As a #pollinator ecologist, people often ask me how to start #beekeeping in order to #SavetheBees. While honey bees are important commercial pollinators and hive product (honey!) producers, keeping them adds an exotic spp. to the ecosystem and *will not* save wild #bees. 🧵(1/n)

Want to #SavetheBees? Three simple things you can do to provide more/safer food and habitat for *all* #pollinators are: 1) plant native flowers, 2) avoid chemicals, and 3) o less yardwork. 🦋🌻🐝 (7/7) providencepollinators.com/2022/06/01/nut…

#Xanthosia huegelii #Apiaceae! Xanthosia are one of my fav genera of our native Apiaceae here! Some like this one require a closer look to appreciate them more as they are easily missed!

This morning, there were several little earth "volcanos" beside the lawn. During the day; lots of female Tawny Mining Bees (Andrena fulva) have been emerging. This as about as fresh as you see them! #Bees #SolitaryBees

What's been remarkable about "Chonkosaurus Fever" is that in some ways it shows how much people appreciate having "nature" around, especially in a big dirty city. Few things offer an antidote to the bleakness & anxiety like seeing native plants & wildlife thriving.

This is just a friendly reminder, since we’re experiencing early season warm temps, that the St. Louis region’s frost free date is still a full month and a half away. Please don’t get overly excited (hard not to with these beautiful temps) and plant non-cold hardy plants…

Going through some photos from the last year, and noticed something strange about this Sabethes biting me. If you look closely, you can see how the labium has become completely detached from the fascicle, which is still sucking up blood.

We need a professional writer and publisher to write a book about wildflowers of Iran. Our information and photos about them are comprehensive. Please share this post.

🚨🐝 FUN SCIENCE ALERT! 🐝🚨Hibernating bumblebee queens can survive up to a WEEK underwater!! The discovery stems from an oversight leading to these tough little queens defying the odds, emerging alive after an accidental underwater stint! 🌊🐝 #FunScience #BumblebeeSuperheroes

Evaluating the definition & distribution of spring ephemeral #wildflowers in eastern N. America New #AJB research by @abby_june24, @benrleaf, Sara Kuebbing, Howard Neufeld, Michelle Spicer, PhD (she/her) & Mason Heberling doi.org/10.1002/ajb2.1… #botany #biodiversity Wiley Plant Science Wiley Ecology & Evolution

Exciting discovery about a solitary, ground-nesting digger #bee that's found in sandy cliffs along Pacific Coast. #ucdavis doctoral candidate Shawn Christensen of the Rachel Vannette lab led the research, published in ISME. Excellent work! shorturl.at/oBYvQ

Pinguicula moranensis is a carnivorous plant growing here in Querétaro Mexico at 10,500' elevation with Quercus rugosa and Agave montana. The flowers are pollinated by lepidopterans.

Sand deposited by an ancient Mississippi River near Cape Girardeau, Missouri, at a site 6 miles away from the present channel of the river. This site is home to many rare plants that are able to tolerate the stress of growing on sand but unable to tolerate competition or shade.

Finished :)

🚨Hot off the press!🚨 In this new paper, Laurence Packer and team diagnose, describe and illustrate Hemicotelles misti, a new species from the slopes of the Misti Volcano in Arequipa Province, Peru! mapress.com/zt/article/vie… #bees #beeresearch #BEEc #beesoftheworld

Out hiking this weekend and came across the most colorful box turtle I've ever seen!

It's that time of year! We've had some rain and the Red Hills Area of Critical Env. Concern is coming alive. The area was once considered a barren wasteland because serpentine soils didn't support ag development. Serpentine-tolerant species are a rare part of CA's biome.