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PolliNation Podcast

260 episodes - English - Latest episode: 18 days ago - ★★★★★ - 128 ratings

PolliNation is a podcast from Oregon State University Extension Service that tells the stories of researchers, land managers and concerned citizens who are making bold strides to improve the health of pollinators.

Natural Sciences Science Education Self-Improvement bees healthofpollinators landmanagers pollination pollinator researchers
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Episodes

257 - Lotmaria... the bee gut organism you have never heard of

March 10, 2024 22:36 - 23 minutes - 32.5 MB

Adult honey bees have a variety of organisms that live in their guts. Some are benign but some, like Nosema ceranae, can be pathogentic. In this episode we hear of  Courtney MacInnis' relentless pursuit of understanding the status of an organism you have never heard of - Lotmaria passim - both on its own, and in combination with Nosema ceranae. Her findings are most unexpected. 

256 - Backyard Habitat Certification

February 19, 2024 18:42 - 27 minutes - 37.9 MB

In this episode we hear from Susie Peterson who is the co-manager of the very popular Backyard Habitat Certification Program in Oregon. The program is managed in partnership with Portland Audubon and can help you better design your backyard for biodiversity. 

255 - Stay out! The perils of commercial bumble colonies to wild queens.

February 05, 2024 12:00 - 51 minutes - 71.3 MB

Bumble bee queens have been known to try and take over already established nests. Sometimes they manage to take over the nest and increase their own reproductive success. But according to new research from Heather Grab this is not what happens when a wild bumble bee queen tries to take over a commercial bumble bee colony. 

254 - Restoring Pollinator Habitat with Greenbelt Land Trust

January 22, 2024 05:18 - 35 minutes - 49.4 MB

Land Trusts punch above their weight in creating pollinator habitat. In this episode we talk with Greenbelt Land Trust of some of their innovative methods for restoring pollinator habitat on a working farm. 

253 - Bee Friendly Farming in the PNW

December 11, 2023 06:29 - 20 minutes - 28.7 MB

Bee Friendly Farming is an initiative to certify agricultural production for taking steps to help bees. This week we hear about the expansion of the program to the Pacific Northwest, specifically with regards to wine grapes. 

252 - Maximizing pollination potential in cherries

November 27, 2023 09:42 - 32 minutes - 44.8 MB

Bees are just one part of maximizing cherry yield. Before the bees arrive, cherries have to be pruned properly and given the right nutrition. Also, bee attractive cover crops can help rejuvinate the soil before replanting. We hear about all the tricks to maximizing pollination success in cherries from Mike Omeg of Orchard View Cherries. 

251 - Surveying for American foulbrood in honey

November 12, 2023 22:38 - 11 minutes - 16 MB

American foulbrood (AFB) is one of the most damaging diseases of honey bees. Up until now, beekeepers have lacked an early warning system to know whether the disease is rising in their colonies. In this episode we hear from Dr. Sarah Wood about an innovative system for surveying for AFB in honey,

250 - Garden bees of Portland

October 30, 2023 09:00 - 13 minutes - 19 MB

Have you ever wondered which fuzzy yellow bee you just saw visiting a flower? In this episode, guest host Jen Hayes interviews Nicole Bell about two new and free resources that explore 67 species of bees found in Portland area gardens. Jen and Nicole are both graduate student members of OSU's Garden Ecology Lab. 

249 - How to buy a native plant

October 23, 2023 06:44 - 17 minutes - 24.2 MB

As nursery catalogs start to show up in our mailboxes and we think about the plants we want to grow next season, it's easy to get overwhelmed. In this episode, guest host Nicole Bell talks with Jen Hayes about two handouts that can help you better understand plant labels and discover if the plant in front of you is a wild-type native plant, a cultivar, or some other plant form! Jen and Nicole are both graduate student members of OSU's Garden Ecology Lab. 

248 - The art of pollination

October 18, 2023 23:55 - 49 minutes - 68.4 MB

This week we hear a facinating conversation between an established mutimedia artist (Jasna Guy) and young artist and melittologist (Marek Stanton) on how art, ecology and the natural world overlap.

