NEWS | NATURE
Good Buzz For rare and endangered bumblebees, an atlas driven by “community scientists” may hold hope BY KATHRYN JONES A citizen-driven “bee atlas” is helping track the health of critters like this Sitka bumblee.
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wo years ago, a citizen scientist recorded the first known observation of an American bumblebee in Idaho. They uploaded the photo to an online database, where the unusual find was verified by a bumblebee expert and entered into a catalog of thousands of bumblebee observations. Since the project launched in 2018, more than a thousand community scientists have entered sightings into the Pacific Northwest Bumble Bee Atlas (pnwbumblebeeatlas. org), one of the most comprehensive data sets of field observations in North America, and a model for other atlas projects in Missouri, Nebraska and California. The Northwest has long been a hotspot for bumblebee diversity — of the 50 species of bumblebees in North America, the region is home to about half of those. But conservation experts say relatively little is known about individual species’ habitats and populations. Citizen observations can provide scientists and policymakers with data to protect bumblebee species. For example, the American bumblebee was once the most commonly observed species in the United States, but it has struggled in recent decades and is now a potential candidate for an endangered listing. But to protect the bees, scientists need more data. “We know some about bumblebees in general, but when we think about individual species and how to help an individual species recover, we just don’t have that information,” says Rich Hatfield, senior conservation biologist and bumblebee conservation director at the Xerces Society, a Portland-based nonprofit dedicated to the conservation of invertebrates. To fill in information gaps, the “bee atlas” relies on community scientists. These community scientists can be found throughout Washington, Idaho and Oregon, sweeping long insect nets in figure-eight motions to catch bumblebees. Often, they place the bumblebees in small vials and put them in coolers of ice, which immobilizes
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them long enough to photograph. The bumblebees then warm back up and fly off. Experienced trackers can photograph bees without capturing them, but identification can be difficult without clear photos. The decline in bumblebee populations, and pollinators in general, is due to a variety of factors including pesticide use, parasites and diseases, loss of habitat, and climate change, says Taylor Cotten, conservation assessment section manager at the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife. The department — as well as state partners in Idaho and Oregon — teamed up with Xerces to start the database.
RICH HATFIELD/THE XERCES SOCIETY PHOTO
throughout atlas surveys but has been notably absent in lower elevation agricultural areas and west of the Cascade Mountains, both areas it had been found historically, Hatfield says. While the prime time for catching bumblebees is in the summer months, conservation work doesn’t have to stop when the charismatic insects stop flying. Queen bumblebees spend half of their life cycle underground, hibernating in shallow holes. Hatfield says there is a significant gap in knowledge about where these queens overwinter, and it is important to learn more about their overwintering habitat. Fall and winter are important times to create and he first phase of the atlas ran from 2018 to 2020 preserve habitat for pollinators, says Dr. David James, and had over 21,000 total bumblebee observaassociate professor of entomology at Washington State tions of 25 different species. The project is now University. Certain gardening activities — like pruning — in its second phase, which will run through 2023. The can harm the bees’ hibernation. second phase is focused more on gathering data on “Every autumn, I used to go out and cut everything species of greatest conservation need, which are native down, most people do, I think. But that’s bad because species that are rare or declining in number, you’re taking away all the nestHatfield says. ing places for all the pollinators,” LETTERS During the first phase, community scienJames says. Send comments to tists recorded over a thousand observations of Another important aspect to editor@inlander.com. species of greatest conservation need, but more protecting habitat is to have a varidata is needed for effective conservation. ety of plants that flower at different “I think people are really excited and engaged in times, so pollinators have food sources from when they bumblebee conservation and looking for opportunities to first emerge from hibernation in early spring until the fall. get involved. I think we’ve been able to provide that and Azalea and willow are good early-season plants, milkengage people in conservation science,” Hatfield says. weeds are a good midseason plant, and asters are good The most at-risk bees include Franklin’s bumblebee, late-flowering plants for fall, James says. the western bumblebee, Morrison’s bumblebee, and the “With pollinators, you can make a difference in a Suckley cuckoo bumblebee. very small space by providing nice nectaring resources Currently, only two species of bumblebees are proin your yard or in your open spaces where you can,” tected under the Endangered Species Act. Franklin’s bumWashington Fish and Wildlife’s Cotten says. n blebee, which has not been detected since 2006, is one of them. The western bumblebee is currently a candidate Kathryn Jones is a journalism student at for an endangered listing in Washington. Washington State University’s Edward R. The western bumblebee has been detected regularly Murrow College of Communication.
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