Hello Bumble Bee Friends!

I hope you all have been well and enjoying this beautiful Spring weather! I’m excited to report that I’m seeing queens almost everywhere I go! As the bee season ramps up, I have a couple of BIG announcements including updates to how we run our email list, updates to survey protocol, species level results, and a heads up regarding my plans for the upcoming season!

First, updates to the email list! We are shifting to an official “newsletter”, through our website! This means that future emails from me and the rest of the AABB team will look a little bit different, but the content will stay the same.

This is awesome for a few reasons:

1. You can unsubscribe yourself!! If you have been dying for a way out of these emails but don’t want to hurt my feelings by asking to be removed – now’s your chance! Once I shift us all over (I’ll send a message through the new system to notify everyone), simply hit “unsubscribe” at the bottom of the email to remove yourself. Let me know if you need help with this.

2. All emails will be posted publicly! Now, every email I send out will also be posted on the home page of our website, so if you want to share any info from our emails, you can direct all your friends to our website where they all will be just waiting to be read!

3. New folks who want to get on the email list can subscribe themselves by hitting “subscribe”! Note that you will still need to email me to get a Google Drive folder with which to submit data.

Second, protocol updates!

We have two major updates to survey protocol:
1. We’ve eliminated the “Number of Lots” metric! *woohoos from the crowd*. It was by far the trickiest part of the protocol, and we believe that the trouble isn’t worth the information gained with this metric.

2. Reduced requirement for flower photos! Previously, we wanted a photo of every blooming flower species for every survey you complete. Now, we realize that taking repeated photos of the same flowers in the same site is a waste of your time, and of our botanists’ time. Now, we only need one photo of each plant species per site. This means that if you repeatedly survey the same location, you only need to submit photos of all the blooming plant species you encounter on the first time you survey that site. After that, you only need to submit photos of flowers which weren’t present in previous surveys at that site (i.e. newly blooming species).

Third, a check in from me (Jenan)
Unfortunately, we haven’t found funding to support hiring a coordinator. I absolutely love this program and feel so grateful for the opportunity to work with such passionate people to create and explore this incredible dataset. I truly believe that together we have the power to help the bumbles. For these reasons, I have been, and will continue to put my all into this project whether or not we have funding!

However, I also am a full time graduate student and it’s becoming apparent that it’s not feasible for me to have a bigger-than-ever AABB survey year this season. I’ll be busy chugging away on my Masters (sequencing Chilean bee DNA this summer!) so you won’t hear from me as much as I wish I could check in. BUT! I sincerely hope that you enjoy surveying as much as I do, and I really encourage you all to participate even with limited check in’s from the AABB team.

Fourth and finally, species level flower results!
This email has already developed into a short novel so I will spare you much interpretation! We conducted the same analyses as we did for genus level plants, but with flowers resolved to species level IDs where possible. Attached is a spreadsheet with more detail on the below list, but most basically plants highlighted in green were “winners”, yellow plants were “ok” for the bumbles, and orange plants were not-so-favored by the bumbles. Important notes:
– Decisions were made similarly to genus level plants: mostly based on the “Bee Score”, (it represents the proportion of bees on a single survey visiting a given flower species, averaged across all surveys with that flower species, corrected for floral abundance).
– There is no meaningful strict boundary line between “good” and “ok”, or between “ok and “not-so-favored” plants. We used .2 as a cutoff between “good” and “ok”, and .05 as a cutoff between “ok” and “not-so-favored”. We then boosted flowers which fell into the “ok” plants but were visited on 50% or more surveys containing that flower to be “good”. Similarly, if a flower was in the “not-so-preferred” group based on Bee Score, but was visited on over 10% of surveys containing that flower, it moved up to “ok.”

Thanks so much as always, AABB team! You all are amazing and I hope you have an excellent bee filled Spring until we chat again!

