The study, led by Rutgers University, finds that bees are emerging earlier each spring, advancing their life cycle by nearly a day per decade.

"This may become a case of 鈥榤issed connections鈥� in terms of bees and the plants they need to pollinate," says Sheila Colla (right), a 91亚色 PhD聽candidate in biology and study co-author. "So far, bees and plants are keeping pace with each other, but this may not be the case as rates of temperature warming increase."

Scientists call this phenomenon a "phenological mismatch" 鈥� when the life cycles of dependent species fall out of sync with one another.

"In the case of bees, [this mismatch] hasn鈥檛 happened yet," Colla says. "The concern is that some plant species will not respond to climate change in the same manner as their pollinators."聽

The study looked at the past 130 years of data on聽10 species of wild bees that emerge in the early spring in eastern North America, comparing it with published studies of bee pollinated plants over the same time period.

Results show that life cycle changes in bees have paralleled changes in the plants they visit. Both bees and plants responded to temperature increases from 1971-1999 by more than doubling their rates of phenological advance, suggesting a parallel response to climate change.

"So far, there is only a small difference between bees and plants in terms of their response to climate change, noted in only a handful of species. But, this small difference is worrying," Colla says, noting that of聽particular concern is the finding that plant studies conducted in cities showed greater rates of advance for species that emerge earlier in the season.

"This suggests more investigation into the effects of temperature warming in urban environments is needed," says Colla. She emphasizes that potential problems aren鈥檛 just limited to pollination.

"Many ecological functions result from interactions among species, and because not all species respond to climate warming in the same manner, this could potentially lead to phenological mismatches that result in the loss of function. In other words, this could result in serious challenges for many different forms of animal and plant life."

Colla conducted her research under the supervision of 91亚色 biology Professor Laurence Packer as a PhD student in the Department of Biology in聽the聽Faculty of Science & Engineering.聽The research was funded through a Natural Sciences聽& Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) Alexander Graham Bell Canada Graduate Scholarship to Colla.

The study, "Climate-associated phenological advances in bee pollinators and bee-pollinated plants," was published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).

Republished courtesy of YFile鈥� 91亚色鈥檚 daily e-bulletin.

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鈥淎 colony lives or dies by how well the workers perform, and there is a tremendous amount of variation,鈥� says Zayed. 鈥淥ne colony may be a little bit aggressive but very good for producing honey. Another may be docile and hygienic, and a third may be hygienic but not produce a lot of honey. It鈥檚 all about slight differences in genetics between colonies.鈥�

[stream provider=youtube flv=http%3A//www.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3DBOHPeaNKtGo%26feature%3Dplayer_embedded img=x:/img.youtube.com/vi/BOHPeaNKtGo/0.jpg embed=false share=false width=400 height=300 dock=true controlbar=over bandwidth=high autostart=false /]

Zayed, a biology professor in 91亚色鈥檚 Faculty of Science & Engineering, is leading a team of graduate students in experiments at his research apiary on nearby Toronto Region Conservation Authority land. They conduct behaviour experiments on the bees, examine differences in behaviour between 60 colonies, crossbreed the bees and take their offspring back to the lab for genetic analysis.

鈥淲hen you look closely at the thousands of bees in one colony, you see that some worker bees are feeding the young larvae, some are going out foraging for nectar, some are cleaning the colony of disease and dead larvae, and some worker bees are watching you, guarding the colony,鈥� says Zayed. 鈥淭he fascinating part is all of these behaviours are manifested by the same basic DNA. What we are trying to understand is how differences in the DNA or in how genes are turned on and off give rise to these wonderful behaviours.鈥�

Right: Amro Zayed

Observation of bee behaviour is not a new field. However, Zayed's lab is also integrating the study of population genetics (what makes subspecies different at a genetic level) with research on the genome, to study the evolution and genetic mechanisms underlying worker behaviour in honey bee colonies.

鈥淭his will help us to breed better bees in the future and will also advance our understanding of the genetics of behaviour in higher organisms, including our own,鈥� he says.

Zayed and his team have recently started an experiment to study the genetic basis of a whole list of behaviours, from the age at which a worker starts foraging to the best immune system for worker honeybees. Zayed鈥檚 research is funded by the Natural Sciences & Engineering Research Council of Canada, an Early Researcher Award from the Ontario Ministry of Research & Innovation, and the Canadian Honey Council.

To follow the study,聽visit the .

