US National Native Bee Monitoring RCN
There are more than 4,000 native bee species in the United States, with many species yet to be described. These native bees pollinate our native plants and agricultural crops, add beauty to our world, and are deserving of protection. The US National Native Bee Monitoring Research Coordination Network (RCN) is a USDA-funded effort to coordinate and support efforts to monitor native bee populations in the US, with the broader goal of conserving our nation's native bee fauna.
From 2020-2023, native bee biologists from across the US will work together to develop a national plan for native bee monitoring. The plan will include components such as monitoring protocols and the designation of priority areas for monitoring. The RCN will also develop new educational and training opportunities in areas that are fundamental to native bee monitoring.
From 2020-2023, native bee biologists from across the US will work together to develop a national plan for native bee monitoring. The plan will include components such as monitoring protocols and the designation of priority areas for monitoring. The RCN will also develop new educational and training opportunities in areas that are fundamental to native bee monitoring.
RCN-related news & updates
- We are gearing up for a busy fall with two workshops: one on conservation goals for native bee monitoring and one on monitoring efforts of federal government agencies.
- We talked with Dr. Michael Orr about his work with Anthophora miner bees and a paper on global bee distributions.
- We hosted our first collaborative workshop on the vision for a national native bee monitoring plan. We had 150 attendees who heard about successful monitoring programs such as eBird, the Backyard Bird count, the UK Pollinator Monitoring Scheme, the Oregon Bee Atlas, and more.
- We launched The Bee Short Course for Community Scientists with the entomology program at The Ohio State University: a seven month seminar series on bee biology, identification, photography, and more!
- We talked with Janene Lichtenberg about her work with huckleberry pollinating native bees in Montana.
- We talked with Dr. Jessica Rykken about her work monitoring native bees in Alaska.
- We launched The Great American Bee Count on iNaturalist, an umbrella project gathering existing bee monitoring projects across the US.
- We were featured in The New York Times!
- We were featured on Forbes.com! Learn more about our efforts to monitor native bees across the US.
- We would like to sincerely thank Dr. Zach Portman for supplying many of the bee photographs on this website, and also for being the interviewee for our first blog post, which you can read here.
Coming soon:
OUR GOALCoordinate and support native bee monitoring efforts across the US |