Target: Bumblebees as an especially easy pollinator group to identify.- Importance to Food & Agr: Pollinators of wild and domestic plants. One of the easiest bees to recognize due to their size and “bumbling” movements.
- Issues: Many species rare and endangered, so reports from Citizen Scientists are very helpful to scientists. Pesticides and habitat loss are threats.
- Observing Options: Species types and arrival and departure dates relative to blossoming dates of crops.
- Citizen Science: Bumblebee Watch helps you identify species in photos you submit online which are then used to track rare and threatened species. You simply submit your photos, use their online key to make your best guess as to species, and the scientists will confirm or correct it.
- Getting Started Tip: Check the observation key on the Bumblebee Watch site above so you know the basics of what to look for in identifying species, whether you post sightings or not.
- Additional Resources: More background can be found at Bumblebee Watch website above and see Xerces Society’s Bumblebee Conservation for creating and restoring bumblebee habitat.
Healthy Community Food Systems
Healthy Land, Healthy Food, Healthy People
Being Proactive—as a Community—About Climate Change in our Local Food Systems and Foodsheds
Fickle Monsoons, Summer in March, and Hot Summer Nights: Climate change is here, has been seriously affecting local agriculture, and will certainly get worse. It will take some serious effort to adjust our local food production and local food systems to the extent needed, so why not ramp up efforts now to adapt and help […]