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The Pollinators Festival, part of , will take place from 8am to 3pm at the Evergreen Brick Works, 550 Bayview Ave., Toronto. Pollinator Week is an international celebration of the ecosystem services provided by bees, birds, butterflies, bats and beetles.

There will be a presentation by Scott MacIvor of on 鈥淲ild Bees Using Toronto Green Spaces鈥�, a tour by Sheila Colla, a 91亚色 PhD biology candidate, on 鈥淢eet the Bumble Bees: Why We Need Them and What They Do鈥�, as well as a workshop on why bees are important to food production by . There will also be local and international honey for sale at the farmer鈥檚 market.

It is expected to be a day filled with educational and celebratory events about pollinators, featuring garden tours, honey tasting, hands-on workshops, arts and crafts, speakers, panel discussions and more. 91亚色 Faculty of Environmental Studies student Madeleine Lavin was this year鈥檚 assistant organizer for the festival.

For more information, visit the website.

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Recent research by biologist Lincoln Best, [a graduate student] at 91亚色 [Faculty of Science & Engineering] has uncovered that this flower has a particularly intricate relationship with its friends in the bee world. Best鈥檚 research, which included fieldwork in , has uncovered evidence that the flower may be highly dependent on just one species of wild bee for pollination. There are over 400 species of wild bees in B.C., but in repeated fieldwork around the flowers, Best caught only the one species of bee interacting with the flower.

With wild bees in decline in B.C. and elsewhere in North America, the concern is this intricate relationship could break down; the tragic end of the cycle could mean the last lilies are left to bloom alone in the forest, with no helpers to spread their pollen an continue their cycle of life.

Best is a student in Biology Professor 's laboratory at 91亚色.

Posted by Elizabeth Monier-Williams, research communications officer, with files courtesy of YFile鈥� 91亚色鈥檚 daily e-bulletin.

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You can watch the segment on the .

Packer is a bee expert who has studied colony death and the decline of wild bee populations over the last decade and is the author of .

For suggestions about what you can do to help global bee populations in your own backyard, watch .

Posted by Elizabeth Monier-Williams, research communications officer, with files courtesy of YFile鈥� 91亚色鈥檚 daily e-bulletin

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Here's Professor Laurence Packer from 91亚色鈥檚 Department of Biology in the on what you can do to help the world鈥檚 bees in your backyard:

Packer travels the world tracking many of the 19,500 described species of wild bees. While his perspective is international, Packer鈥檚 backyard is a great example of a bee-friendly space and is featured in the video. He is also the author of . All proceeds form his book will be directed toward bee conservation research.

In 2010, Packer was featured on CBC鈥檚 The Nature of Things, hosted by David Suzuki. The episode, 鈥溾��, highlights dramatic declines in North America鈥檚 wild bee and honey bee populations, and explores what the disappearance and decline of these insects tells us about larger ecological problems. The episode is also available for download on. Packer鈥檚 segment runs from the 3:30 mark through to 6:30.

PhD student Jason Gibbs, who works in Packer鈥檚 laboratory and has collaborated with him on research publications, also recently made national news headlines by documenting 19 new bee species, one of which he discovered during his commute from downtown Toronto to 91亚色.

To read more about their work, visit Packer鈥檚 Website or search for past stories in the Research News archive using the and tags.

Packer's research is funded by the (NSERC) and the (CFI).

By Elizabeth Monier-Williams, research communications officer.

Video production by Elizabeth Monier-Williams, research communications officer, Elizabeth Teodorini, alumni communications manager, and Robert Denault and Perry Walker in the Learning Technology Services unit.

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Gibbs鈥� expansive study will help scientists track bee diversity, understand pollination biology and study the evolution of social behaviour in insects. It is also much anticipated by bee taxonomists who, like Gibbs, painstakingly examine the anatomy (morphology) of bees to distinguish one type of bee from another.

Bees are responsible for pollinating many wildflowers and a large proportion of agricultural crops. As much as one of every three bites of food that humans eat, including some meat products, depends on the pollination services of bees. Sweat bees are common visitors to a wide range of plants, including fruit and vegetable flowers in Toronto gardens.

Right: A new species of bee, Lasioglossum Ephialtum,聽discovered by Jason Gibbs. Photo by Jason Gibbs.

