USBombus, contemporary survey data of North American bumble bees (Hymenoptera,  Apidae, Bombus) distributed in the United States

Jonathan B. Koch

doi:10.15468/g8cnke

USBombus, contemporary survey data of North American bumble bees (Hymenoptera, Apidae, Bombus) distributed in the United States

Citation

Koch J B, Ikerd H (2021). USBombus, contemporary survey data of North American bumble bees (Hymenoptera, Apidae, Bombus) distributed in the United States. Version 2.11. ZooKeys. Occurrence dataset https://doi.org/10.15468/g8cnke accessed via GBIF.org on 2024-12-13.

Description

This paper describes USBombus, a large dataset that represents the outcomes of the largest standardized survey of bee pollinators (Hymenoptera, Apidae, Bombus) on the planet. The motivation to collect live bumble bees across the US was to document the decline and conservation status of Bombus affinis, B. occidentalis, B. pensylvanicus, and B. terricola. The results of study have been published Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences as “Patterns of widespread decline in North American bumble bees” by Cameron et al. (2011). In this dataset we have documented a total of 17,796 adult occurrence records across 391 locations and 38 species of Bombus. The geospatial coverage of the dataset extends across 41 of the 50 US states and from 0 to 3500 m a.s.l. The temporal scale of the dataset represents systematic surveys that took place from 2007 to 2010. The dataset was developed using SQL server 2008 r2. For a each specimen, the following information is generally provided: species name, sex, caste, temporal and geospatial details, Cartesian coordinates, data collector(s), and when available, host plants. This database has already proven useful for a variety of studies on bumble bee ecology and conservation. Considering the value of pollinators in agriculture and wild ecosystems, this large systematic collection of bumble bee occurrence records will likely prove useful in investigations into the effects of anthropogenic activities on pollinator community composition and conservation status.

Purpose

The purpose of this dataset is make available data associated with bees of the genus Bombus in the US. The dataset was developed during a nationwide assessment of bumble bee health and conservation status (Cameron et al. 2011). The dataset represents a systematic survey that will likely prove useful in future investigations on pollinator ecology, conservation, and policy.

Sampling Description

Study Extent

This dataset was primarily developed to determine the extent of bumble bee decline in the US. Thus, we did not survey in areas that have historically been under-sampled for bumble bees, nor did we survey well-sampled areas outside of the known ranges of species thought to be in decline. Much of our survey efforts were guided by natural history specimen data that was digitized retroactively (Grixti et al. 2009, Koch and Strange 2009, Koch 2011). The intent to survey in areas that were once populated with currently rare and declining bumble bee species was to determine changes in genetic structure over time, disease ecology, and population abundances (Lozier and Cameron 2009, Cameron et al. 2011, Cordes et al. 2012). Thus we sampled across both latitude and elevation gradients in a way that maximized our ability to detect and capture bumble bees when colony growth was at its maximum in the summer months of the northern hemisphere.

Sampling

Specimens represented in the USBombus dataset are the result of systematic surveys conducted by researchers at the USDA-ARS-PIBMSRL, Utah State University, University of Illinois, and Illinois Natural History Survey. Surveys were conducted primarily using sweep nets to capture bumble bees on flowers and in flight. All surveys were timed, and were conducted for at least 30 minutes. This dataset represents a total of ~512 collector hours. Survey methods are further described in Cameron et al. (2011).

Quality Control

All unrecognizable individuals collected in the field were carefully examined by the authors using taxonomic keys and field guides (Stephen 1957, LaBerge et al. 1962, Mitchell 1962, Medler et al. 1963, Chandler et al. 1965, Husband et al. 1980, Thorp et al. 1983, Williams et al. 2008). The authors are considered to be authorities in bumble bee identification in North America (Koch et al. 2012) and globally (Williams et al. 2008).

Method steps

All specimens described in this dataset have been batch entered into the USNPID following the flowchart in Figure 6. With the exception of data collected by the eastern group (University of Illinois and Illinois Natural History Survey), specimen identification and subsequent update to the database occurred after record and event metadata had been entered into the USNPID. Bumble bee identification and associated metadata of bumble bees collected by the eastern group were retroactively captured from a spreadsheet and imported in the USNPID. In the dataset bumble bee queens are denoted by the Q identifier (0 = False, -1 = True). Females are denoted by the F identifier (0 = False, ≥ 1 = True) and males are denoted by the M identifier (0 = False, ≥ 1 = True). Values greater than one in these fields (Q, M, F) indicate the total abundance of the specimens associated with that caste in the survey event and is specific to occurrence records associated with the EBOD prefix.

