COMMUNITY SCIENCE
BUMBLE BEE WATCH
(Use your cell phone, kid friendly) - Bumble Bee Watch is a collaborative effort to track and conserve North America’s bumble bees. This community science project allows for individuals to:
Upload photos of bumble bees to start a virtual bumble bee collection;
Identify the bumble bees in your photos and have your identifications verified by experts;
Help researchers determine the status and conservation needs of bumble bees;
Help locate rare or endangered populations of bumble bees;
Learn about bumble bees, their ecology, and ongoing conservation efforts; and
Connect with other community scientists.
Bumble Bee Watch is a collaborative effort by Wildlife Preservation Canada, University of Ottawa, York University, BeeSpotter, Montreal Insectarium, Natural History Museum, London and the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation.
GREAT SUNFLOWER PROJECT
The Great Sunflower Project is the largest citizen science project focused on pollinators with over 100,000 members. There are a couple of different ways to participate so check out their website.
HOW TO PARTICIPATE:
Plant lemon queen sunflower seeds. Please check to make sure that the seeds did not receive a neonicotinoid seed treatment. One way to do this is to buy an organic seed. If not organic, check to make sure the seeds weren't treated with pesticides.
Submit at least 3 pollinator counts of at least 5 minutes duration.
PACIFIC NORTHWEST BUMBLEBEE ATLAS
Adopt a grid from their website, complete bee surveys, and submit your data online.
The Pacific Northwest Bumble Bee Atlas is a collaborative project to track and conserve the bumble bees of Oregon, Washington, and Idaho. Our goal is to gain a better understanding of the distribution of bumble bees throughout the region. As we transition from phase one into phase two of the project, we hope to continue long-term monitoring for bumble bees throughout the region, while focusing on our Species of Greatest Conservation Need -- Franklin's bumble bee, the western bumble bee, Morrison's bumble bee, and the Suckley cuckoo bumble bee. This will help us to more effectively enact conservation measures that will benefit these important native pollinators. We've divided the area up into grid cells to ensure a broad distribution of sampling in all of the unique habitats of the region. This project will help the researchers gain a better understanding of where bumble bees are thriving in the Pacific Northwest, and glean information about what habitat features are contributing to productive bumble bee communities. Ultimately we will better understand how to manage lands throughout the region that will help to support a more healthy ecosystem.
The PNW Bumble Bee Atlas is a collaborative effort between the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, the Idaho Department of Fish and Game, the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, and the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation to track and conserve the bumble bees of Oregon, Washington and Idaho.
WESTERN MONARCH MILKWEED MAPPER
This project is part of a collaborative effort to map and better understand monarch butterflies and their host plants across the Western U.S. Data compiled through this project will improve our understanding of the distribution and phenology of monarchs and milkweeds, identify important breeding areas, and help us better understand monarch conservation needs. Some of the key research questions that these data will help us answer include:
Where are different milkweed species growing in the West?
Where are monarchs occurring in the West?
Where are monarchs breeding in the West?
When is milkweed emerging and senescing (dying back) in the West?
How does milkweed phenology (life cycle) differ by species?
When is monarch breeding occurring in specific areas/regions of the West?
What types of habitats are different milkweed species associated with?
BEE IDENTIFICATION
XERCES SOCIETY CITIZEN SCIENCE MONITORING GUIDE - NATIVE BEES & BUTTERFLIES
A very thorough resource that goes through bee identification by characteristic. This is a great resource for community science approaches, methods, and data collection.
A FIELD GUIDE TO COMMON PUGET SOUND NATIVE BEES: SOUTHERN REGION
Large field guide for bees of the southern Puget Sound. Very useful bee identification information but know that not all of these bees reside in Clark County.
POCKET GUIDE TO IDENTIFYING THE BEES OF PORTLAND
This is a really, really great place to start when you find a bee in your yard. Created by the xerces society and portland parks & recreation.
OSU EXTENSION MASTER MELITTOLOGIST
If you want to learn how to identify bees down to the genius level look at this opportunity.