Tuesday, March 25, 2008

NCSWA's Spring Dinner: As honey bees decline, can native bees take up the slack?

Please join your fellow NCSWAns for a dinner lecture with UC Berkeley conservation ecologist Claire Kremen.

WHEN: 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, March 25, 2008

WHERE: Pyramid Alehouse, 901 Gilman St., Berkeley. Map it

PROGRAM:
California’s almond trees are now in full blossom and growers are biting their nails, worried that they may not be able to find the million bee hives needed to pollinate the state's almond groves, which produce 80 percent of the world’s supply.

The immediate problem is colony collapse disorder, a mysterious malady of managed hives that completely wipes out honey bee colonies. The deeper issue, says UC Berkeley’s Claire Kremen, is our total dependence on honey bees because of the way we farm. Monocultures – acres and acres of identical plants – require masses of bees pollinating large areas coming into bloom at the same time. In studies of crops ranging from watermelons and sunflowers to tomatoes, Kremen and her colleagues have shown that native bees living in areas around fields and orchards can boost the effectiveness of managed bees and, in some cases, replace honey bees as the sole pollinator.

Recent dinners

A conservation ecologist turned bee ecologist, Kremen this winter is out in Central Valley almond orchards trying to answer many basic questions about the interactions between managed honey bees – imported centuries ago from Europe – and their wild cousins the bumblebees, carpenter and mason bees. She will discuss wild bee communities in the context of conserving native habitat around farm fields, and her efforts to quantify the importance of native bees in pollinating the crops that keep California's economy humming.

Kremen, who was named a MacArthur "genius" last year, is an assistant professor of environmental science, policy and management in UC Berkeley's College of Natural Resources.

DINNER:
For the dinner, we'll offer a buffet with mixed green salad, entrees of honey cilantro chicken breast with salsa fresca & roasted pork loin with IPA/mustard sauce, seasonal vegetables, garlic mashed potatoes, bread, brownies for dessert, coffee and tea. (Please let us know in advance if you would like a vegetarian meal.)

No host bar for wine and beer; sodas and coffee are free. Pyramid has lots of great draft beer and excellent root beer.

SCHEDULE:
6:30-7:30 Happy Hour
7:30-8:30 Dinner
8:30-9:30 Speaker

COST:
$27 per person and $20.00 for students
(NCSWA is partially subsidizing the cost to keep prices reasonable.)

Make out a check to NCSWA and mail it by March 17th to:
Robert Sanders
1512 Holly St.
Berkeley, CA 9470

or pay via PayPal

Member Rate $28.00	Student Rate $21.00
Note: There is a $1 Paypal fee included in this charge.