This is a guest post by Mark Wilhelm, an undergraduate student and research assistant in the Dale Lab at the University of Florida Entomology and Nematology Department. Florida homeowners are often left puzzled and concerned when they see ... READ MORE
Category: Florida-Friendly Landscaping, Forests, Home Landscapes, Invasive Species, Lawn, Pests & Disease, UF/IFAS Extension
The UF/IFAS Honey Bee Lab has collaborated on research that has led to two publications related to honey bee nutrition in 2019. Below are summaries of the research and the links to their full publications. More publications from the UF/IFAS ... READ MORE
Category: Agriculture, Crops, Farm Management, Florida-Friendly Landscaping, Home Landscapes, Horticulture, UF/IFAS Extension
Central-place foragers are animals that return to the same nest in between foraging trips, collecting their food, or food for their offspring, in an area around that nest. Animals that are not central-place foragers instead roam continuously, ... READ MORE
Category: Agriculture, Conservation, Farm Management, Florida-Friendly Landscaping, Forests, Fruits & Vegetables, Home Landscapes, Horticulture, Natural Resources, UF/IFAS, UF/IFAS Extension, Wildlife
If you are outside on a hot day working in the gardening, or taking a walk through a park, you might find a shiny bee resting on your sweaty skin. It is probably a sweat bee! Sweat bees are a large, diverse group of bees in the family Halictidae ... READ MORE
Category: Agriculture, Conservation, Crops, Farm Management, Florida-Friendly Landscaping, Forests, Fruits & Vegetables, Home Landscapes, Horticulture, Natural Resources, UF/IFAS, UF/IFAS Extension, Wildlife
Not all moths are night creatures. In fact, one of the most colorful moths in Florida, the bella moth Utetheisa ornatrix, is active during the day when we can admire its beauty. The wings of the bella moth are a combination of orange, pink, ... READ MORE
Category: Agriculture, Conservation, Florida-Friendly Landscaping, Forests, Home Landscapes, Horticulture, Lawn, Natural Resources, UF/IFAS, UF/IFAS Extension, Wildlife
The green orchid bee, Euglossa dilemma Friese, is a large, beautiful, metallic green bee named for its unique association with orchids and its distinctive color. While it can be found in the southern half of Florida, it is not native to this ... READ MORE
Category: Agriculture, Conservation, Crops, Florida-Friendly Landscaping, Forests, Fruits & Vegetables, Home Landscapes, Horticulture, Invasive Species, Lawn, Natural Resources, UF/IFAS, UF/IFAS Extension
Hoverflies, also known as flower flies or syrphid flies, are perhaps the most unrecognized and underappreciated pollinators. They are actually thought by some scientists to be the second most important group of pollinators after bees! This ... READ MORE
Category: Agriculture, Conservation, Crops, Farm Management, Florida-Friendly Landscaping, Forests, Fruits & Vegetables, Home Landscapes, Horticulture, Natural Resources, UF/IFAS, UF/IFAS Extension, Wildlife
Pollinators sometimes play favorites when choosing plants to forage on, a behavior known as flower constancy. This behavior can be seen across many different types of pollinators, but is perhaps best known in honey bees and bumble bees. As ... READ MORE
Category: Agriculture, Conservation, Crops, Florida-Friendly Landscaping, Forests, Fruits & Vegetables, Home Landscapes, Horticulture, Natural Resources, UF/IFAS, UF/IFAS Extension, Wildlife
The common eastern bumble bee, Bombus impatiens, is one of the most frequently found bumble bees across the eastern half of North America. Their native range extends north-south from Ontario to Florida, and east-west from Maine to the Dakotas. In ... READ MORE
Category: Agriculture, Conservation, Crops, Farm Management, Florida-Friendly Landscaping, Forests, Fruits & Vegetables, Home Landscapes, Horticulture, Natural Resources, UF/IFAS, UF/IFAS Extension, Wildlife
Pollination is one of the best examples of mutualism, a relationship between two different species in which both species benefit. Mutualisms are different from the many other relationships between organisms in which one or both species is harmed, ... READ MORE
Category: Agriculture, Conservation, Crops, Farm Management, Florida-Friendly Landscaping, Forests, Fruits & Vegetables, Home Landscapes, Horticulture, Lawn, Natural Resources, UF/IFAS, UF/IFAS Extension, Wildlife