Want to “save the bees”? Me too! My research showed me how to improve bee habitat landscapes. I can help you to design scientifically proven better habitat for bees.

Design Theory

Since 2009 I have been fascinated with how be the best landscape designer for bees. My curiosity led me to research building resilient bee landscapes. As it turns out “saving the bees” is not simple. There are thousands of different types of bees, hardly a homogeneous group. Moreover, though landscape fragmentation is listed as a main threat to bees, the solutions are not clear cut.

Solving geographical bee habitat issues is essential to protect pollination ecosystem services. Throughout my PhD research, the University of California, Davis, I have identified where in time and space habitat occurs within pollination networks. I work the GIS software to determine and remedy habitat strategic improvements. As a designer I care deeply about how to improve the world’s landscapes for bees.

In 2020 I began working as an instructor in Cal Poly’s Landscape Architecture department, I have been teaching students how to ‘see like a bee’ and improve their landscape designs ecologically.

In September 2022 I finished my Geography PhD and I plan on beginning consultation work soon. I will be splitting my time between California’s Central Coast and the Bay Area, where there is an abundance more to learn about and design for bees.

Check out my most recent bee talk here: https://youtu.be/Nf5MJ0IdFd4

Fieldwork in the UC Davis Arboretum

In 2017 I completed weekly bee foraging data collection on the UC Davis Arboretum’s thirty-five gardens. My data shows that urban gardens represent dynamic novel ecosystems from a bee’s perspective. Much of my work is based on mapping and analyzing bee habitat maps to make strategic habitat improvement for resilient landscapes.

Dissertation Chapter 1

Pending presentation at the North American International Association of Landscape Ecology Conference, March 2023.

Strategic habitat analysis for bees in California: Validation of foraging associations to improve bee habitat and conservation in novel ecosystems

This study evaluates foraging habitat for native and naturalized bees in California and identifies strategies for best habitat management practices for novel ecosystems. Habitat loss and fragmentation are cited as the major causes of decline in bee populations. These problems call for conservation actions. The approach taken was to perform habitat analysis in order to build wildlife habitat relationships (WHR) bee-to-plant foraging models. Ordinarily used for vertebrate animals, this approach tested if these types of WHR models could be applied to bees in California. A presence-only bee-to-plant foraging matrix was compiled from existing literature and contains 23 bee genera and 134 plant genera. This bee foraging matrix was field-tested, and validated to assess its accuracy through weekly observations in 35 gardens at the UC Davis Arboretum and Public Garden over an entire calendar year. Findings suggest existing ‘pollinator friendly’ plant lists for California bees have significant shortcomings in predicting foraging associations. A key finding of this research is that more than three times the unique bee-to-plant foraging associations were observed (297) than predicted (96). In terms of accuracy, the overall average (mean) true positive fraction for correctly predicting bee genera (from existing literature) was found to be 0.14 (this sensitivity score ranged in values from 0 to 0.5) and likewise, the overall omission error rate, or false negative fraction, was found to be 0.86 (ranging from 0.7 to 1.0). The model independence tests for each respective bee genus observed reveals that 15 of the 28 observed bee genera models are highly significant at levels below 0.01 (p-value) with degrees of freedom ranging from 1-237. These results suggest that for the vast majority of bees in California, the existing literature reflects very little of their foraging associations. A better understanding of bee and plant associations is needed for strategic bee habitat stewardship. This research identifies novel plants, not previously included in the literature, which support foraging for bees in California. Novel associations demonstrating high foraging frequencies and attracting many bee genera should be considered for improving designed bee habitats. These findings support reconciliation ecology as an effective approach for bee conservation and habitat designs.

Dissertation Chapter 2

Pending Presentation at the North American International Association of Landscape Ecology Conference, March 2023.

Application of spatial and temporal habitat analysis to assess California bee habitat patch dynamics and potential for landscape fragmentation in the anthroscape