Additional info

We are greatly indebted to the the volunteers and technicians who have assisted us in surveying wild bumble bees in the field and curating them into the US National Pollinating Insect Collection.. This work would have not been possible without their patience, kindness, and persistence. Victor Gonzalez and anonymous reviewers provided invaluable comments and suggestions that have greatly improved this manuscript. This study was supported by the United States Department of Agriculture grant CSREES-NRI 2007-02274 and the United States Fish and Wildlife Service.

Taxonomic Coverages

USBombus includes 39 species of the bee genus Bombus known to occur in the Nearctic region of the Western Hemisphere (Figure 4, 5). Thus our survey efforts and this dataset document ~82% of the described Bombus species in North America north of Mexico (Williams et al. 2014). Bombus is the only extant genus of the tribe Bombini in the family Apidae. There are an estimated 250 species across 15 subgenera of Bombus worldwide (Williams et al. 2008). Bumble bees are eusocial insects and form colonies in which a division of labor exists among workers (female), drones (male), and queens (female). We differentiate between workers and queens in our dataset with unique identifiers (see dataset description). In our dataset of North American Bombus, the subgenus Pyrobombus is the most abundant and most species rich of the eight subgenera found in the Nearctic. In total, 12,790 bees representing 19 species in the subgenus were detected. In the western U.S.A. (including Alaska) the most widespread and abundant bumble bee is B. bifarius (Figure 4), while in the eastern U.S.A. the species most abundant is B. impatiens (Figure 5). In addition to being an abundant native bee, B. impatiens is commercially reared to pollinate a variety of crops including tomatoes and blueberries (Velthuis and van Doorn 2006). The least abundant and species poor subgenus detected in our survey was Alpinobombus, represented by one species, B. balteatus. We also collected four species of bumble bees in the parasitic subgenus Psithyrus: B. insularis, B. fernaldae, B. suckleyi, and B. citrinus. Psithyrus comprises a unique group of bumble bees in which the females usurp bumble bee colonies, bully or kill the resident queen, and use the queen’s daughters to rear her own offspring. The taxonomic status of three species in our dataset has been debated within the past decade, specifically B. californicus, B. fernaldae, and B. moderatus. Synonymy of B. californicus with B. fervidus has been proposed by Williams et al. (2014) based on the mitochondrial marker cytochrome oxidase I (COI). Similar taxonomic arguments based on the single gene COI have proposed synonymizing B. fernaldae with B. flavidus and B. moderatus with B. cryptarum (Bertsch et al. 2010, Williams et al. 2012). However, these results are at odds with a comprehensive five gene phylogeny of the bumble bees (Cameron et al. 2007), where B. californicus, B. fervidus, B. fernaldae, B. flavidus, B. cryptarum, and B. moderatus were found to be good species. In this dataset we maintain the species status as defined with molecular data by Cameron et al. (2007) and proposed taxonomy by Thorp et al. (1983). Finally, we did not recognize the recently resurrected B. cockerelli (= B. vagans) by Yanega et al. (2013), as further taxonomic and systematic work is necessary to determine its species status. The species with the least number of records (< 0.01%) are B. sandersoni (n = 1), B. citrinus (n = 11), B. fraternus (n = 16), B. suckleyi (n = 19), B. affinis (n = 22), B. borealis (n = 25), B. terricola (n = 31), B. vandykei (n = 44), and B. moderatus (n = 39) (Figure 4, 5). Bombus franklini, which was not detected in our survey effort has arguably the smallest known geographic distribution and only occurs in one ecoregion (Koch et al. 2012). At present B. caliginosus and B. morrisoni are listed as vulnerable by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) while B. franklini is listed as critically endangered and B. fraternus listed as endangered (Kevan 2008, Hatfield et al. 2014a, 2014b, 2014c). However, several other species including B. affinis are candidates for listing under the Endangered Species Act and the IUCN (Jepsen et al. 2013). All bumble bee species determinations in this dataset have been reviewed by the authors. Specimens not identified to species due to poor physical conditions are included in the dataset as “Bombus sp.”.

bomus
rank: genus

Geographic Coverages

This dataset includes occurrence records of bees in the genus Bombus across 40 states in the conterminous U.S.A. and Alaska. Surveys have taken place over a wide elevation gradient, starting at sea level near sites including Galveston, Texas and San Juan Islands, Washington to 3500 m a.s.l. in Gothic, Colorado, U.S.A.. Considerable effort was also made to survey multiple bumble bee communities north of the Arctic Circle (68° latitude) in Alaska. However, the majority of the field sites represented in this dataset are found throughout the conterminous U.S.A. in grassland and alpine biomes (Figure 1, 2, 3).

