Upon arriving at Ally Pond Park, for the annual Macaulay Bio Blitz, I was placed into Group 5. As I stood, waiting for instructions, with my peers, I wondered what job I would be assigned to. Will I be collecting foliage, or maybe taking water samples from various sources throughout the park; I had no idea. Finally, our group leaders came around and provided everybody in the group with their own butterfly net. They then informed us that we were the lucky group to be assigned to go out into the park and capture bees. Wonderful. Even though I was now chasing after creatures that most sensible people run away from, I found the experience both informing and rewarding.
The first thing to strike me was the difficulty in identifying the bees from the other flying insects. Countless times I, or someone else in my group, checked their nets expecting to see a bee but, instead, found only a fly. This was largely due to a phenomenon called camouflage mimicry in which a species that has no natural defense mechanism against predators will evolve to look like a species that does. In this particular case, flying insect predators avoid bees, for fear of being stung. Thus, many species of flies, that were native to Ally Pond Park, evolved so that they too had the distinctive yellow and black stripe pattern known to bees. Without our knowledgeable group leaders present there would have been no way for us to identify the minute differences between bees and these flies. I had learned about this form of development in the classroom, but seeing it in real life made me recognize it as a true marvel of evolution.
The second thing to astonishment me was the role bees play in an ecosystem. I have read numerous articles on the declination of the bee population and the effect it is having on wild plants as well as cultivated agriculture. However, just like with the camouflage mimicry, it was hard to imagine without seeing it with my own eyes. Our group leaders informed us that Ally Pond Park was home to over 400 species of bees. As we walked throughout the park, capturing members of some of these species, our leaders pointed out to us on which plants would no longer be able to grow if a particular species of bee were to be extinct from the area. Beautiful flowers that splashed dazzling colors across the thicket would be gone – unable to reproduce – if the bees were to disappear. More important than the colors though, the role that these flowers play in the ecology of the park would be left empty, leaving many other organisms without shelter or a food source, which would lead to those organisms disappearing – effectively causing a chain reaction. Our leaders even informed us of an area in China where the bee population had gone completely extinct and now the government had to pay millions of dollars to have their crops pollinated by hand.
We were told that the data we were collecting was being used to monitor the bee population in the area. If a decline was found the data would be complied and presented to policy makers in the hopes that it will help bring about change. I am glad for the knowledge I learnt on this trip and for the opportunity to be a part of the solution.
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