247 - Too hot for pollen?

October 09, 2023 02:13 - 45 minutes - 62.8 MB

There have been extreme temperatures during the pollination of early season crops. In this episode we explore how these temperatures not only influence the activity of pollinating insects, but also the pollen they are shuttling around. 

246 - Prairie Strips

September 25, 2023 02:26 - 35 minutes - 49 MB

Prairie ecosystems are essential to many pollinator species across North America. Generating prairie after its been lost can be challenging. This week we travel to Iowa to hear from the STRIPS (Science-based Trails of Rowcrops Integrated with Prairie Strips) team. They have been perfecting how to get growers to install prairie strips on the edges of their farms. 

245 - Bee Friendly Gardening with Elliott Gordon

September 18, 2023 06:59 - 1 hour - 92 MB

We continue on our bee friendly gardening kick with a trip to Albuquerque, New Mexico to hear how one naturalist transformed his front yard into biodiversity hotspot. Using tools like iNaturalist, he has documented over 90 bee species and 1,200 other insects on less than a quarter acre of land. 

244 - Bee Friendly Gardening with Lynn Kunstman

September 11, 2023 06:59 - 46 minutes - 64.3 MB

This week we continue our September on Bee Friendly Gardening with a southern Oregon Master Gardener who has a passion for native plants. 

243 - Bee Friendly Gardening

September 03, 2023 03:27 - 39 minutes - 55.4 MB

With the season for pollinator gardening winds down, it is a great time to start planning your garden for next year. In this episode we we learn about a national program to connect gardeners together and provide them with resources to up their pollinator gardener game.  

242 - Bee Friendly Wine (King Estate)

August 09, 2023 21:17 - 35 minutes - 48.2 MB

The Oregon Bee Friendly Wine Tour is coming to an end for 2023. We hear about what makes King Estate a great place for bees, get some gardening tips and hear about an event hosted along with the Save the Bee Foundation. 

241 - Rip out your lawn (and replace it with subalpine meadow)

July 17, 2023 08:00 - 44 minutes - 61.2 MB

This week we hear from Dr. Phil Allen who has the audacious idea of reducing water use and increasing benefits to pollinator by replacing lawns with subalpine meadows. 

240 - Bumble bee nest relocation and rearing

July 10, 2023 06:55 - 43 minutes - 59 MB

Bumble bees nest in the darndest places - like bird houses and water meters. In this episode we learn about how to relocate bumble bee colonies. We also figure out how to get bumble bee nests where you want them, by rearing colonies from queens that emerge in the spring. 

239 - Oregon Master Beekeeper Field Day

June 26, 2023 06:56 - 19 minutes - 27.4 MB

Beekeeping takes a lot of training and mentorship. In many states, the place to learn the finer points of this trade is in state Master Beekeeper programs. We hear about the Oregon program through its annual field day. 

238 - National Pollinator Week 2023

June 19, 2023 06:59 - 14 minutes - 20 MB

It's National Pollinator Week next week. We hear about what makes effective public engagement on pollinators and of a new event in Vancouver, Washington, the Pollinator Festival. 

237 - Bee Friendly Wine (Sokol Blosser)

June 12, 2023 06:59 - 14 minutes - 19.2 MB

A number of Oregon vineyards are working together to enhance the habitat for bees (which includes over 700 species in Oregon). In this episode we visit one of those vineyards, Sokol Blosser Winery, and learn about how they are working to improve habitat for their bees.  

236 - Vanderpool - (Very) wet start to PNW beekeeping

April 23, 2023 07:00 - 40 minutes - 55.2 MB

This week we hear about what this cold and wet spring has meant for Pacific Northwest beekeepers (and the crops they pollinate).

235 - Kulhanek - Washington's new Pollinator Health Research and Extension Program!

April 04, 2023 07:00 - 29 minutes - 41 MB

There are some amazing things happening for pollinators in Washington State these days. This week we hear about the brand new Pollinator Health Research and Extension Program.

