PolliNation Podcast

Slovenia — a country the size of New Jersey — is home to 575 bee species, more than a quarter of all species known in Europe. It's the birthplace of the Carniolan honeybee, but it's also a hotspot for wild and solitary bees. This week, we sit down with Dr. Danilo Bevk, a researcher at the National Institute of Biology in Ljubljana and founder of the SloBees Society (Čmrljica), to talk about Slovenia's remarkable pollinator diversity, a citizen science project tracking bumblebee queens across the country, and a new Europe-wide monitoring scheme about to transform how we track these crucial insects.

Links:

Dr. Danilo Bevk — National Institute of Biology: https://www.nib.si/en SloBees Society (Čmrljica)

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cmrljica

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cmrljica_slobees/

This week, we catch up with Sam Droege with the US Geological Survey and Clare Maffei with US Fish and Wildlife Service to discuss the origins and evolution of the Bee Lab and its role as a support hub for bee biodiversity work. Sam describes shifting from designing national monitoring programs for birds and other taxa to pollinators, finding bee monitoring statistically difficult due to high year-to-year variance and identification bottlenecks, and pivoting to developing sampling techniques, the Very Handy Bee Manual, Discover Life online ID guides, photography resources, and a large specimen database with substantial backlog. Claire outlines her path through a US Fish and Wildlife Service pollinator fellowship into a refuge-support role, producing updated bee inventory/monitoring frameworks and protocols, data management, and publishing over 500,000 records to GBIF. Together they emphasize collaboration with students, refuges, parks, and researchers, training via weekly livestreamed bee ID videos, and ongoing method development (e.g., emergence trapping, brine in traps, hanging shrub traps) while noting funding uncertainty and focusing on practical conservation through plant–bee relationships and better baseline data.

Bee Lab website: https://www.usgs.gov/centers/eesc/science/usgs-bee-lab-eastern-ecological-science-center

Dr. Bryan Danforth of Cornell University joins the podcast to discuss a new Apidology study led by Steven Hodge on emergence dynamics and host–parasite associations in a massive cemetery nesting aggregation of the solitary bee Andrena regularis. Using emergence traps checked daily for 40 days at East Lawn Cemetery near Cornell, the team estimated a mean population size of 5.5 million emerging bees within a compact area and documented synchronized host emergence with more gradual, delayed emergence by Nomada cuckoo bees, plus low-frequency associates including a meloid beetle and a conopid fly. Danforth explains A. regularis biology and its exceptional importance and effectiveness as an apple pollinator, highlights evidence for greater female investment as a potential sign of abundant resources, and argues cemeteries and other nest sites may be overlooked conservation assets, supported by Cornell's Ground-Nesting Bees iNaturalist initiative.

Danforth Lab: https://www.danforthlab.entomology.cornell.edu

GNBees: https://www.gnbee.org

Hoge, S.T., Kueneman, J.G., Fordyce, R., Dobler, C., Odanaka, K. and Danforth, B.N., 2026. Emergence dynamics and host-parasite associations in a large aggregation of Andrena regularis (Hymenoptera: Apoidea: Andrenidae). Apidologie, 57(2), p.29. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s13592-026-01256-6?cjdata=MXxZfDB8WXww&utm_medium=affiliate&utm_source=commission_junction&utm_campaign=CONR_BOOKS_ECOM_GL_PBOK_06YUE_GL_ALWYS_DEEPLINK&utm_content=textlink&utm_term=PID100052570&CJEVENT=684ba1913cbf11f182b202450a18b8fc

00:00 Bee Numbers In Perspective

00:53 Solitary Bee Megasites

01:14 Meet Dr Brian Danforth

05:13 Cemetery Nesting Twist

06:14 Bee Biology And Pollination

08:54 Why Cemeteries Work

12:27 Biodiversity And History

14:00 Emergence Traps Method

16:34 Parasites And Phenology

21:07 Sex Ratios And Health

24:04 Millions Of Bees Estimated

26:44 Conservation and iNaturalist

28:38 Can We Build Bee Beds

Wasps are an often underappreciated and underdiscussed pollinator group. In today's episode, we will dive into their fascinating world. We'll define what exactly a wasp is, the diversity of wasps around the world, their specialized hunting skills, and far beyond. Sloan Tomlinson is a science communicator, insect photographer, and regulatory contributor to wasp educational programs.

