James Goodman

@goodman_dandc

Since the honeybee population has been in peril, the establishment of the RIT Beekeepers Club this past school year was a statement of commitment to protect this all-important insect.

Less than two weeks ago, about 1,200 donated honeybees arrived on campus and are now thriving in two hives near Rochester Institute of Technology's Community Garden, in a clearing behind the Gene Polisseni Center on campus.

"I want people to understand how imperative it is to have honeybees," said Austin Quinlan, 21, who is president of the club and a junior from Syracuse, majoring in film and animation.

Beekeepers, nationwide, lost 44.1 percent of their honeybee colonies during 12 months ending in April, according to preliminary results from the latest surveys by the Bee Informed Partnership. That's higher than the 40.6 percent loss from the year before.

And the loss is likely more severe in New York, where preliminary results from last year's survey showed a 54.1 percent loss of honeybee colonies.

The honeybees — donated to the club by the family of one of its members who raises honeybees — have been joined by about 800 honeybees that Quinlan recently helped capture in the Global Village area on the RIT campus.

They were apparently looking for a new habitat and, according to Quinlan, were not among the donated honeybees. Wearing protective clothing from head to toe, Quinlan got them into another of the club's manmade hives without suffering a sting.

While RIT's student population has dwindled with the end of the regular school year, these 2,000 honeybees now have become a part of the RIT campus, with the hope being that the hives — made of wood — will not only become a permanent fixture but also provide a safe haven for honeybees.

The three hives are complemented by the two hives at Liberty Hill, the off-campus home for environmentally minded RIT President Bill Destler.

Word has it that honey can sometimes be seen dripping down an outside wall of the barn on the property of this presidential mansion.

For the past decade, honeybee populations have been decimated by colony collapse disorder, which is defined as a dead colony with no adult bees but with a live queen and usually honey and immature bees still present, says the U.S. Department of Agriculture's website.

No single cause for CCD has been proven, but among the possible culprits are mites, pathogens, poor nutrition, loss of habitat and pesticides, especially a class known as neonicotinoids. Connecticut and Maryland recently became the first states to restrict consumer use of this kind of pesticide.

Honeybees are key players in pollination, which is the transfer of pollen from the male parts of a flower to the female parts and which results in the production of seeds.

"About one mouthful in three in our diet directly or indirectly benefits from honeybee pollination. Commercial production of many high-value and specialty crops like almonds and other tree nuts, berries, fruits and vegetables depend on pollination by honeybees," says the Department of Agriculture.

Enid Cardinal, who is senior sustainability adviser to Destler, is a member of RIT's environmental wellness committee that encouraged the formation of the Beekeepers Club late last year. It has about 190 members, mostly students but also faculty and staff.

"This is really to raise awareness of their importance to our ecosystem. Pollination is at the center of our food sustainability. If we lose our pollination, our food is in jeopardy," Cardinal said.

The Community Garden, which does not use pesticides, grows a variety of plants that should benefit from the bees' pollination and isn't likely to sicken the honeybees.

RIT, Cardinal said, hopes to join the Bee Campus USA program, which was launched in April 2015 to encourage colleges to help pollinators.

Among the commitments required of applicants is to sponsor and track student service learning projects to enhance pollinator habitats.

As it is, RIT is already helping monarch butterflies with its "green roof" on top of its Golisano Institute for Sustainability.

The institute partnered with the Seneca Park Zoo to provide a monarch butterfly habitat on the rooftop garden of the facility.

This open-air terrace features sedum and plantings. It is part of the zoo's Butterfly Beltway project for assisting monarchs, which also help in pollination and are threatened.

"One of our goals at RIT is to educate the Rochester community about pollinators," said Cardinal.

JGOODMAN@Gannett.com

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