234 - Goldstein - Colony strength and blueberry pollination

March 05, 2023 08:00 - 37 minutes - 51.4 MB

This week we hear why the strength of the colonies, not just the stocking rate, matters for blueberry pollination and how growers can evaluate strength in the field.

233 - Hill - The Latest Buzz

February 26, 2023 08:00 - 14 minutes - 20.1 MB

This week we hear about one of the best kept secrets, a newsletter from USDA that gives a regular update on what is going on in the pollinator world.   

232 - Shannon - Do adjuvants influence bee health?

February 10, 2023 23:14 - 37 minutes - 51.2 MB

Pesticide applicators frequently add adjuvants to help their pesticide applications be more effective or safer to use. Adjuvants, however, are not assessed for their risk to bees by regulators. We hear about new research that assesses the safety of these products to bees.

231 - Dean - Georgia bee license plate

February 07, 2023 08:00 - 29 minutes - 40.4 MB

Oregon is going to be getting a new bee plate. We hear about our inspiration from beekeepers in Georgia.

230 - Eeraerts - Stocking honey bee colonies for the landscape

January 01, 2023 08:00 - 45 minutes - 62.4 MB

Extension guides often offer blanket recommendations for honey bee colony stocking rates on a field scale. This week we learn about new blueberry research that suggests these recommendations need to take the landscape into consideration.

229 - Lu - Marker assisted selection 101 (for breeding honey bees)

December 21, 2022 08:00 - 46 minutes - 64.6 MB

Breeding honey bees is notoriously difficult. New molecular techniques may help.

228 - Rinkevich - Are varroa resistant to amitraz?

December 14, 2022 08:00 - 18 minutes - 25.7 MB

Beekeepers across North America depend on an acaricide containing amitraz to manage varroa mites, the most challenging pest problem bees face. In this episode we learn of a large scale effort to determine whether the mites are still susceptible to the treatments and what beekeepers can do if they face amitraz resistant mites.

227 - Lindsay- Matching plants to bees

December 07, 2022 20:00 - 16 minutes - 23.1 MB

It is often assumed that a single blend of flowers could serve all bees equally. In this episode we hear about some new research that considers how it might make sense to tailor resource availability in restored habitats to bee preference in an area.  

226 - Spendal - Those amazing mason bees

November 07, 2022 07:00 - 55 minutes - 76.7 MB

Much of what we know about the life history of mason bees is based on very few observations. This week we hear from a new study that shows how many of our assumptions about these bees have underestimated these amazing bees.

225 - Chabert - Would blueberry yield benefit from planting different cultivars together?

October 25, 2022 07:00 - 40 minutes - 55.6 MB

Blueberries are a big crop in the Pacific Northwest, but the question of how blueberry yield might benefit from outcrossing among cultivars (like apples and cherries) is not clear. This week we hear about research to determine the benefits of outcrossing in blueberries. 

224 - Jennings and Willson - Washington Native Bee Society (WANBS)

October 18, 2022 07:00 - 29 minutes - 40.5 MB

If you are interested in native bees and a member of the public where do you go? Washington has a new approach, namely the formation of a native bee society, which enables people across a wide range of interests to get together and work towards the preservation of the bees of the Evergreen State.

223 - Youngsteadt - Urban bees: what drives diversity and how do we measure it?

October 02, 2022 07:00 - 42 minutes - 57.8 MB

Gardening and landscaping for urban wild bees is growing. While there is a lot of attention to the flowers to help bees, what else drives diversity? Also, how is diversity measured? In this episode we learn about the broader factors that determine diversity and the biases involved with measuring bee diversity with pan traps.  

222 - Danielsen - Pollinator habitat on water pipelines?

September 25, 2022 07:00 - 14 minutes - 19.7 MB

As water pipelines are buried to conserve water, this leaves a lot of land that could be converted to pollinator habitat. In this episode we learn of an initiative from Hood River County in Oregon. 

221 - Taylor - Bees and school farms

September 19, 2022 07:00 - 32 minutes - 44 MB

Urban farms are becoming more common on school grounds. In this episode we hear how bees can be a critical part of student experience at school urban farms. 

