns, expect her to take a few days to dig out before contacting her for anything non-essential. In the meantime, and even after, use the new contact email — mastermelittologist@oregonstate.edu — for all but determination questions. Those go to oregonbeeatlas@gmail.com .
If you have any feedback or submission for Field Notes or if you want to post notes for your regional team contact Ellen Silva (e.silva@comcast.net).
In this issue
Field Notes
Mark Gorman and Ellen Silva tested the Journey Level Bee ID test — and not only did the test pass, they did, too. Watch for an announcement as to when the test is available to others interested in pursuing the Journey Level Melittologiist certificate.
Tiny talks on tools of the trade needed!
Last year’s conference presentations of tips and tools of the trade was a big hit, so let’s do it again, bigger and better. Please be a part of it!
How can you help? Give us ideas for presentations you’d like to see, or volunteer to do a presentation using your own idea or one of ours.
The presentations are short and sweet, just 2 to 8 minutes. They can be given in person or virtually. And we’ll provide one-on-one help with PowerPoint or even create your presentation for you. All you need is an idea, or a willingness to develop one of our ideas into a tiny talk.
Here are some of our ideas – would you be willing to develop a tiny talk around one of them? Or better yet, share one of your own?
Your learning journey – how did you go from rank beginner to capable Melittologist?
Your favorite outreach activities for kids – a survey of kids’ faves perhaps, or a detailed tutorial on executing one or more activities?
Cutting labels efficiently — without losing any.
Adaptive approaches for pinning and gluing with arthritic, shaky hands
Your approach to engaging and influencing others to help with pollinator health – especially when the subjects get tricky, like advocating for no pesticide use.
Picnic table pinning tips and tricks
Re-writing a key to make it more easily followed
Your favorite fast camping meals and campsite hacks so you can get back to the bees.
The well-packed melittologist’s day pack.
…your idea here!
Last year’s Tips and Tools of the Trade Workshop covered the gamut. Your idea will fit in just great!
OBA announcements
out of state mentor session for january cancelled!
Unavoidable circumstances mean the session in January is cancelled. See you in February!
new email for your program questions
Effective immediately, you can use the email Mastermelittologist@oregonstate.edu to contact the OBA staff. It will get routed to the proper person to help you out. (While Jen is out, that’s likely to be Andony, who is a very busy guy. Your patience will be much appreciated.)
Don’t forget that you can always email the advisory panel with your thoughts, concerns, and creative ideas by using the email atlas_advisory@lists.oregonstate.edu which copies the entire panel plus staff with your comments.
2022 location labels no longer sent automatically
We have come to the point in the year when new location label requests have slowed to a trickle, so we’re not automatically sending them for the rest of this season. If you have some last minute location label needs, please contact Leah directly. She’s at oregonbeeatlas@gmail.com.
Catch a Buzz
Catch a Buzz is the first TUESDAY of every month at 7pm. To join, go to https://oregonstate.zoom.us/j/97230252365?pwd=TURyTXNMZ1M5SHl2TFQvajBxemtRdz09 | Password: bees
Don’t miss February’s session - it will include a presentation by Tom Ebert on using details of wing venation to help with identification.
Annual OBA Conference: sunday, March 5
As before, the conference will be in Corvallis and includes a great keynote speaker, Sandy DeBano (Oregon State University). Sandy’s research focus on how human activities affect invertebrate communities. She’s right at the intersection of agriculture and conservation and should be a fascinating speaker. Register by clicking HERE and filling out the form - it’s free to OBA members and students!
See the recent email from Jen Larsen for all the details.
Parataxonomists still needed
Lincoln is recruiting parataxonomists to assist with sorting, curation, and identification of Oregon Bee Atlas specimens. It would be ideal if volunteers were local and could dedicate a few consecutive days in the lab during January and February. Parataxonomists should be confident at identifying bees to the generic level and beyond. Depending on the individual, it may be possible to work remotely. Please contact Lincoln directly by email: Lincoln.best@oregonstate.edu using the subject line “Parataxonomist”.
Mariposa preserve survey volunteers needed
In collaboration with the Understory Initiative located in Ashland, OR, the Oregon Bee Atlas (OBA) will be recruiting surveyors for proposed once monthly sampling at Mariposa Preserve in spring 2023 (April-June). Mariposa Preserve is located on the California border south of Ashland and is within the boundary of the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument. Volunteers should be proficient samplers that have produced a minimum of 250 specimens for the OBA. Details of the event timing will be forthcoming in late January, but keep in mind that sampling will be weather dependent. To express your interest, please email Lincoln (Lincoln.best@oregonstate.edu) with the subject line “Mariposa Preserve”. No other details are available at this time.
