(Undated)– The state Department of Natural Resources and Iowa State University are looking for volunteers to help create a new Bumble Bee Atlas. Bees are an important part of the ecosystem, and scientists are figuring out their habitats to help them thrive. Iowa is home to at least 14 species of bumble bees that help pollinate native wildflowers and flowering crops in farm fields and backyard gardens. Iowa State University University plant pathologist Matt O’Neal says the U-S Fish and Wildlife Service recently listed several bee species as endangered…
The national project is part of a collaboration with the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation. Some 900 people have volunteered for the national atlas project, and counted more than 20-thousand bumble bees, which O’Neal says face several major threats…
The researchers will work to alleviate those threats by knowing where the bees are. Volunteers have discovered species thought to be gone from their states, contributed to new field guides, and improved scientists’ understanding of bumble bee populations across the country.
You can sign up and find more information by clicking here.
