Sunflowers: bee detox?

Elizabeth Anne Brown writing for National Geographic published an intriguing article about a new study on sunflower pollen’s effects to the bee digestive system. The article discusses Jonathan Giacomini’s research and published article in The Journal for Insect Physiology surrounding the threats bumblebees face such as parasites and pesticide exposure and how sunflower pollen works to act by clearing their systems and simply put: “makes them poop—a lot.” There is concern that a colony of bees excreting together can lead to widespread exposure to the parasites, but read the article below to get the full scope about how “sunflowers make bees poop, and why that’s good”. Shout out to Rosemary Malfi the Pollinator Network Coordinator at Mass Pollinator Network who is interviewed in the article. As always, biodiversity is important, so when planting natives in your garden make sure to plant a wide array of flowers to give multiple bees a chance!

*Image is a stock photo from Unsplash/Doug Kelley