Calendar
Watch the calendar for added or changed events - as the winter proceeds, there could be cancellations, and there WILL be more events!
Team news
If you want to include your own team’s news in the Roundup, send it to Ellen Silva (e.silva@comcast.net) the Monday before we publish (typically, the 1st and 3d Monday of the month).
PDX
The Portland team is planning to hold a microscope day at the Portland Community College Rock Creek Campus on January 21st. Watch for the reminder email with all the details which will come out about a week before each event. If you don’t already receive the reminder emails and would like to be on the list, contact Ellen Silva at e.silva@comcast.net.
Don’t forget there are some helpful reference sets available for Portland area folks - email Ellen Silva at e.silva@comcast.net to learn more.
cool stuff we have found (L. Best)
Another great discovery for the bee atlas. This time it is coming from Dr. Briana Lindh's lab at Willamette University in Salem. They have been dutifully DNA barcoding our Melissodes specimens using a bench top method, and a funny looking group turned out to be another new genus for the state of Oregon!
The newly recorded bee genus is only known from the Willamette Valley in Oregon from our data which is a surprise. There are new bees right under ours noses at all times.
The species keys out to Tetraloniella pomonae, but our specimens are far darker than the closest individuals in the central valley of California. Time will tell. The closest record for the genus is very far away.
Of course, in Dorchin 2018, the North American clade of Tetraloniella was found to be paraphyletic with the old world group of Tetraloniella and Tetralonia, and so all NA species are now lumped into the genus Xenoglossodes which itself awaits further revision and classification. Fun!
Congrats to those at WU for their hard work on a tough group of bees, and congrats to the two groups that caught these bees: Michael O'Loughlin and Dan O’Loughlin in Yamhill, and Jerry Paul, Ellen Watrous, and Susan Walters who all found some together at the Trailhead to Chip Ross Park in Corvallis.
Xenoglossodes is a real beauty and maybe a tarweed specialist in our area.
Dorchin 2018 and LaBerge 2001 should be in the taxonomic resources folder.
Tetraloniella sp. (photo ©Valterra under license CC-BY-NC-ND)
miscellany (not to be missed)
Catch a Buzz Summary (By Ellen Silva this month, hence you will appreciate Martha Richards all the more)
License Plate– The pollinator plate is “days away” from being ready for pre-sale. I suspect you will be able to hear Sarah shout with joy when the final go-ahead comes through.
What do melittologists do in the winter? Identify bees. Apply for permit renewals. Andony is on it, more info next month.
Someone grab a bucket of water, Lincoln is on fire! I couldn’t keep up with the taxonomy update, there was so much good stuff in it. Coolest thing was the finding of a new genus for the state, Xenoglossodes, see the details above. But also pretty dang cool is that Linc hopes to have a big data release in March covering 2020 bees, along with some 2021 bees and updates on 2018-2019 bees. So many bees! It’s the biggest one yet. He is also shooting to have the detailed report cards for 2020 collections out on the same schedule.
An OBA t-shirt for every day of the week can now be yours. It’s very helpful to have a “uniform” when collecting in areas where you will see the public and have to explain what you are up to. Plus it’s fun to let people know that you are keen on bees. Andony has redesigned the original OBA t-shirt so that it clearly states that the wearer is a volunteer and TRAINED! Find the shirts on the Bonfire site by clicking HERE. They are priced at cost; the goal is to allow everyone to buy the right size and as many as they need. Several colors are available!
BeE stewardly!
The Oregon Bee Project Strategic Plan includes the goal to enhance bee habitat across the state. To fulfill this goal, Oregon State University Extension has created the Bee Steward Program. The program offers two levels - Advocate and Land Manager. A Bee Advocate supports the Oregon Bee Project by providing high quality training and education to the public on the state's bee biodiversity and steps they can take to keep Oregon bee friendly. Becoming a Bee Advocate is simple and involves watching a 40 min training video and taking a quiz to test your knowledge. Upon completing the training you have access to outreach materials from the Oregon Bee Project. If you own land that you’d like to manage for bee stewardship, there is more extensive training. Click HERE to learn more.
(We know you are all bee advocates! This training covers both native and honey bees and offers an excellent review of federal and state protections for bees, so worth the watch for all of us. And it’s a perfect place to point those folks you meet while out collecting or at an outreach event who want to learn more.)