Standardized Bumblebee (Bombus) Surveys in Vermont

Study Extent

Vermont

Sampling

Records are either specimens, photos, or field identifications. Collection events fall into 3 categories. Casual visits are where effort was not recorded and/or not every individual was collected/photographed/recorded. Site visits are complete checklists for any amount of time at any site. Roadside surveys are 10 minute sampling events where every individual was collected and/or recorded. These roadside surveys were done in 'Priority blocks' that were previously sample as part of the 2012-2013 Vermont Bumblebee Atlas. These surveys were done by volunteers and staff as follow up to standardized surveys done in 2012 and 2013. Roadside surveys were done along stretches of town roads in ‘priority survey blocks’, 1/8th of an USGS topographic quadrangle randomly selected for previous Vermont citizen science inventories (Renfrew 2013), where traffic was generally light and floral resources were often available. In most every case, the sites in this survey correspond to sites visited in the 2012/13 effort. Roadside surveys were 10 minutes long, with observers collecting every bumblebee using a net and collecting vial with soapy water. Experienced observers comfortable with field IDs of most Bombus counted, identified and/or photographed Bumblebees instead of collecting.

Quality Control

Specimen determinations by Sara Zahendra, Spencer Hardy, and Leif Richardson.

Method steps

1. Protocol follows that of the Vermont Bumblebee Atlas: https://figshare.com/articles/Vermont_Bumble_Bee_Survey_-_Manual_for_Participants/6327230/1

Bumblebees and Eastern Carpenter Bee. Other wild bees were incidentally collected or recorded at the discretion of surveyor.

1. Bombus
   rank: genus
2. Xylocopa
   rank: genus

Vermont