Citizen Science & Bumblebees

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What is Citizen Science?

For as long as I can remember, I’ve been an avid animal-lover. As a child, I devoured all books relating to a variety of animals: wolves, bats, whales, etc. and religiously read Ranger Rick. As of late, my attention has turned to the smaller, seemingly inconspicuous creatures that live among us: insects.

Last spring, I attended a bumblebee count. I unfortunately slept through my alarm, drove three hours and arrived rather late. I was given a small plastic container and told to start capturing the little insects, making sure to note the flower or plant I had taken it from. After successfully capturing one, I brought it back to our “base table” where volunteers from the Xerces Society identified it and noted the gender and the plant it was on. After, it was given a little mark on its thorax with a washable marker and sent on its way.

Now, the experience itself wasn’t all that glamorous. It’s field work. You find yourself wading waist-deep into flowers that more often than not, have some sort of unpleasant itchy hairs, thorns, etc. on their stems or leaves. The flower heads themselves, like coneflowers, can be fitted with thorn-like points. Not only that, but the particular place where we were working was on a rather small but steep hill. You would pinpoint your next target, try to wade through these plants but then remember too late “oh, there’s actually a drop-off there,” and while you are trying to keep your balance . . . there the little fellow goes!

After a while, more and more of the bees that had already been captured and marked were seen. They had already been documented and there was no use capturing them again. I moved on down the hill to the white clover below. Nothing was there, so I followed some others down to a field where there were infinitely more insects. The bumblebees were thick on the Marsh Milkweed, along with honeybees, butterflies and black ants. What soon caught my attention was the appearance of a Hummingbird Moth. A beautiful insect about the same size of its namesake, going from flower to flower as I followed, desperately trying to get a picture without scaring it off. After the hour-long stalk, capture and release, I left, feeling very energized and ready for another round.

This is citizen science. Something that I believe everyone should be able to participate in. The efforts of citizen scientists have more of an impact than what even I had assumed and this is something I would like to explore further.

The public is well aware of the poster children for insects: the Monarch and the European Honeybee. But because the latter is very useful for consumers and its potential extinction would render the world honey-less, we are understandably concerned about its future. (I also believe that the state of the honeybee is the precursor for what is happening to native species and their decline is perhaps more noticeable.) But what about the native bees, specifically bumblebees?

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Pesticides and Our Endangered

The States is home to around 4,000 bee species. Forty-nine of those are bumblebees, which live in colonies like the famous honeybee. Other native bees are solitary and usually make their nests in the ground. (University of MN Bee Lab)

There are several threats facing our native bumblebees. These include insecticides, fungicides and herbicides. The main chemical pesticide, which seems to be the most studied, are neonicotinoids. Its effects on bumblebees (and bees in general) are rather extensive. Studies have shown that the pesticide disrupts their homing systems, throws off their resting periods and makes them more susceptible to being preyed upon by parasites, more specifically, the varroa mite. It also impedes on how they communicate where food can be found through their famous “waggle dance.” (LiveScience ‘American bumblebee could be officially declared endangered’ by Ben Turner Sept. 30, 2021)

According to the IUCN Red List, there are currently ten species of bumblebees that could be added to the Endangered Species Act List. Listed under Vulnerable are the Bombus pensylvanicus, Bombus morrisoni, B. terricola and B. occidentalis. Those under Endangered include B. crotchii and B. fraternus. Finally, the Critically Endangered are B. franklini, B. affinis, B. suckleyi and B. variabilis. (From Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation)

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A Case for Bombus pensylvanicus: The American Bumblebee

Any of these I could cover, preaching about how we need to protect the Critically Endangered or Endangered species. But it is to the B. pensylvanicus, also known as the American Bumblebee, that I would like to draw our attention. The females presents a black head, with mainly a yellow body which is broken up by two black sections. The one nearest the head is larger and bleeds down into the first section of the abdomen. The second black spot takes up two sections of the very bottom of the abdomen. In the bumblebee world, the females are larger than the males. The males usually present the same, except the first section of black is significantly smaller and does not extend beyond the thorax. (American bumble bee (Bombus pensylvanicus (incl. sonorus)) — Bumble Bee Watch)

The American Bumblebee had been previously found in 46 states and in 3 Canadian provinces. (Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation ‘American Bumble Bee’) But it has now been lost in 8 states: Maine, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Vermont, Idaho, North Dakota, Wyoming and Oregon. (LiveScience ‘American bumblebee could be officially declared endangered’ Ben Turner Sept. 30, 2021) Though it has been on the decline over the years, there is still some hope in regard to its future. Senior Conservation Biologist and bumblebee program lead for the Xerces Society, Rich Hatfield says, “From our bumble bee atlas projects and other ongoing survey efforts, it appears that while the American bumble bee is declining in some parts of its range, it is still abundant in others.”

