Bumble Bee Atlas Project

Dr. Leif Robertson of the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation presented to the California Naturalists at a lunchtime webinar on Bumble Bees in California. He introduced an important new project coordinated by the Xerces Society to gather information on bumble bees throughout the state of California — the Bumble Bee Atlas project.

The project is seeking citizen science volunteers to record observations of bumble bees throughout the state. This data will be used by researchers, land managers, and conservation organizations to understand the distribution, types, and numbers of bumble bees in the state. You can volunteer simply by uploading casual observations of bumble bees you’ve photographed (called Bumble Bee Watch) or by doing a more intensive monitoring project where you catch bees, photograph them, and release them safely. You will need to watch training videos for the latter and you’ll need a special collecting permit. Once you pass the quiz and join the project, you will be added to the project’s permit.

Because California is so large and many bumble bee habitats are not easily accessed, professional scientists can only accomplish so much. To make this project a success, we are working to recruit and train a large crew of volunteers equipped with nets, cameras, and observation vials. Together, we'll collect high quality scientific data from across the full range of bumble bee habitats found in California, and contribute to the global understanding of bumble bee distributions.

Even if you don’t have time to participate, the training videos are a great resource to learn about bumble bees in California. The Bumble Bee Watch website has a section devoted to identifying each bumble bee species in California.