Dr. Elaine Evans & Michelle Boone
It’s Bee Week! This week’s featured scientists are Michelle Boone and Elaine Evans in the Cariveau Lab in the Department of Entomology. Michelle is a current PhD student studying rusty-patched bumble bee distributions throughout the 7-metro counties of Minnesota. Rusty-patched bumble bees are federally endangered and are the Minnesota State Bee! Dr. Elaine Evans is an extension educator and bee researcher who studies bee conservation and coordinates a variety of outreach programs.
Research:
Michelle and Elaine study the federally endangered rusty-patched bumble bee. They gather distribution data on the bee. This summer, two rusty-patched bumble bee nests were reported on private residences—one in Minneapolis and one in Red Wing. Michelle and Elaine collected avariety of samples to help further research on this species that can help with its recovery. They both work under a special permit issued by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for research on endangered species.
Activities:
What kinds of bumble bees live in your neighborhood? Explore your neighborhood and try to find five different species of bumble bees! To identify a bumble bee species, you will mostly need to look at the abdomen, but for some species the thorax or face can help too! If you can, take a photograph of each species of bumble bee you find and upload them to https://www.bumblebeewatch.org/. Don’t worry if you can’t take a picture. Just get out there and look! Try searching for bees on flowers. Below are some training tools to help you get started.
This is a great video to get started! Please note that he is talking about UK bumblebees, which are different than the species we have in MN. However, it’s a useful video to get started. In MN, our bees don’t really have variable “tail” colors, so I suggest instead focusing on the “banding”. https://youtu.be/A_6ixf3Ui8U
Here’s a guide to MN bumblebees. It’s a bit longer but contains useful information on local species: https://apps.extension.umn.edu/environment/citizen-science/bee-atlas/bumble-bees/docs/bumblebee_species_slides.pdf
Here’s an interactive bumble bee ID training tool: https://umn.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_0VRYJMihcrZaOHj
Here is a handy bumble bee ID guide, created by featured scientist Dr. Elaine Evans! https://www.beelab.umn.edu/sites/beelab.umn.edu/files/bumblebeesofmnidguide.pdf
Bee lab trivia game: z.umn.edu/pollinatorambassador
Resources:
Bee Lab website: https://www.beelab.umn.edu/cariveau-native-bee-lab.
Bee Lab Q&A: https://z.umn.edu/BeeLabQ_A
Header Photo by Damien TUPINIER on Unsplash