Though the rolling green Palouse hills may look lifeless, there are unseen forces at work. Tiny pollinators buzz between fields.
According to University of Idaho graduate researcher Paul Rhoades, there are over 180 different bee species on the Palouse. He said that bee research of this scale has never really been done in this region.
Rhoades” research focuses on three main aspects. First, it examines native bee communities in fragments of the Palouse.
“This is unique because the bee commuting that is here might be somewhat unusual and unique,” Rhoades said.
The factors that determine the number of bee species in an area, he said, are the amount of habitat, plant diversity and richness and exotic grass invasion.
“The best stuff for bees is patches of diverse prairie,” said Rhoades.
Secondly, his research focuses on a couple of bumblebee species throughout the greater northwest.
Bombus occidentalis is one of these bumblebee species, Rhoades said. He said it used to be very common, but now it”s very rare.
“It”s clear the species has undergone a dramatic decline in the last 25 years or so,” Rhoades said.
He speculated that disease could be one of the main contributing aspects. It”s the most common theory, he said, but there”s no concrete evidence.
One of the unusual aspects about this species is the fact that a large population is found in the Palouse and the Olympic National Forest and none are found in between.
Rhoades said that the goal is to figure out what is keeping bee populations low between these areas.
Third, his research focuses on the interconnection between be species throughout the northwest.
He said in certain cases isolated populations of bees are genetically distinct.
The question is, does this happen on the Palouse?
Agricultural fields are inhospitable to bees, Rhoades said, and they create small hospitable islands. If the populations were truly isolated they would be genetically distinct, he initially hypothesized.
However, Rhoades said the bees at different spots are still genetically similar.
“Agriculture might not be helpful,” he said. “But it does not impede bee dispersal.”
Sanford Eigenbrode, a UI entymologist, stressed the importance of native habitats to bees.
“You have to think about whole landscapes anymore in this world, because everything”s fragmented,” Eigenbrode said. “The native habitats are interleaved with other kinds of land usage.”
Carly Scott can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @Idaho_Scotty