In spite of the vital pollination ecosystem services bees provide, humans continue to destroy and fragment bee habitat without providing appropriate habitat solutions. To date, no specific solutions are available to identify and remedy bee habitat fragmentation. Precise habitat analysis is needed to determine where and when habitat gaps occur in bee habitats. Only then can specific strategic habitat solutions be determined and designed. Bees are a diverse group of pollinating organisms, among which their foraging preferences and ranges demonstrate much variation. This study uses geographic information systems (GIS) technology to measure the geographic distances between pollinator foraging plants throughout one year. Comparisons of the expected (potential) habitats and observed (utilized) foraging associations test the ability of recommended plant lists to attract and sustain bee genera. Examining these results spatially helps to shed light on how and when bee habitat fragmentation occurs over a human-dominated landscape, the “anthroscape.” GIS mapping helps to show geographically how bee foraging trends are spatially and temporally distributed, giving further insight into how pollinator habitat patch dynamic networks function and where gaps potentially occur. The fully mapped plant collections in the UC Davis Arboretum, composed of 35 public gardens, landscape was used to test bee-to-flower foraging associations along with the spatial implications of these novel ecosystems. Additionally, due to the linear layout of the Arboretum it was possible to test habitat patch fragmentation among individual bee genera and the gardens, a relatively fine scale analysis. Since bees vary greatly in their foraging range abilities, those differences in range were accounted for in the mapping model. Two habitat relationship models were made to compare how differing plant pallete schemes would compare. Spatial habitat analysis was done to compare potential versus actual bee foraging trends and how bee foraging habitat utilization works in a landscape system. Results demonstrate a variety of habitat utilization trends among bee genera. Most bees, especially those with large foraging radii, exhibited little to no habitat fragmentation. Conversely, bees with small foraging radii sometimes encountered more patchy habitat utilization. Moreover, GIS maps of monthly versus annual temporal aggregates of foraging patterns revealed differences between monthly and annual aggregate habitat maps. This study sheds light on how bees might be expected to forage spatially in this fully mapped series of unique themed garden ecosystems. These findings suggest how bees perceive and utilize “anthroscapes” and suggests that fragmentation is more common for bees with smaller foraging ranges at the landscape scale. By assessing the Arboretum thoroughly from many diverse bees’ perspectives, it is possible to identify ecological shortcomings and design ecologically strategic and precise habitat solutions to combat spatial and temporal habitat fragmentation.

Dissertation Chapter 3

Published in Landscape Research Record, March 2022 Presented at The Council for Educators in Landscape Architecture March 2022.

Article Link pages 223-241

Designing for native bees in the face of climate change: A case study for creating novel ecosystems for resilient landscapes

Bee habitat infrastructure should be an essential priority for humankind facing climate change today. Pollination resiliency is necessary to conserve our current standards of life by reducing environmental and physiological stressors for bees. Designing conservation landscapes within human dominated systems for a diversity of native bees is complicated. Native bees fill a huge ecological purpose yet suffer from habitat fragmentation. Landscape designers need clear instructions to effectively plan and design bee habitat scientifically proven design for pollination ecological function. This research aims to add clarity and specific solutions to help combat the many layers of complexity concerning bee habitats and identify best management practices to help landscape designers make sound, ecologically based bee habitat. This paper presents a collection of bee design ideas and concepts tested by undergraduate students. Design strategies were assigned to aim to: 1) improve habitat for native bees, 2) improve understanding of urban bee habitats and needed habitat network augmentations, and 3) design to educate and convey information/increase landscape literacy for focal bee genera. Bees are keystone species, important to the conservation of many other plants, animals, and ecosystems. Human-dominated habitats, especially those with close proximity to agricultural areas, serve as potential source habitats for bees. This research utilized landscape architecture students to explore scientifically accurate designs for and about bees. With precise instruction about bee needs, students designed well for bees and either strove to provide best possible habitat or used art for conservation. Through precise bee ecological training, landscape architecture undergraduate students did very well designing for bee conservation. Bolstering urban plantings can help to mitigate the climate change effects on bee populations via effective garden and pollinator network designs.

Selected Fieldwork Data Images

Here is a handful of my thousands of fieldwork research images! Cite these with my name please.

Pollinator Seed Library Project

Building Pollinator Habitat Networks, From the Ground Up

Urban gardens have the potential for bee habitat, with the right plants in proximity. I’ve embarked in a new project to explore the interest and potential for neighborhoods to increase habitat for bees. In only a short month there has been quite a bit of interest. Hundreds of seed packets have been picked up and dropped off. I have been purchasing and supplying seeds good for bees. I would love to expand this project much further. Enabling people to easily implement bee plantings in their yards is just the start. Singular gardens should become part of a greater network of urban habitat and corridors for bees. In this way, I hope to build ecosystem resilience for pollination in the face of the extreme environmental challenges we face, including climate change. Let’s make the world better… one seed at a time!

Venmo

https://venmo.com/code?user_id=3298977063632896260

PayPal

paypal.me/beelandscapes

Cash & Check

Stop by and say “Hi”. Thank you for supporting the bees and resilient ecosystems! Mailbox funding always accepted.

Downloadable Fieldwork Data

Please cite me as your source if you choose to use my data! My research is clearly focused on helping bees. I am a strong believer that if other researchers can do more with my data, that is what is best for bees. Just give credit where credit is due. Also, I am always open to collaboration. Lets work together on improving analysis, future data sets, and bee research you are interested in!

Weekly Resolution

Still Under Construction

The link below provides my data, in a week by week format. This level of temporal resolution allows better insight into bee emergence and flower bloom times.

Monthly Resolution

Still Under Construction

The link below provides my data in a monthly time increment steps. This level of temporal resolution aligns with most bee and flowering time publications. This coarser timescale is still good for tracking year-long trends, but is less precise than the weekly resolution.

Geo-Referenced Data Photos

Still Under Construction

I have taken thousands of geo-referenced photographs while completing my fieldwork. The button below is for the entire collection of photos. They are named by date, garden name, type of bee.