220 - Washington Co Master Gardener - Pollinator Outreach (par excellence)

September 04, 2022 07:00 - 45 minutes - 62.5 MB

2022 was the year we were able to get back out to public events to talk to the public about pollinators. Some of us were a little rusty. In this episode we hear about how to pull off an excellent event and how to involve Master Gardeners.

219 - Labuschagne - Living through a Varroapocolypse

August 22, 2022 07:00 - 34 minutes - 46.9 MB

The Canadian prairie region is home to the bulk of that country’s colonies. Last year it suffered crippling losses to varroa mites. In this episode we see what we can learn from these periodic heavy varroa infestation years. 

218 - Casey Holland - What the heck does IPM mean (in New Mexico)?

August 14, 2022 07:00 - 25 minutes - 35.6 MB

Integrated pest management (IPM) is a key dimension of pollinator protection. This week we head to Chispas Farm in Albuquerque, New Mexico on how they use an integrated method to protect their plants from pests and encourage pollinators.

217 - O'Shea-Wheller - Are varroa resistant bees ready for primetime with the POL line?

August 08, 2022 07:00 - 28 minutes - 39.5 MB

Varroa resistant bees have been on the horizon for over a decade. This week we learned how close these lines are to being used commercially through a recent study of the POL line.

216 - Yang and Henle - Machines learning to classify insecticides as toxic to bees

July 31, 2022 07:00 - 21 minutes - 29.7 MB

A new study uses machine learning to classify whether a pesticide is toxic to bees or not. 

215 - Mahood - Drone congregation areas

June 19, 2022 07:00 - 21 minutes - 30.2 MB

Central to honey bee mating are drone congregation areas (DCAs). In this episode we learn how to locate DCAs using unmanned aerial devises (aka, drones).

214 - Paul - Mason Bees in (an unusually) Cool Wet Spring

June 13, 2022 07:00 - 28 minutes - 39.8 MB

It’s been a cold and wet spring across the Pacific Northwest region. In this episode we learn about what impacts it may have had on cocoon production and what you can do to ensure you maintain bee productivity across a range of spring conditions.

213 - Whitford and Feken - The complex life of the honey bee

June 06, 2022 07:00 - 58 minutes - 80.6 MB

Honey bees have complex societies, which makes their response to environmental stressors difficult to understand. Consequently, the ways in which pesticide risk is assessed for bees can be complicated, nuanced and overwhelming. In this episode we cut through the tangle of all this complexity through a new extension publication.

212 - Clay Bolt - Grassland Pollinators

May 29, 2022 07:00 - 33 minutes - 45.6 MB

Grasslands are often overlooked in terms of pollinator habitat. But they are key to many of the bee and butterfly species in the U.S. In this episode we hear about programs from the World Wildlife Foundation Fund to preserve grassland habitat in Montana.

211 - Morfin - New Tech Transfer Program in BC

May 13, 2022 07:00 - 31 minutes - 43 MB

British Columbia beekeepers have made a major investment in preparing for the future in launching a tech transfer program. Hear about this program and the challenges it hopes to address for beekeepers in BC.

210 - Coffan - What’s going on with Western Monarchs

May 02, 2022 07:00 - 48 minutes - 66.9 MB

The Western monarch butterfly population appears to have recovered from a tremendously low number of butterflies returning to overwintering grounds a few years ago. In this episode we try to understand what still remains unknown about this remarkable migrating butterfly species.

210 - Coffan - Working together in the PNW

May 02, 2022 07:00 - 48 minutes - 66.9 MB

The Western monarch butterfly population appears to have recovered from a tremendously low number of butterflies returning to overwintering grounds a few years ago. In this episode we try to understand what still remains unknown about this remarkable migrating butterfly species.

209 - Burgett - Working together in the PNW

April 03, 2022 07:00 - 36 minutes - 50.7 MB

There has been a long tradition of people working together to help bees across state and provincial boundaries in the Pacific Northwest region. In this episode we discover where this cooperative approach came from.