Check out That Wasp Guy on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thatwaspguy/

Visit the UMass Extension pollinator resources page: ag.umass.edu/pollinators

Log landings serve as a unique way to provision habitat in otherwise closed-canopy forests, providing refuge for wild bees and wasps. UMass Amherst PhD candidate Aliza Fassler unpacks her research on seeding log landings with native plants, and speaks to the pollinator assemblages that use them.

Learn more about Aliza's research in this technical report: https://t.ly/gM2hR

Visit the UMass Extension pollinator resources page: ag.umass.edu/pollinators

Thyra Mckelvie joins PolliNation to discuss managing blue orchard bees (mason bees). Thyra is the Managing Director and Solitary Bee Educator at Rent Mason Bees. She outlines three essential care steps: start with clean, openable nesting material of proper size, remove nests at the end of spring to protect developing bees from summer predators, and harvest/clean cocoons in fall to control pests and disease. In addition, Thyra covers the key pests of mason bees include pollen mites, Houdini flies, chalkbrood fungus, and monodontomerus wasps, plus sterilization methods.

Rent Mason Bees website: https://rentmasonbees.com

Rent Mason Bees YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@RentMasonBees

Houdini Fly Hunt - report if you have Houdini Flies: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScwkcEVe6CfNoaoTDcSlXmIpX0HYUTmhOsZJihPvn8rCXNn8A/viewform?pli=1

00:00 Welcome to Mason Bee Season

01:01 What Are Blue Orchard Bees

02:39 Gentle Bees for Schools

04:06 Bee Hotels Need Maintenance

05:42 Avoid Bamboo and Log Hotels

07:01 Three Steps to Protect Cocoons

11:49 Predators and Parasites Explained

12:05 Inside a Nesting Chamber

13:09 Pollen Mites and Houdini Fly

16:02 Chalkbrood and Monodontomerus Wasps

18:33 Cleaning and Sterilizing Trays

19:56 Sterilize Nesting Trays

20:20 Spot Houdini Fly Signs

20:41 Cardboard Liner Hack

21:22 Spring Cleanup Routine

21:56 Vacuuming and Tanglefoot

22:43 Join Houdini Fly Research

24:11 Bee Emergence Timeline

25:13 Remove and Store Blocks

26:16 Summer Storage Tips

27:55 Fall Harvest and Washing

29:54 Dispose Pests Safely

30:27 Releasing From Old Materials

32:48 Rent Mason Bees Explained

34:52 Wrap Up and Thanks

As the 300th episode approached Dr. Melathopoulos started to get nervous. He had been doing the show since 2018. When his podcasting hero Melvyn Bragg hung up his podcasting mic last year, Dr. Melathopoulos wondered if he should do the same. But no. Polli-Nation is officially outgrowing its borders! While the show's roots are at OSU Extension, we are thrilled to welcome a new collaborative hosting team. By bringing in the expertise of Nicole Bell (East Coast/UMass), and Drs. Brandon Hopkins and Priya Chakrabarti Basu (WSU), we are expanding our coverage from the wild bee meadows of New England to the high-tech honey bee storage facilities of the Pacific Northwest. Hear the different hosts visions for the future of pollination in this episode.

Nicole Bell – UMass Amherst Extension: https://www.umass.edu/bee-campus/about/directory/nicole-bell

The Pollinator Steward Certification: https://www.umass.edu/agriculture-food-environment/resources/pollinators/pollinator-steward-certification-program

Dr. Brandon Hopkins – Washington State University Lab Page: https://bees.wsu.edu/about-hopkins-lab/

Dr. Priya Chakrabarti (Basu) – Washington State University Research Website: https://priyadarshinichakrabarti.com

Harry Vanderpool – Hear our episode with Harry: https://youtu.be/CSiDXLmgxjU?si=D796BGDFkSUMMT59