FSpecies
Asclepias syriaca
Symphyotrichum racemosum
Hypericum prolificum
Agastache scrophulariifolia
Agastache foeniculum
Veronicastrum virginicum
Lavandula angustifolia
Prunella vulgaris
Monarda fistulosa
Glechoma hederacea
Penstemon digitalis
Nepeta species
Silphium perfoliatum
Salvia guaranitica
Verbesina alternifolia
Borago officinalis
Pycnanthemum incanum
Pycnanthemum muticum
Securigera varia
Salvia farinacea
Teucrium canadense
Solidago caesia
Symphyotrichum pilosum
Solidago altissima
Salvia species
Liatris spicata
Helianthus annuus
Helianthus decapetalus
Abelia x grandiflora
Symphyotrichum novae-angliae
Echinacea purpurea
Symphyotrichum oblongifolium
Heuchera villosa
Solidago rugosa
Salvia yangii
Pycnanthemum tenuifolium
Veronica spicata
Apocynum cannabinum
Salvia nemorosa
Impatiens capensis
Trifolium repens
Cirsium arvense
Origanum vulgare
Trifolium pratense
Rudbeckia laciniata
Lobelia siphilitica
Nepeta cataria
Spiraea japonica
Salvia greggii
Physostegia virginiana
Clinopodium vulgare
Asclepias incarnata
Plantago lanceolata
Monarda punctata
Zinnia elegans
Verbena hastata
Cichorium intybus
Eurybia divaricata
Chamaecrista fasciculata
Asclepias tuberosa
Solanum carolinense
Scutellaria incana
Heliopsis helianthoides
Ratibida pinnata
Gaillardia pulchella
Hosta ventricosa
Pycnanthemum virginianum
Monarda didyma
Lobelia cardinalis
Zinnia species
Cosmos bipinnatus
Chrysanthemum species
Lotus corniculatus
Dahlia pinnata
Conoclinium coelestinum
Tradescantia virginiana
Calendula officinalis
Coreopsis lanceolata
Tricyrtis formosana
Tagetes patula
Vernonia noveboracensis
Viola species
Rosa species
Taraxacum species
Solanum lycopersicum
Medicago lupulina
Verbena bonariensis
Daucus carota
Rudbeckia hirta
Phlox paniculata
Lantana species
Rudbeckia triloba
Coreopsis verticillata
Leucanthemum vulgare
Erigeron species (annuus vs strigosus)
Taraxacum officinale
Erigeron annuus
Oxalis corniculata
Verbena urticifolia
Rudbeckia fulgida
Petunia species
Erigeron strigosus
Parthenium integrifolium
Achillea millefolium
Persicaria longiseta
Hemerocallis x hybrida
Phytolacca americana
Lonicera sempervirens
Coreopsis species
Catharanthus roseus
Lobularia maritima

—
Jenan El-Hifnawi (She/Her)
Ask A Bumble Bee Coordinator

Hello AABB Team!

Thank you SO MUCH to everyone who participated in the July Blitz (The AABBB)! It was great to meet some surveyors in person to clear up any confusion and get some great feedback.

It also was amazing to get so much data collected! Here’s the rundown of our Blitz results:

We had a total of 29 surveys submitted by 24 participants across 11 states! These states were MD, VA, NY, CT, NC, OH, NH, MN, MI, GA, and CA.

These surveyors observed 686 bumbles, and 104 carpenter bees in just a single day!!

8 bumble bee species were documented:

1. Common Eastern Bumble Bee (B. impatiens)
2. Two-Spotted Bumble Bee (B. bimaculatus)
3. Brown Belted Bumble Bee (B. griseocollis)
4. Half-black bumble bee (B. vagans)
5. Confusing Bumble Bee (B. perplexus)
6. Black and Gold Bumble Bee (B. auricomus)
7. Golden Northern Bumble Bee (B. fervidus)
8. American Bumble Bee (B. pensylvanicus)

And, most importantly, a whole bunch of bumble bee floral preferences that we will analyze later.

Thanks again to everyone who participated, and to those who tried but were rained out. Sam and I (and the bumble bees I’m sure) are so grateful to have you all on board!

