Thank you to everyone who participated in the first year of Great Plains Bumble Bee Atlas! Together, we made impressive strides towards bumble bee conservation in North Dakota, South Dakota, and Kansas! As you'll see in the graphics that follow, a third of all grid cells have been adopted, nearly 2,000 bumble bees were observed on 87 different plants, and 230+ habitat surveys were submitted! We cannot thank you enough for the time you have contributed towards the Great Plains Bumble Bee Atlas this past summer.
Grid Adoption
One third of all grid cells (88/265) have been adopted by 103 people! This is fantastic start for our first year!
Survey Effort
Between June and September, 231 surveys were conducted by at least 84 people! This resulted in 1,939 bumble bee observations of 20 species!
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Over the course of four months, Atlas participants covered a lot of ground in all three states. The maps below display survey effort by grid cell (green) and bumble bee observations by grid cell (blue). The darker the color in each cell, the more surveys or bumble bee observations there are. Cells that are gray have not been visited by a participant yet, but we will work together to change that in the seasons to come.
Often times with community science projects, most observations are made in or near large cities and that pattern is present here. One goal of the Atlas is to survey remote areas of each state, in addition to populated areas, to gather a comprehensive understanding of bumble bees regionwide. So next season, if you find yourself having completed your two surveys and wanting to do more, consider surveying a nearby gray grid cell to help fill in the map and reach our goal. We're here to help if you need assistance locating a place to survey should you decide to venture into a new grid(s)!
Often times with community science projects, most observations are made in or near large cities and that pattern is present here. One goal of the Atlas is to survey remote areas of each state, in addition to populated areas, to gather a comprehensive understanding of bumble bees regionwide. So next season, if you find yourself having completed your two surveys and wanting to do more, consider surveying a nearby gray grid cell to help fill in the map and reach our goal. We're here to help if you need assistance locating a place to survey should you decide to venture into a new grid(s)!
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Bumble Bee Species
Of the 1,939 bumble bees observed and submitted to Bumble Bee Watch, our experts were able to verify 1,605. By "verify," we mean experts were able to assign a species-level identification to 82% of observations thanks to the high quality, in-focus photographs associated with each observation--Great job taking photos in the field! The remaining 18% of observations have a tentative species classification or no classification.
Species by state: Kansas - 6, North Dakota - 14, South Dakota - 18. Explore the observations on Bumble Bee Watch.
If you still have data submit, even if you observed no bees, it's not too late: Submit Data
Species by state: Kansas - 6, North Dakota - 14, South Dakota - 18. Explore the observations on Bumble Bee Watch.
If you still have data submit, even if you observed no bees, it's not too late: Submit Data
Flowering Plant Observations
Atlas participants observed bumble bees on 87 plant genera while surveying this summer! If we include incidental bumble bee observations, i.e. passive observations, the number increases to 110 plant genera! Expanding our knowledge of the plants bumble bee utilize across time (e.g. June versus August), and space (e.g. western North Dakota versus eastern Kansas), allows natural resource professionals, conservationists, and land stewards to make more-informed decisions when designing restorations intended to support pollinators. It is vital that bumble bees have access to a diversity of pollen and nectar sources from spring through fall, and by participating in the Atlas you are helping develop the database of plants that support bumble bees!
The graph below displays all plant genera that were recorded on at least five surveys (conducted on different days), which came out to 15 genera, and account for nearly 50% of bumble bee observations. The blue bars represent the number of times a bumble bee was observed visiting each of the plant genera and the orange dots represent the number of bumble bee species observed visiting each of the plant genera. The plants are ordered by the number of surveys they were recorded on, i.e. Bee Balm (Monarda sp.) is listed first because it was recorded on the most surveys (24 surveys), Thistle (Cirsium sp.) is second because it was recorded on 19 surveys, and so on.
The graph below displays all plant genera that were recorded on at least five surveys (conducted on different days), which came out to 15 genera, and account for nearly 50% of bumble bee observations. The blue bars represent the number of times a bumble bee was observed visiting each of the plant genera and the orange dots represent the number of bumble bee species observed visiting each of the plant genera. The plants are ordered by the number of surveys they were recorded on, i.e. Bee Balm (Monarda sp.) is listed first because it was recorded on the most surveys (24 surveys), Thistle (Cirsium sp.) is second because it was recorded on 19 surveys, and so on.
Photography Highlights
Taking high quality photographs of chilled bumble bees is no easy task! Below we've selected a few photos taken in 2022 that are properly lit, in-focus, and taken at a great angle for experts to assess identifying features. Click each photo to see the full submission on Bumble Bee Watch and notice the variety of angles submitted for each bee—The more angles of a bee, the easier it is for us to identify.
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Northern Amber Bumble Bee
Bombus borealis Bumble Bee Watch / S. Simanonok 
American Bumble Bee (f)
Bombus pensylvanicus Bumble Bee Watch / D. Martin 
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Brown-belted Bumble Bee
Bombus griseocollis Bumble Bee Watch / B. Monser 
Indiscriminate Cuckoo Bumble Bee
Bombus insularis Bumble Bee Watch / M. Braley 
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White-shouldered Bumble Bee
Bombus appositus Bumble Bee Watch / P. Lynch 
American Bumble Bee (m)
Bombus pensylvanicus Bumble Bee Watch / D. Heinert 
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Field Trainings!
To get the project up and running, Xerces Society and partners coordinated a series of in-person training events in all three states. It was wonderful to meet so many people eager to participate and ready to learn about bumble bees! We held trainings at the Great Plains Nature Center (Wichita, KS), Good Earth State Park (Sioux Falls, SD), Oahe Downstream Recreation Area (Pierre, SD), and Johnny Gisi Memorial Park (Bismarck, ND). This was our first year partnering with the National Park Service and we were able to hold trainings at Wind Cave National Park (Hot Springs, SD), Badlands National Park (Imperial, SD), and Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve (Strong City, KS)—couldn't ask for better locations to look for bumble bees!
We are planning to hold more trainings in the summer of 2023, stay tuned to the events page or the Atlas' Instagram, Twitter, or Facebook group to be notified of newly scheduled events.
We are planning to hold more trainings in the summer of 2023, stay tuned to the events page or the Atlas' Instagram, Twitter, or Facebook group to be notified of newly scheduled events.
Thank you for a great season!
The success of the Atlas is truly driven by the participants. The contribution of your time and effort is what allows us to learn so much about bumble bees in such a short amount of time. We hope you're excited about the 2023 season, set to start on June 1st. We'll begin sending weekly emails again in May to get you ready and make you aware of this season's events. Please reach out with any questions or comments: greatplains.bba@xerces.org.