Over 3,600 wild bee species occur in the United States, pollinating our natural and agricultural landscapes. Despite increasing evidence that native bees are declining globally, we don’t yet know enough about most of these species to understand which bees are facing extinction.
The Xerces Society aims to protect wild bees in the U.S. by completing an extinction risk assessment for each and every species – an ambitious, collaborative effort with many partners. Each extinction risk assessment includes detailed taxonomic information, a conservation ranking according to the IUCN Red List and the State Heritage Program/NatureServe, and geographic range, as well as information about habitat, threats, and the species’ conservation and research needs. Accomplishing this will help us understand wild bee species’ distributions, life histories, extinction risk, and threats to survival – allowing the conservation community to identify and protect our most imperiled species and their habitats. We will also gain a better understanding of which species and geographies have data gaps that scientists can fill.
Progress
Starting in 2022, Xerces began the process of conducting extinction risk assessments for wild bees. Our initial extinction risk assessments are for mining bees in the genus Andrena, as this genus includes many dietary specialist bees which likely face higher extinction risk when met with certain threats, such as climate change.
We will continue to assess the extinction risk of U.S. bee species and develop tools to support habitat management through a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service competitive State Wildlife Grant for 2024–2026. This work is done in collaboration with the state wildlife agencies of Texas, Washington, California and Vermont; the Woodard Lab at University of California, Riverside; and the Vermont Center for Ecostudies. The Woodard Lab has recently received new funding from the USFWS Center for Pollinator Conservation to support this effort, and Xerces and the Woodard Lab are collaborating closely on extinction risk assessments.
Once extinction risk assessments are completed, names of imperiled species can be shared with wildlife managers and the assessments can be used to develop management guidance for imperiled species.
Get Involved
If you are a bee researcher and would like to contribute bee occurrence data, offer review of extinction risk assessments, or generally stay informed on this project, please email [email protected].
For more information on the Xerces Society’s wild bee conservation efforts, or for information about bee species facing extinction risk and how you can help, please visit our wild bee conservation page.
This work requires collaboration with many experts and institutions from across the U.S., including the bee taxonomists who make it possible to describe and identify bees, bee researchers who contribute their data, and ecologists who contribute their local knowledge to help us understand threats to bee species where they occur. We are grateful to work with such a diverse group to protect and conserve these special animals. Thank you to those who have contributed their data and expertise to this project.
Partners & Funders
Partners
- The Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation
- The Woodard Lab at UC Riverside
- Texas Parks and Wildlife Department
- Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife
- California Department of Fish and Wildlife
- Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department
- Vermont Center for Ecostudies
Funders
- USFWS Office of Conservation Investment (formerly Wildlife and Sportfish Restoration Program)
- USFWS Center for Pollinator Conservation
- Carroll Petrie Foundation
- The New Land Foundation
- Karen LeMay and Bob Behrstock
- Xerces Society members