Jenan El-Hifnawi

AABB Coordinator

bumblebeecount@gmail.com

Hello phenomenal bumble counting team!

The Blitz is finally almost here (tomorrow, July 16th!!), and I hope you’re all excited to get out and collect some data! Just as a reminder, there are two options for participating in the Blitz:

1) Simply go out and do as many surveys as you can tomorrow, and submit your data by midnight the same day. This option is completely independent, can be done anywhere, and is basically surveying as usual.

2) Join a Blitz group to meet up with tomorrow at 10:00 am, and go survey from there! If you’re going with a group, remember that we don’t want to duplicate data. This means multiple people shouldn’t be surveying the same area at the same time. My plan is to meet up and discuss the survey protocol, then send people off to survey different areas within walking distance. If anyone feels uncertain about the procedure, I’ll have them come along with me to watch me complete a survey – but we will only submit one datasheet. After we’re all done, we’ll meet back up to discuss the floral quantification, and any questions that came up.

Here’s the group info again – all groups are planning to meet at 10:00 am EST:

Group 1: Bowie/Laurel, MD – Bee Lab at Patuxent Wildlife Research Refuge with Jenan El-Hifnawi (bumblebeecount@gmail.com)

Group 2 : Ridgely, MD – Adkins Arboretum with Sam Droege (sdroege@usgs.gov)

Group 3: Loudoun, VA – Banshee Reeks Nature Preserve with Heather Dionne (heather.dionne@gmail.com)

Groups 4 and 5: Williamstown, WV – Refuge office at Ohio River Islands National Wildlife Refuge with Elaine Barr and her colleague (elaine_barr@fws.gov)

Whether or not you join a group, we want your data for the Blitz! Thank you all for collecting so much amazing data already – I can’t wait to see what we can accomplish tomorrow! 🙂

Jenan El-Hifnawi
Ask A Bumble Bee (AABB) Coordinator

bumblebeecount@gmail.com

Hello lovely beeple! It’s Jenan checking in to give you all an Ask A Bumble Bee update!

First – We currently have 536 people signed up for AABB, and have received 314 surveys! Of the 536 registered, 84 people have submitted surveys.  I’m so excited to have all this data already, and am so grateful to have such a hardworking group of scientists on my side! Sincerely, a HUGE thank you to everyone who’s gotten out to survey!!

Two spotted bumble bee worker (Bombus bimaculatus) on bracted spiderwort (Tradescantia bracteata). Image credit: Heather Holm

Second – We’re starting an AABB Blitz (AABBB) on July 16th (rain date = July 17th)! EVERYONE (!!!) should get out and do as many surveys as they can on this day! By the next evening, we’ll follow up with some quick broad summary statistics (e.g. how many surveys, how many participants, how many bees total, etc.). To be included in AABBB analysis, make sure you do some surveys and submit your data sheets on the 16th!

 

We’re also hoping to have some small groups go out and survey together as a part of the blitz!  It’ll be a super fun way of meeting some fellow surveyors, and also a good opportunity to iron out any questions that may be holding you back from surveying. Sam and I will split up and each take a group in MD, and we hope some of you will form groups of your own in local parks, nature centers, etc.! Stay tuned for more details!

 

If anyone is interested in leading a survey group as part of the Blitz, please shoot me an email! 🙂

I’ll be out of town from tomorrow (June 24th) until July 13th, but a fellow bee lab member, Kalani, will be checking this email periodically to sign up new surveyors and try to answer basic questions. Otherwise, I’ll try my best to get back to everyone when I return!

 

Thanks again for participating, and let me know if you have any questions!

 

Jenan

 

Jenan El-Hifnawi

AABB Coordinator

jenan.elhifnawi@gmail.com

Hello bumble hunters! I hope you’ve all been enjoying the warmer weather, and are getting out there to count our fuzzy friends. I’ve been having an amazing time surveying over the past couple weeks as numbers of workers are rising quickly and males are beginning to appear! Earlier in the season I was only seeing a couple bees per survey: all queens, mostly brown-belted (B. griseocollis) and two-spotted (B. bimaculatus). Now most of my surveys in good habitats have upwards of 30 bees each!

