Hey y'all! I'm gonna try something! For #EntSoc20, I recorded a talk about Bombus affinis foraging and habitat preferences in a large, restoration setting. For those who may be interested in the talk but are not registered for the conference, here it is in twitter-thread form!

In general, bumble bees have experienced large declines throughout their range. Of the 46 species in North America, 12 of them are at risk of extinction ( @IUCNRedList ). Bumble bees face threats like habitat loss, pesticide drift, and introduced diseases from commercial bees.

One species of particular concern in the Eastern US is Bombus affinis, aka the "Rusty-Patched Bumble Bee." Once a common species, RPBB has declined severely, and is now only detected regularly in the Upper Midwest States of MN, WI, IL, and IA.

Most bumble bee data we have today is centered around highly populated, urban areas. We know RPBB persists in urban areas like the Twin Cities, but we are lacking data in rural areas. In a restoration setting, how does RPBB behave?Our team's specific questions are as follows:

We conducted our field work at @Nachusa ( @Nature_IL). Nachusa Grasslands is a large prairie restoration in Northern IL featuring many habitat types, and a reintroduced bison herd. Nachusa harbors tons of diversity, making it a great model to study high quality restorations.

I surveyed for RPBB using 2 surveying methods. First, I conducted standardized, non-lethal bumble bee surveys using a 20 minutes, meandering transect. I ID'd bumble bees on the wing and recorded their floral association. Bees were captured and chilled on ice for ID as needed.

Secondly, I searched for RPBB using a haphazard approach. During these surveys, I simply chose a habitat of interest, and searched specifically for RPBB. These surveys had no time limit, which allowed me to search interesting habitats where a standardized survey wasn't suitable

In addition to bumble surveys, I also paired standardized surveys with a floral resource survey. This allowed us to sample flowers available to pollinators at the time of surveying. 10 quadrats were placed haphazardly along a similar transect as the bumble bee survey prior

Now for the fun part! RESULTS!!!
Over the summer, I observed 7,073 bumble bees on standardized surveys across 11 species, 4 of which are threatened with extinction (B. affinis, B. fervidus, B. pensylvanicus, and B. fraternus).

Additionally, I observed bumble bees foraging on 76 different flower species throughout the season. This is a chart showcasing proportions of each bumble bees floral preference Top 5 most popular flowers among all bumble bees are shown, all others are lumped into "Other".

Bombus affinis was observed most on Monarda fistulosa, which was also a favorite of many other common species like B. impatiens and griseocollis. Here is a RPBB video foraging on Monarda for your viewing pleasure

Another interesting result to me, is the efficiency of survey types. I detected RPBB at a ~3x greater rate during haphazard surveys than standardized. Less minutes spent during haphazard surveys, but more observations by the hour

Considering both survey types, I found RPBB on 4 different flowers. Joe-Pye Weed and Bee Balm were a hit!

Additionally, I found RPBB across the preserve in differing habitat types. It's nice to know the study species is distributed throughout the whole preserve

Two RPBB habitat pictures. Left is an open prairie dominated by Bee Balm and a weedy understory. The right is a forest edge with a nice Joe-Pye Weed patch, full of foraging bumble bees. These habitat types were popular with many bumble bee species

Conclusions! 1. RPBB is found across the restoration in many habitat types, including open prairie and woodland edges. 2. RPBB seems to have similar foraging behaviors as other common species, suggesting it's not a picky eater. 3. Haphazard surveys are efficient in finding RPBB!

We are super excited for next season and have a lot of ideas planned! Hopefully ones including citizen science and haphazard surveys. We are interested in collecting a ton of data next season! Big picture, understanding RPBB genetics and disease prevalence in rural areas is key.

That's my talk in the form of a tweet! Thanks if you read this far, I enjoyed putting this together! Thanks @Nachusa for allowing us the opportunity to learn about bumbles at the preserve. Thanks to the team @beepunstings, @larval_yeti, and Josh for the teamwork and mentorship

*ZOOM*