The Great Sunflower Project (Hardwear Sessions)

By Cynthia Houng

This spring, a team of researchers from San Francisco State University (SFSU) started the Great Sunflower Project. Alarmed by recent declines in the populations of bees and other pollinators, Professor Gretchen LeBuhn (Biology) wanted to learn more about the status of urban pollinators. But how to conduct a survey of pollinator populations in an an urban environment, where "habitat" consists largely of discrete private spaces? How does one monitor backyards and gardens?

LeBuhn decided to enlist an army of volunteers.

The Great Sunflower Project is deceptively simple. In exchange for a packet of sunflower seeds, volunteers enter their garden's location, describe their garden, and promise to plant the sunflower seeds. On designated weekends, volunteers count the number of bees (and other pollinators) that visit the sunflowers, and submit their bee counts online, at the Great Sunflower Project's website.

I signed up this week, and hope to receive a seed packet through the mail soon. To help SFSU researchers eliminate unwieldy extra variables, volunteers should only use Helianthus annuus, an annual sunflower native to the Plains states.

Though my little urban garden attracts a good number of birds--and squirrels (last summer, the squirrels decimated my Stargazer lilies), I seldom see bees or other pollinators in the garden. I have seen predatory wasps (the kind that consume aphids and other garden pests), and ladybugs, but pollinators seem to be scarce. This summer, we'll see if that's true. Or maybe I've just been too fixated on flashy plumage and bright colors, and never noticed our workhorse pollinators

You, too, can participate. The Great Sunflower Project hopes to track bee populations across the United States, so even if you live in New York, or Florida, you can still submit your bee counts.