Native Bee Inventory and Monitoring Lab
Science Center Objects
The USGS Native Bee Inventory and Monitoring Program designs and develops large and small scale surveys for native bees. As part of that program we also develop identification tools and keys for native bee species. One aspect of creating those tools is creating accurate and detailed pictures of native bees and the plants and insects they interact with.
Osmia near inurbana group 2, f, face, Porter co. Indiana(Credit: Sam Droege, USGS Patuxent Wildlife Research Center. Public domain.)
Discover Life - free on-line tools to identify species, teach and study nature's wonders, report findings, build maps, process images, and contribute to and learn from a growing, interactive encyclopedia of life with 1,385,843 species pages and 778,580 maps.
Discover Life - Identification - Start the identification process by determining the bee genus you have by using this guide
Handy Bee Manual: How to Catch and Identify Bees and Manage a Collection - A Collective and Ongoing Effort by Those Who Love to Study Bees in North America
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4,000 Ultra Hi-Res Public Domain Images from our Bee Inventory and Monitoring Lab - This Flickr site is designed to provide easy access to our photographs so that they may be freely used. There is no need to ask for our permission for any use of these photographs.
USGS Native Bee Lab - Follow us on Tumblr includes detailed information about bee species
Bee Inventory and Monitoring Laboratory - Follow us on Instagram and enjoy our photography and stories about bees and the laboratory.
Ceratina smaragdula, male, and introduced bee, Hawaii, Oahu, March 2012(Public domain.)
More brilliant greens, blues, and purples from the metallic mason bees of western North America. This one (O. aglaia) comes from Yosemite National Park , where Claire Kremen's group has been looking at post burn bee communities in areas of chronic burns. Photograph by Anders Croft.(Credit: Anders Croft. Public domain.)
And now....Ceratina from Asia! Vietnam to be exact. The overall shape and aspect of Ceratinaness remains but what lovely facial colors or maculations as the old literature calls them. A betting person would use the patterns of past specimens to guess that the female will have fewer maculations, but the stripe running down the center of the clypeus will remain. From the depths of the Packer Lab at York University.(Public domain.)
Monarda didyma 2, Beebalm, Howard County, MD, Helen Lowe Metzman(Credit: Sam Droege, USGS Patuxent Wildlife Research Center. Public domain.)
Phidippus clarus, Beltsville, Maryland, thanks to Charlie Davis for determination(Public domain.)
More Velvet Ant pictures...who wouldn't want more shots of this Badass Cowkiller? This one from Arkansas sent live in the mail by our correspondent FT. Its good to have such friends. Photos by Wayne Boo.(Credit: Wayne Boo. Public domain.)
More detail may be found HERE.
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Date published: March 13, 2018Status: ActiveQuick Background on the Mid Atlantic region's native bees
Bees are tiny, one bush or one clump of perennials is often all it takes to foster native bees in your yard. Within a mile of your yard (urban or rural) there are at least over 100 species of bees looking for the right plants. Attracting and tending these native bees on your property is all about planting the right flowers and flowering bushes.
Contacts: Sam DroegeAttribution: Native Bee Inventory and Monitoring Lab -
Date published: February 20, 2018Status: ActiveIntroduced and Alien Bee Species of North America (North of Mexico)
Surveys by the USGS Native Bee Laboratory have uncovered several new alien bee species in the United States. The data we and our collaborators are collecting tracks the spread of these species, at least in a coarse way. We hope to expand surveys in collaboration with our federal and state land management partners as we detect more invading species. Information on distributions and status of...
Contacts: Sam DroegeAttribution: Native Bee Inventory and Monitoring Lab -
Date published: March 20, 2017Status: ActiveDNA Barcoding for Identifying Native Bee Species
The Challenge: Traditionally, bee identification has relied on taxonomic methods centered on descriptions of morphological differences between species. However, for many species, separate keys are required for identifying adult males and females and immature life stages. These keys are commonly unavailable. The lack of distinguishing morphological characters useful for separating closely...
Contacts: Natalie Karouna-Renier, Ph.D., Sam Droege
National protocol framework for the inventory and monitoring of bees
This national protocol framework is a standardized tool for the inventory and monitoring of the approximately 4,200 species of native and non-native bee species that may be found within the National Wildlife Refuge System (NWRS) administered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS). However, this protocol framework may also be used by other...
Droege, Sam; Engler, Joseph D.; Sellers, Elizabeth A.; Lee O'Brien Exotic plant infestation is associated with decreased modularity and increased numbers of connectors in mixed-grass prairie pollination networks
The majority of pollinating insects are generalists whose lifetimes overlap flowering periods of many potentially suitable plant species. Such generality is instrumental in allowing exotic plant species to invade pollination networks. The particulars of how existing networks change in response to an invasive plant over the course of its phenology...
Larson, Diane L.; Rabie, Paul A.; Droege, Sam; Larson, Jennifer L.; Haar, Milton Bees: An up-close look at pollinators around the world
While we eat, work, and sleep, bees are busy around the world. More than 20,000 species are in constant motion! They pollinate plants of all types and keep our natural world intact. In Bees, you'll find a new way to appreciate these tiny wonders. Sam Droege and Laurence Packer present more than 100 of the most eye-catching bees from around the...