Bibliographic Citations

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Contacts

Jonathan B. Koch
originator
position: Doctoral Candidate
USDA-ARS. Pollinating Insects-Biology, Management and Systematics Research,
Logan
84322
Utah
US
Telephone: 435-797-2526
userId: http://scholar.google.com/citations?user=JVz6bEoAAAAJ&hl

Harold Ikerd
metadata author
USDA-ARS. Pollinating Insects-Biology, Management and Systematics Research,
Utah State University
Logan
84322
Utah
US
Telephone: 435-797-2526
email: hikerd@gmail.com
userId: http://scholar.google.com/citations?user=2WcKwOYAAAAJ

Harold Ikerd
author
position: Entomology Technician & Database Manager
USDA-ARS. Pollinating Insects-Biology, Management and Systematics Research
Utah State University
Logan
84322
Utah
US
Telephone: 435-797-2526
email: hikerd@gmail.com
homepage: http://www.ars.usda.gov/pandp/people/people.htm?personid=39335
userId: http://scholar.google.com/citations?user=2WcKwOYAAAAJ

Jonathan B. Koch
author
position: Doctoral Candidate
Utah State University, Department of Biology and Ecology Center
5305 Old Main Hill
Logan
84322
Utah
US
Telephone: 435-797-2526
email: jonathan.b.koch@gmail.com
homepage: http://www.biology.usu.edu/htm/our-people/faculty/memberID=3849
userId: http://scholar.google.com/citations?user=JVz6bEoAAAAJ

James Strange
author
position: Research Entomologist
USDA-ARS. Pollinating Insects-Biology, Management and Systematics Research
Utah State University
Logan
84322
Utah
Telephone: (435) 797-7151
email: James.Strange@ars.usda.gov
homepage: http://www.ars.usda.gov/main/site_main.htm?modecode=20-80-05-00
userId: http://scholar.google.com/citations?user=4J50xaYAAAAJ

Terry L. Griswold
author
position: Research Entomologist
USDA-ARS. Pollinating Insects-Biology, Management and Systematics Research,
Utah State University
Logan
84322
Utah
US
Telephone: 435-797-2526
email: Terry.Griswold@ars.usda.gov
homepage: http://www.ars.usda.gov/pandp/people/people.htm?personid=2154

Jeffrey Lozier
author
position: Research Entomologist
University of Alabama
Box 870344
Tuscaloosa
35487
Alabama
US
Telephone: (205) 348-2754
email: jeffrey.lozier@ua.edu
homepage: http://bama.ua.edu/~jlozier/Jeff_Loziers_Lab/Lozier_Lab_Homepage.html
userId: http://scholar.google.com/citations?user=Xg2RCCUAAAAJ

Leellen Solter
author
position: Insect Pathologist
Illinois Natural History Survey
1101 W. Peabody Dr.
Champaign
61820
Illinois
US
Telephone: 217-244-5047
email: lsolter@illinois.edu
homepage: http://wwx.inhs.illinois.edu/directory/show/lsolter

Sydney Cameron
author
position: Professor
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
320 Morrill Hall, 505 S. Goodwin Ave
Urbana
61801
Illinois
US
email: sacamero@illinois.edu
homepage: http://www.life.illinois.edu/scameron/

Nils Cordes
author
position: Faculty of Biology
Bielefeld University
Universitätsstr
Bielefeld
25 D-33615
North Rhine-Westphalia
DE
Telephone: 49 521 106-5616
email: ncordes@uni-bielefeld.de
homepage: http://ekvv.uni-bielefeld.de/pers_publ/publ/PersonDetail.jsp?personId=26302151&lang=en
userId: http://scholar.google.com/citations?user=X_4OVKYAAAAJ

Isaac Stewart
author
position: Biology Instructor
Black Hawk College
26230 Black Hawk Road,
Galva
61434
Illinois
US

Jonathan B. Koch
administrative point of contact
position: Doctoral Candidate
USDA-ARS. Pollinating Insects-Biology, Management and Systematics Research,
Logan
84322
Utah
US
Telephone: 435-797-2526
userId: http://scholar.google.com/citations?user=JVz6bEoAAAAJ&hl