We can see how the combined effects of competition with honeybees, chemical pesticides, habitat loss, parasites, pathogens and suffering from the lack of genetic diversity has on B. pensylvanicus. An article published in the scientific journal: Frontiers in Bee Research, suggests that a warmer world could have disastrous effects on bumblebee nests. (Kevan PG, Rasmont P and Martinet B (2024) Thermodynamics, thermal performance and climate change: temperature regimes for bumblebee (Bombus spp.) colonies as examples of superorganisms. Front. Bee Sci. 2:1351616. doi: 10.3389/frbee.2024.1351616)

February 1st, 2021, saw a petition from several conservation groups directed to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to add the American Bumblebee to the ESA List. (Endangered Species Act Protection Sought for American Bumblebee) Unfortunately, it is has not “earned” its spot on the list and has yet to be protected under state or federal laws. Regardless, conservation efforts are still being pushed for it to be added.

How Citizen Scientists Assist Conservation Efforts

Scientists must gather a lot of data for their studies through groundwork. But they are limited in the frequency of site visits and where they can conduct surveys. This is where citizen scientists come in. People who like to explore the natural world either on their own property or public land, if armed with the right resources, can contribute heavily to scientific research, and noting the ranges of specific species. Resources like iNaturalist, eBird and plenty of others are a great way to start observing, recording and sharing natural findings with others. iNaturalist is an app where nature enthusiasts can photograph natural curiosities and upload it to the app where an expert can correctly identify what the user has digitally caught.

Bee enthusiasts can partner with the Xerces Society and sign up for their Bumble Bee Atlas program. The scientists and naturalists there host regular training sessions in which insect nerds are trained to properly spot, capture, chill, photograph and correctly identify bumble bee species. (Get Involved | Bumble Bee Atlas)

Photo by Artem Maltsev on Unsplash

Though iNaturalist is very user-friendly and requires low effort on the side of the observer, it has a few downfalls. iNaturalist relies on where people regularly hike or explore, so a lot of these observations will be concentrated around trails, beaches and National or State Park areas. While with the Bee Atlas, the observer is able to “adopt” a certain grid area where they are required to visit and survey at least twice each summer. The Bee Atlas team usually condenses all of these findings, publishes and sends them to participants. With this method, scientists are able to direct citizen scientists to specific areas where more data needs to be collected. In 2025 alone, there were 31 species recorded by 1,967 participants over 6,902 surveys with overall 59,440 observations made nationwide. (Data Highlights | Bumble Bee Atlas)

Conclusion

Because of the collected efforts of naturalists, citizen scientists, nature enthusiasts and conservationists, data is able to be collected on sites such as Xerces and iNaturalist. Therefore, the knowledge base for scientists expands. From there, scientists have a rough idea what species are thriving or declining and if populations are slowly expanding or decreasing their home ranges. If a certain species needs help, scientists can alert those on the state and federal level that the species is in need of protection and/or needs to be added to the ESA List. Funding is usually granted, more studies done and efforts are more often than not, collective in saving the declining species. The next steps in the future are Monitoring, Conservation Plans and Management for said species.

Though us citizen scientists cannot singlehandedly put a species on the ESA List, focusing on what we can do will make all the difference. It’s the little things, like educating the generations who will come after us, planting native plants, diversifying our gardens, avoiding using pesticides and looking into how the greenhouse plants were grown. It could also include keeping leaf litter on our gardens for overwintering invertebrates and getting together with our local community of nature nerds. (Highly recommend looking into iNaturalist and the Xerces Society. There can never be too many helping hands!)

I truly don’t think that any endangered animal, bird, fish, or invertebrate is beyond saving. Consider the plight of the Bald Eagle. The Trumpeter Swan. The Monarch Butterfly (though we are still fighting for its future, we have come a long way). The Gray Wolf. The American Bison. The California Condor. We have done it before. We can definitely do it again.