A Prairie for a Queen

Join County Naturalist Shawn Severance on a quest to understand the prairie through the eyes of a bumblebee queen. Southeast Michigan is home to about 10 native species of bumblebees. Over the last 30 years, some of our most iconic bees, the Golden Northern and the American Bumblebee, have faced an astonishingly rapid decline. Bumblebees are North America's only truly social native bee with a queen directing a colony. A young queen’s ability to survive winter and quickly build her brood in spring determines the continuity of the entire species. This talk explores the fascinating, solitary struggle of the foundress queen bumblebee in spring. We will discuss the resources she needs and tackle the thorny topic of how human-altered landscapes impact pollinator success. Finally, we will talk about how we can set a table for the bumblebee queen through intentional home gardening and community science.

About the Speaker:
Shawn Severance is a Parks Naturalist native to Jackson, Michigan. She specializes in geology and insects and has a particular passion for large, rare bumblebees. Shawn loves the untamable native field thistle above all other flowers. She grew up picking wild blueberries in the swamp behind her home, walking forest trails with her dog, swimming in a pond, and searching for salamanders beneath rocks.