The Great Sunflower Project

How do I contact you? You can try our forums or email us at sfbee@sfsu.edu.

Who is on the Great Sunflower Project team? There are five of us working for the Great Sunflower Project.

• Gretchen LeBuhn is the founder and director of the project.
• David Cohen is a founder and our fearless programmer.
• Mark Reynolds is senior scientist.
• Robert Kraut and Laura Dabbish are part of the outreach team, working to help us understand how to improve participants' experiences.

What plants can I watch and report on the pollinator visits? We have a set of "key plants" that we've chosen to focus on - though you can collect data on other plants if you would like:

• Sunflowers (preferably, Lemon Queen), if you only do one, please pick this!
• Bee balm
• Cosmos
• Rosemary
• Tickseed
• Purple coneflower

We chose these because there are not many varieties so, we can be sure that the reward offered by each plant is fairly similar from garden to garden. We'd love to pick a plant like sage but, there are thousands of varieties. While we have included rosemary, we strongly encourage everyone to plant natives!

If you do choose to collect data from a plant that is not on our list, please tell us everything you can about it - especially the name. If you can look up the scientific name that would be a big help. We'd love data from wild plants. Happy Bee Hunting.

How do I re-set my password? Please use the password reset page. Enter your username or email address on that page and you will be emailed instructions how to give yourself a new password. Type your email very carefully when you first register. Any misspelling and you will not receive important information, including your password. Once you enter your name or email, the system will send you an email with a temporary password and instructions. Typically this email is sent within minutes. You should have to wait no longer than half an hour to receive it. If you don't get it, first check your spam inbox - sometimes your email program sorts it into spam!

Privacy. Our statement on privacy can be found at privacy.

Can I grow any sunflower and participate? Yes, but data from the annual variety called Lemon Queen are the most useful. Each sunflower has it's own characteristics. There are actually quite a few sunflowers out there that don't even produce pollen (the main reason bees visit). To make sure that we are always comparing the same things, please use the variety that we have chosen, the annual Lemon Queen sunflower. Seeds can be purchased at your local store or through Renee's Garden who will donate 25% of her proceeds if you use the coupon code FR225A.

The Science Behind the Great Sunflower Project As you sit at the table today, do you know where the water you are drinking came from? 85% of the drinking water in San Francisco comes from the Sierra. How about the last prescription medicine you took? It probably originated from a natural source. Of the top 150 prescription drugs used in the U.S., 118 originate from natural sources: 74 percent from plants, 18 percent from fungi, 5 percent from bacteria, and 3 percent from a species of snake! And, where did the ingredients for your lunch and dinner come from? One of every three bites you took probably came from a plant pollinated by wild pollinators. This is just the beginning of list of the services provided by healthy, natural ecosystems. Economists and ecologists have started working together to find a way to place a financial value the contribution of natural ecosystems to human existence. The estimates are eye-opening. For example, the value of pollination services from wild pollinators in the U.S. alone is estimated at four to six billion dollars per year. While these ecosystem services are currently produced for “free”, replacing the natural ecosystem would cost many trillions of dollars. Unless human activities are carefully planned and managed, valuable ecosystems will continue to be impaired or destroyed. To maintain biodiversity and to meet the increasing demands for ecosystem services, we must move conservation science into cities (Rosenzweig 2003). Cities are important for conservation for two reasons. First, 80% of the United States population already lives in urban areas (United States Census Bureau 2003). Second, cities encompass about 3% of land (59.6 million acres) in the United States and 230,000 additional acres become urban each year. Because of their large human populations, cities are the places where many ecosystem services, such as environmental quality of life, are delivered (Millennium Ecosystem Assessment 2005). Given the growth of the urban population, it is clear that we need to develop the knowledge necessary for maintaining natural habitats in the urban setting and find a way to give urban dwellers access to nature. We know that pollinators are declining in certain wild and many agricultural landscapes. However, little is known about urban pollinators. Our recent data on bumble bees in an urban setting suggests that urban bees may also be declining (McFrederick & LeBuhn 2006, Fenter and LeBuhn submitted). While the loss of these pollinators is important, it is more important to understand what effect these losses have had on pollinator services. We do not know much about how healthy bee populations are maintained in an urban environment. Because natural habitats are uncommon in urban landscapes, they may not provide enough resources to support viable pollinator communities. However, if other habitats, such as urban gardens and restored areas, are sufficiently connected to natural habitat, then native populations may thrive. By finding a way to track and value the goods and services provided by natural ecosystems, we will find a future in which conservation is not a luxury but a guiding principle of daily decision-making throughout the world. The data you collect from your sunflower willbe a start. It will provide an insight into how our green spaces in the urban, suburban and rural landscapes are connected as well as shedding light on how to help pollinators. What we need are innovative strategies to maximize the benefits of our wild and semi-wild habitat remnants. The Great Sunflower Project is the first step. Answers to some frequently asked biology questions are here.

If you still have questions, be sure to try our forums. or email us at sfbee@sfsu.edu