Leaf Cutting Bees: Nest Boxes

In Spring 2015, we will continue investigating how habitat degradation and urbanization influence the ecology of native bees. Based on the research conducted in Fall 2014, evidence suggests that the plantings of native flowering plants may benefit certain native bee species, such as cavity nesting bees in the genus Ceratina. 

Ceratina dupla. Photo taken by Sam Droege of the USGS Bee Inventory and Monitoring Lab, Beltsville, Maryland. Creative Commons License https://www.flickr.com/photos/usgsbiml/8488235598/in/photostream/

To examine how cavity nesting bees are influenced by land use and urbanization, we will be building cavity nesting bee nests and deploying in the field. Here are some videos and references on mason bee nest boxes.  

Cavity Bee Nest Box References and Videos 

References

• A nice overview of building an observation box for cavity nesting bees. 
• This is really cool, but the instructions are not great. Somebody used arduino to create an infrared counter to measure the number of honeybees entering and exiting a hive. I'd love to modify this to build a counter for mason bee houses. 

Using Raspberry Pi to monitor red mason bees

Observation boxes with plastic tubing (there are moisture issues with this design)