Gordon Frankie

Professor
Ph.D.  
  

315 Wellman Hall
Berkeley, California 94720
frankie@nature.berkeley.edu
office: 510-642-0973   lab: 510-642-0973   fax:  510-643-5438

Outreach web site         Recent publications      People

The research focus in my lab is on the behavioral ecology and community organization of solitary bee species in selected environments in California and Costa Rica. During the past 21 years we have been documenting bee diversity, seasonality, and host plant preferences of most species at several northern California sites and three sites in a seasonal dry forest in Costa Rica. For several temperate and tropical species, we are also systematically monitoring changes in annual bee frequencies and documenting the types of mortality factors that may be related to the observed fluctuations recorded.

During the past five years the research has shifted from pure wildland studies to comparative bee studies in wildlands and urban residential gardens. This shift has resulted from the discovery in my lab that urban residential areas can support high diversities of local bee species. The new work is also related to the phenomenon of global pollinator decline and the broad search for new ways to conserve and protect pollinators in a variety of habitats, including urban. New studies pursuing the comparative examination are in progress throughout California and in several sites in Costa Rica.

Four main studies are currently ongoing in California. The first is a comparative study of native bee species in wildland habitats and nearby urban residential areas. The goal is to document diversity of native bee species that use urban areas for their floral resources, as well as for nesting. Attention is paid to how the resources are structured in time and space.

The second study uses the survey information from the first to construct an experimental floral resource garden at the UC Berkeley Oxford Tract that is specifically designed to attract diverse native bee species. In this regard native California plant species are used to attract generalist and specialist bees with the goal of learning the potential of small gardens, stocked with preferred natives, to attract high diversity and abundance of bee species. This study is considered a forerunner to creating a model for an urban bee reserve, which addresses issues of pollinator decline.

The third study examines the use of selected plants as bioindicator species for monitoring native bee species. Certain plant species area known to attract certain bee species, and these relationships are being quantified throughout the state to develop a monitoring tool for tracking specific bee species through time.

The final study is still exploratory and concerns developing information on bee gardening that can be used by schools, museums, and commercial nurseries to promote awareness of the importance of bees as pollinators of urban plants. My lab is working with several schools and museums to develop this user-friendly information.

Add here.

Frankie, G.W. et al. 2005. Ecological Patterns of Bees and Their Host Ornamental Flowers in Two Northern California Cities. Journal of the Kansas Entomological Society 78: 227-246.

Frankie, G.W. et al. 2005. Changing Bee Composition and Frequency on a Flowering Legume, Andira inermis, During El Niño and La Niña Years (1997-1999) in Northwestern Costa Rica. Journal of the Kansas Entomological Society 78:100-117.

Frankie, G.W. 2004. Urban Bee Gardening Website. http://nature.berkeley.edu/urbanbeegardens

Frankie, G.W. et al (eds). 2004. Biodiversity Conservation in Costa Rica: Learning the Lessons in a Seasonal Dry Forest. University of California Press, Berkeley 341 pp.

Frankie, G.W. et al. 2004. Flowering phenology and pollination systems diversity in the seasonal dry forest. Chpt in G.W. Frankie et al (eds), Biodiversity Conservation in Costa Rica: Learning the Lessons in a Seasonal Dry Forest. University of California Press, Berkeley pp 17-29.

Frankie, G.W. and Throp, R.W. 2003. Pollination and Pollinators. (pp. 919-926). Chpt. In V. Resh and R. Carde (eds.) Encyclopedia of Insects. Academic Press.

Frankie, G.W. et al. 2002. Coexistence of Africanized honey bees and native bees in the Costa Rican seasonal dry forest (pp. 327-339) Chpt. in E.H. Erickson et al. (eds) Proc. Of 2nd International Conference on Africanized Honey Bees and Bee Mites. A.I. Root Co. Medina, Ohio.

Vinson, S.B. and G.W. Frankie. 1999. Nesting behavior of Centris flavofasciatus (Hymenoptera: Apidea) with respect to the source of the cell wall. Journal of the Kansas Entomological Society 72:46-59.

Frankie, G.W. et al. (7 authors). 1998. Monitoring solitary bees in modified wildland habitats: Implications for bee ecology and conservation. Environmental Entomology 27:5