Originally from Brazil, Karen Santos was an undergraduate biology student when she volunteered for
an intern project working with beekeepers and palynologists (who specialise in the study of pollen)
to examine the diet of honey bees on the Brazilian savannah in 2012. This triggered a fascination
with bees and led to further research, particularly in the different aspects of pollen ecology. In 2019,
Karen moved to Australia to continue her research as a PhD candidate at the University of New
England; her main interests involve understanding the diverse effects of large crops on native
vegetation, together with the behaviour and efficiency of pollinators within these crops. She
presented an intriguing paper at the 4 th Australian Bee Congress in April of this year and is our very
special guest on episode 102 of the Bees with Ben podcast.
Karen says it was exciting to be able to return to conferences after Covid lock downs; she normally
attends more ecology-based forums, and the Bee Congress provided an opportunity to learn about
different research and to chat with a variety of people, including beekeepers. She explains that she
had zero knowledge about bees when she embarked on that first project in 2012. This involved
analysing pollen grains collected in pollen traps amongst colonies of Africanised honey bees to
determine what sort of resources they were collecting in a given area. Although people were telling
her that the bees were ‘crazy’ or ‘killers’, Karen had nothing to compare them to at the time. She
does acknowledge that precautions had to be taken to ensure the bees did not become agitated -
such as avoiding noise or wearing perfume - and that Australian honey bees have a far more mild-
mannered disposition and tend simply to ‘mind their own business’.
Karen’s presentation at the Congress concerned the diet of bees in almond orchards and was based
upon data collected in Victoria. The results were surprising, as although almond pollen is extremely
attractive to honey bees (it is a good source of protein), the bees nevertheless also seek out and
collect complimentary resources, even at the height of the flowering season. Results varied
significantly between hives, but the lowest proportion of almond pollen encountered was around
62%.
Karen is currently working on other crops including blueberries, blackberries, raspberries and apples,
and was lucky to finish her PhD data collection just prior to the onset of Covid restrictions -
particularly since she was working with blueberries at Coffs Harbour, which is now the subject of a
varroa mite incursion. However, plans to visit apple farms in Queensland had to be abandoned in
2020 and again in 2021 due to border lockdowns. Eventually, Karen is hoping to conduct a fieldtrip
to gather data on the pollen flow between apple cultivars. Like some almonds and blueberries,
apples also require cross pollination, and growers often interplant two or three cultivars in the same
area. Fluorescent pollen dye is used to track the movement of bees via UV light, which Karen says
can create quite a beautiful scene at night.