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05/13/2007
Growers turn to new bee breed in wake of die-offs
Hornfaced bees lay their eggs at the Northwest Michigan Horticultural Research Station. They don’t collect nectar and make honey but do distribute pollen like honeybees. TRAVERSE CITY — It was a busy afternoon in the fruit orchard behind the Northwest Michigan Horticultural Research Station, though there wasn't a human in sight. Scores of hornfaced bees slipped in and out of tiny cardboard tubes they call home and buzzed around plots of fruit trees off County Road 633 south of Suttons Bay. The docile, almost friendly bees zoom around the orchard in their yearly spring pollination ritual, a key step in northern Michigan's fruit-growing industry. Hornfaced bee research is among several ongoing projects at the station. But it's an effort that's taken on increased importance with the mysterious die-off of honeybee populations in parts of the country. Local work with hornfaced bees predates the onset of Colony Collapse Disorder, a bee affliction that's garnered attention since last fall, but the research could prove even more critical if honeybee die-offs continue. "Now that we've been seeing these other problems, it makes this more important,” said Nikki Rothwell, the research station director who brought in the hornfaced bees from a beekeeper in Indiana a few years ago. Hornfaced bees — Osmia cornifrons — hail from Japan, where they've been used to pollinate orchards for more than 70 years. Experts say they are less sluggish than honeybees in cool or windier conditions, which makes them more active pollinators on chilly or damp spring days. "It doesn't really seem to bother them; they're out doing their own thing,” said Tom Broadhagen, who grows more than 30 varieties of specialty apples on his farm just south of Empire. He started using hornfaced bees three years ago to supplement wild bees that pollinate his orchard. "The first two years, where I had them in the orchard, I had a pretty good yield,” Broadhagen said. Hornfaced bees don't store honey, and they are solitary bees in that they don't have queen and worker bees. Each female hornfaced bee mates, makes a nest cell of mud, collects nectar and pollen and lays eggs. Male hornfaced bees, unlike honeybee drones, also contribute to pollination. Broadhagen said his hornfaced bee population has fallen off this year, and he's not sure why. Rothwell said there may be mites that are cutting in to their population, but researchers don't yet have a specific answer. Rothwell acknowledged that some area beekeepers weren't thrilled when she brought the Japanese bees to northern Michigan. But it could be an important alternative for local growers if the honeybee die-off spreads into northern Michigan. "Our goal for the hornfaced bees is not to replace the honeybees, but to supplement them,” she said.
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