00:00 Nicole Bell - episode highlight

00:25 Podcast Origins and Growth

01:45 Episode 300 New Era

03:09 Meet Nicole Bell

06:04 Meet Brandon Hopkins

08:48 Meet Priya Chakrabarti

10:49 Harry Vanderpool Updates

14:30 Co-Hosts Vision Ahead

In this episode Dr. Melathopoulos speaks with Dr. Armando Falcon-Brindis, assistant professor and extension specialist in entomology at the University of Idaho's Parma Research and Extension Center and director of the Parma Cocoon Testing Center. Dr. Falcon-Brindis explains why alfalfa leafcutter bees are far more effective than honey bees at pollinating alfalfa seed and describes how the lab uses X-ray imaging to assess cocoon health by counting live larvae, dead cells, pollen balls, machine damage, predators, parasites, and signs of pathogens, with follow-up dissections when needed. He details grower sampling methods, recommended bee release rates, and sex-ratio testing, then outlines new program efforts including a demonstration pollinator garden, field-based IPM trainings, and modernization of diagnostics with digital X-ray and other technologies.

University of Idaho Faculty Profile: https://www.uidaho.edu/people/afalconbrindis

Parma Research and Extension Center: https://www.uidaho.edu/idaho-ag-experiment-station/centers/parma

00:00 X-Ray Cocoon Clues

01:12 Podcast And Guest Intro

02:48 New Extension Role

05:22 Why Leafcutters Win

08:14 Cocoon Center Basics

11:28 X-Ray Diagnostics

14:28 Using Results For Rates

19:35 Sampling And Reports

23:09 New Programs And Tech

27:44 Pollinator Garden Impact

Dr. Melathopoulos talks with Dr. Hannah Gaines-Day (University of Wisconsin–Madison) about WiBee (W-I-B-E-E), an app created after conversations with Wisconsin apple growers who wanted to know whether wild bees provide enough pollination or if honeybee rentals are needed. The app has users stand still and record insect visits in a standardized 3x3-foot area for five minutes, tallying easy-to-identify functional "morpho groups" (honeybee, bumblebee, large dark, small dark, green bee, and non-bees) while also logging weather, habitat, and flower abundance. Validation work compared Wibee visitation rates with pollen deposition in apple and cranberry, finding a tight relationship in cranberry but not apple due to pollen source ambiguity; a follow-up will test relationships with fruit set, and pumpkin data are pending. Wibee has been widely adopted by Master Gardeners, has generated about 15,000 publicly viewable surveys, and may be compared with camera-based monitoring in future work.

Essential Links: WiBee Official Website: pollinators.wisc.edu/wibee

The Gratton Lab: gratton.entomology.wisc.edu

Hannah Gaines-Day - Faculty Profile: https://entomology.wisc.edu/directory/hannah-gaines-day/

00:00 Bee Survey Setup

00:53 Podcast Intro

01:24 Meet Hannah Gaines-Day

02:27 Why Bee ID Matters

03:31 Wisconsin Crops Focus

04:30 Wibee Morpho Groups

06:16 Functional Group Logic

07:53 How To Use Wibee

10:06 Sampling Strategy Tips

10:59 Validation Experiments

13:37 Apple Vs Cranberry Results

16:14 Beyond Wisconsin Use

18:22 Citizen Science Adoption

20:30 Pollination Threshold Goals

23:02 Future Tech Comparisons

In this episode of Pollination, host Dr. Andony Melathopoulos talks with Dr. Elizabeth Murray ( Mt. James Entomological Collection, Washington State University) about pollen wasps (Masarinae) and how they represent a rare, parallel shift to bees from carnivory to provisioning young with pollen. The conversation covers pollen wasp origins around 125 million years ago alongside bees, likely in arid Western Gondwana as angiosperms rose, their global but dry-region-biased distribution, low species diversity (<350) versus bees, and their specialized host-plant use. They compare life histories, pollen transport (internal ingestion in pollen wasps), nesting (mud and ground nests), Pacific Northwest plant hosts like Penstemon and Phacelia, and current research priorities including phylogeny, distributions, and conservation links to threatened plants.

00:00 Gondwana Origins Teaser

00:58 Podcast Intro And Guest

02:22 Inside The Entomology Collection

03:49 Why Collections Matter

05:27 Growing The Collection

06:52 What Are Pollen Wasps

09:04 Angiosperms And Shared Origins

11:00 Reverting Back To Carnivory

12:40 Where They Live And Diversity

15:49 Life History Compared To Bees

18:07 How They Carry And Pollinate

19:21 Nests And Plant Hosts

23:31 Research And Conservation Questions