For our first in-person Village Talk of 2021, we will discuss one of our most critically important insects: bees. Join naturalist Harold Hirsch as he discusses the biology, evolutionary history, and ecological function of wild native bees of the San Francisco Bay Area. 

For millions of years, bees have followed a close symbiotic coevolution with the clade angiosperms—the fancier term for flowering plants. About 135 million years ago, most plants reproduced by wind-borne pollen, with only 0.1% of the particles actually reaching the female flower and the rest going to waste (do you think dinosaurs had allergies?).

A great change occurred as flying insects with a taste for pollen unintentionally began to pollinate flowers, flitting from blossom to blossom as they fed. Thus began, as noted in an article in Scientific American, “the longest marketing campaign in history,” where the morphology of flowers changed to become more noticeable and desirable to these roaming pollinators. Of these insects, bees went on to become the most highly specialized group to reap nutrient-rich nectar and pollen. 

Join us for this informative in-person lecture held in our China Camp Village museum.