Droege, Sam; Packer, Laurence Detecting insect pollinator declines on regional and global scales
Recently there has been considerable concern about declines in bee communities in agricultural and natural habitats. The value of pollination to agriculture, provided primarily by bees, is >$200 billion/year worldwide, and in natural ecosystems it is thought to be even greater. However, no monitoring program exists to accurately detect declines...
Lubuhn, Gretchen; Droege, Sam; Connor, Edward F.; Gemmill-Herren, Barbara; Potts, Simon G.; Minckley, Robert L.; Griswold, Terry; Jean, Robert; Kula, Emanuel; Roubik, David W.; Cane, Jim; Wright, Karen W.; Frankie, Gordon; Parker, Frank Spatial patterns of bee captures in North American bowl trapping surveys
1. Bowl and pan traps are now commonly used to capture bees (Hymenoptera: Apiformes) for research and surveys. 2. Studies of how arrangement and spacing of bowl traps affect captures of bees are needed to increase the efficiency of this capture technique. 3. We present results from seven studies of bowl traps placed in trapping webs, grids, and...
Droege, Sam; Tepedino, Vincent J.; Lebuhn, Gretchen; Link, William; Minckley, Robert L.; Chen, Qian; Conrad, Casey New synonymies in the bee genus Nomada from North America (Hymenoptera: Apidae)
We provide diagnostic morphological characters to help distinguish males and females of the following species of Nomada: N. augustiana Mitchell, N. bethunei Cockerell, N. fervida Smith, N. fragariae Mitchell, N. lehighensis Cockerell, N. texana Cresson, and N. tiftonensis Cockerell. Based on morphological and DNA barcoding evidence we newly...
Droege, S.; Rightmyer, M.G.; Sheffield, C.S.; Brady, S.G. The lost micro-deserts of the Patuxent River using landscape history, insect and plant specimens, and field work to detect and define a unique community
Historical and recent records of both plants and insects are synthesized for uplands along the eastern edge of Maryland?s Patuxent River from the edge of the Piedmont south to Jug Bay. This strip is characterized by deep sandy soils found in the Evesboro and Galestown sandy loams soil series. Within this narrow strip there exists a unique flora...
Droege, S.; Davis, C.A.; Steiner, W.E.; Mawdsley, J. Evaluation of specimen preservatives for DNA analyses of bees
Large-scale insect collecting efforts that are facilitated by the use of pan traps result in large numbers of specimens being collected. Storage of these specimens can be problematic if space and equipment are limited. In this study, we investigated the effects of various preservatives (alcohol solutions and DMSO) on the amount and quality of...
Frampton, M.; Droege, S.; Conrad, T.; Prager, S.; Richards, M.H. Adventive Hylaeus (Spatulariella Popov) in the New World (Hymenoptera : Apoidea : Colletidae)
Ascher, J.S.; Ganibino, P.; Droege, S. The potential conservation value of unmowed powerline strips for native bees
The land area covered by powerline easements in the United States exceeds the area of almost all national parks, including Yellowstone. In parts of Europe and the US, electric companies have altered their land management practices from periodic mowing to extraction of tall vegetation combined with the use of selective herbicides. To investigate...
Russell, K.N.; Ikerd, H.; Droege, S.-
Date published: February 8, 2018Native Bee Inventory and Monitoring Lab (BIML)
Species occurrence records for native and non-native bees, wasps and other insects collected using mainly pan, malaise, and vane trapping; and insect netting methods in Canada, Mexico, the non-contiguous United States, U.S. Territories (specifically U.S. Virgin Islands), U.S. Minor Outlying Islands and other global locations.
Attribution: Energy & Wildlife, Patuxent Wildlife Research Center
Bee Laboratory (Instagram Story)
Instagram story showing the USGS Bee Inventory and Monitoring Lab clearing invasive species from a field.
Untapped Capacity: Our 4,000 Species of Native Bees
So many unknowns and so many potentials.
- In secret, Native Bees, not honey bees, do most of our pollinating
- Why we don't know the status of 99% of our Native Bees
- Why are there 400 Native Bees without names
- Why biodiverse native plant communities = biodiverse native bee communities
How to Catch and Identify Bees and Manage a Collection
This manual is a compilation of the wisdom and experience of many individuals, some of whom are directly acknowledged here and others not. We thank all of you. The bulk of the text was compiled by Sam Droege at the USGS Bee Inventory and Monitoring Lab (BIML), Patuxent Wildlife Research Center, Beltsville, Maryland, over several years from 2004-2008. We regularly update
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Date published: June 22, 2020It’s Pollinator Week!
Pollinators in the form of bees, birds, butterflies, bats and beetles provide vital but often invisible services, from supporting terrestrial wildlife and plant communities, to supporting healthy watersheds.
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Date published: January 23, 2017How the Bees You Know are Killing the Bees You Don’t
Patuxent Scientist Sam Droege interviewed for "Inside Science" about how commercially managed bumblebees and honey bees may be contributing to wild pollinator decline.
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Date published: June 15, 2015The Buzz on Native Bees
Bees are nearly ubiquitous, occurring on every continent except Antarctica. Wherever there are insect-pollinated flowering plants — forest, farms, cities and wildlands — there are bees. And just because you don’t see plants blooming, does not mean that there are no bees around.