Sweat bees 鈭� named for their attraction to perspiration 鈭� can be smaller than four millimetres in length, often have metallic markings, and make up one-third to one-half of bees collected in biodiversity surveys in North America. Complete species descriptions of 84 metallic sweat bees in Canada are included in Gibbs鈥� monumental study, 鈥淩evision of the metallic species of Lasioglossum (Dialictus) in Canada.鈥� It was published today by the peer-reviewed journal as a single issue.

Despite their numbers and their importance as pollinators, sweat bees remain among the most challenging bees to identify to species, perhaps because they evolved so rapidly when they first appeared about 20-million years ago. Gibbs鈥� research significantly improves upon all other available tools for the identification of these bees.

Left: Jason Gibbs

鈥淭hese bees are morphologically monotonous. They are a nightmare to identify to species because their physical characteristics 鈥� their morphologies 鈥� are so similar among species. No one has been able to identify these bees until now even though they make up so many of the bees we collect,鈥� says Gibbs. 鈥淚t鈥檚 important to identify these species, because if we don鈥檛 know what bees we have, we can鈥檛 know what bees we鈥檙e losing.鈥�

Gibbs examined tens of thousands of individual bees over about four years, from his own and others鈥� collections as well as historical collections housed in museums. To identify bees to species, he first sorted them using morphological study, then tested his assessments using DNA sequences generated at the at the , which assigns 鈥渂arcodes鈥� to species based on their DNA. Finally, he carefully re-examined the bees鈥� physical characteristics to draw even finer distinctions between the bees and identify them to species.

Among the 19 new species of sweat bee identified by Gibbs is one he collected on his commute from Toronto to 91亚色. When he arrived at his 91亚色 lab and examined it, he knew he had found a new species, never before identified by science but, as it turns out, quite common in Toronto and throughout eastern Canada and the United States. He also identified and described 18 other species from Canada that are new to science, including a cuckoo bee. Like a cuckoo bird, it doesn鈥檛 build a nest or collect food, but it has big mandibles for fighting. This cuckoo sweat bee is believed to invade the nest of another sweat bee species to lay its eggs on the pollen and nectar collected by its host.

Gibbs received the 2010 Dissertation Prize from 91亚色 for the manuscript that led to this published study. A postdoctoral researcher in 91亚色 Professor Laurence Packer鈥檚 bee lab, he will continue his research this fall at . He is working on similar bee studies for the Eastern United States and Mexico. For more information, visit Jason Gibbs鈥� Web page.

This research was supported through funding to the from , and other sponsors.

By Janice Walls, media relations coordinator. Republished courtesy of YFile鈥� 91亚色鈥檚 daily e-bulletin.

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"There are hundreds of bee species in B.C., but this one appears to live in only one spot in the world and that's at Ripley Lake west of Oliver," said Best, who named the bee to honour the grandfather of his research partner, Graeme Stevens.

. . .

Best, a student of Professor of 91亚色鈥檚 , said the greatest concern of researchers today is the steady loss of bees.

鈥淎 lot have been dying due to pesticides and disease. The western bumblebee 鈥� the bigger yellow, black and white fuzzy bee found in Prince George gardens 鈥� is greatly endangered and disappearing quickly. They are already gone from the western United States,鈥� said Best. 鈥淲e鈥檙e not exactly sure why, but we suspect they are dying off due to disease introduced through other bumblebees used for greenhouse pollination.鈥�

Packer is the author of .

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You can listen to the interview on . The clip runs approximately 10 minutes.

Here's what Quirks & Quarks had to say about it:

That constant buzzing noise coming from South Africa these days makes Dr. Laurence Packer think of his true passion. He's a Canadian melittologist, which means that when he hears buzzing, he thinks of "the beautiful insect" rather than "the beautiful game." Dr. Packer studies bees, and in his latest book, he dispels a lot of myths - for instance, not all bees sting, not all bees make honey, and not all bees live in social colonies - and he warns that unless we do more to save the bees, we risk losing many of our food crops.

Posted by Elizabeth Monier-Williams, research communications officer.

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Packer will present findings outlined in his which grew out of the Canadian pollination research initiative spearheaded by the biology professor.

Packer has charted the movement of more than 800 species of bees in North America and identified an alarming decline in their population, causing enormous deficits in pollen transfer and affecting our food supply and ecosphere.

The lecture, presented by A Different Drummer Books, begins at 7pm at Burlington Central Library, 2331 New St. Tickets cost $10 and may be purchased at the library or at A Different Drummer Books, 513 Locust St.

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