Brown belted bumble bee worker, Bombus griseocollis, USGS

Two-spotted bumble bee worker, Bombus bimaculatus, image credit: Heather Holm

In terms of survey updates, I have 3 main things. 1) small updates to the wording of the instructions, 2) A podcast feature! 3) Digital data sheets are available!

1) We revamped our description of “#lots” after receiving lots (get it!) of feedback from the training webinar. Here’s an excerpt of the updated instructions:

# Lots is a measure of floral distribution that explains if flowers are concentrated together in a small area or dispersed across your entire survey area. For # Lots, after completing a survey imagine the path you walked was divided into 25 small house lots.  For each blooming plant, estimate how many of those 25 lots the species was in. If you survey a field full of clover with a single apple tree, the clover will be present in almost every lot, so it gets a high number close to 25. The apple tree sits in a small area, so it’s only in 1 lot. Another way to think about this is picturing your survey area as a monopoly board. Roughly how many squares on the board contain a given flower species?

This is a rough estimation of how spread out each flower species is, so don’t worry about determining a precise value.  It doesn’t matter how much of each lot is covered by the flower species, only that the species occurs in the lot.

Thanks for all your feedback on this!

2) For a more exciting update, AABB was featured on the Backyard Ecology Podcast!

I chatted with the host, Shannon Trimboli, about an overview of the project, and some ideas relating to bumble bee floral preference. Shannon is amazing, and has put together a really nice podcast if I do say so myself! Give it a listen here if you’re interested. This conversation was super casual and not intended to train anyone on how to survey, so if you’re looking for clarification on the survey protocol, either check out the resources on our website, or shoot me an email. 🙂

3) Ask and you shall receive! Lots of people have asked for online versions of the data sheets. We came up with these Google Sheets/Excel files which you can fill in with your data. I can’t think of a reason to make fillable PDF versions as well as these, so I’m not planning to do that at the moment. If any of you have a reason why a fillable PDF is still needed, let me know and I’m happy to work on it. 🙂

I’ve been receiving tons of data from a lot of participants, and I cannot thank you enough! You all are truly an impressive group of scientists, and I can’t wait to see what we can all achieve together. 🙂

Keep up the good work, and don’t hesitate to reach out with any questions! Thank you all again!

Jenan

bumblebeecount@gmail.com

The recording of yesterday’s AABB survey training with Jenan and Sam is now ready to view!

Learn how to survey and get answers to commonly asked questions.

Find the recording here and under the LEARN tab on our website.

Add a bumble survey to your plans for the holiday weekend!

Cheers,

~ Denise

Hi all you wonderful beeple!

Webinar aside, thank you all for your hard work this Spring! We have around 130 surveys submitted at the moment, and I’m so excited to keep seeing that number rise. Last year, we only had 99 surveys in the entire season, so this is really awesome! We’ve also surpassed 400 participants registered (WOAH!), and I’ve received surveys from around 35 of you.

Two spotted bumble bee Bombus bimaculatus on Virginia waterleaf (Hydrophyllum virginianum. Image credit: Heather Holm

Hello! This floral resource survey depends on community scientists like you to observe bees on flowers. Attend the participant training webinar on Friday, May 27th at 10:00AM EASTERN by registering here. Can’t make the session? Check back on May 28th for the webinar recording.

While you don’t need to be able to identify bumble bee or flower species to help with this survey, by participating you’re sure to learn more about these fascinating bees and the flowers they prefer.

Ask A Bumble Bee is sponsored by the USGS Bee Inventory and Monitoring Lab and is coordinated by Jenan El-Hifnawi and Sam Droege. The Ask A Bumble Bee website is managed in partnership with Denise Ellsworth at The Ohio State University.

Welcome aboard!

Two-spotted bumble bee, Bombus bimaculatus (USGS)

Two-spotted bumble bee queen, Bombus bimaculatus, on American plum, Prunus americana. Image credit: Heather Holm