Featuring Gordon Frankie
Berkeley: Thursday October 18 – 7 pm refreshments, 7:30 program
Male of Xylocopa tabaniformis orpifex visiting flowers of Cercis (Redbud)
Native bees and native flowering plants have evolved together to produce a variety of relationships. Some relationships allow bees to use several plant types for pollen and nectar resources. This is the case in California with many native bee species. The flexibility enables bees to use garden plants and other resources in urban areas for repro- duction and survival. Statewide research conducted by Gordon Frankie and others at UC Berkeley and UC Davis has shown that interesting patterns of relationships can be used to plan pollinator habitat gardens that will conserve native bees. He will talk about these patterns, which you can apply to your garden.
Gordon Frankie is a professor and research entomologist in the Division of Insect Biology, College of Natural Resources, UC Berkeley. His specialty is the behavioral ecology of solitary bees in the wildlands and urban environments of California and Costa Rica. He also teaches conservation and environmental problem-solving. His lab at UC Berkeley studies native bees and their preferred flowers. The website (http://helpabee.org) contains indispensable information about gardening for bees.
Free for GGAS members, $5 nonmembers.
Location: Northbrae Community Church 941 The Alameda (between Solano and Marin), Berkeley Directions: www.northbrae.org/directions.html.
