The nearly fifty species of bumble bees in North America are highly efficient pollinators of our natural areas and farm fields, making them essential to ecosystem function. Unfortunately, substantial declines in widespread and formerly common species have been reported. Between climate change, the widespread use of pesticides, habitat loss, and the amplification and spread of diseases from commercial bees, bumble bees face an uphill challenge to recover from observed declines, and repopulate areas where they’ve been lost. In this webinar we will discuss bumble bee ecology, how that interacts with ongoing conservation issues, and what we can all do to help. The good news is that we can all contribute. Beyond participating in our Bumble Bee Atlas projects (bumblebeeatlas.org), protecting, creating, and restoring habitat is the key. We’ll discuss how to provide critical aspects of habitat to benefit each stage of the life cycle, whether you have a small porch, or manage several acres. While this webinar is directed toward our Bumble Bee Atlas volunteers, anyone is welcome to join. The webinar will be led by the bumble bee conservation crew at the Xerces Society: Rich Hatfield, Laurie Hamon, Katie Lamke, and Leif Richardson, who will be joined by Dr. Elaine Evans of the University of Minnesota.
Click here for more information and to register.
Rich Hatfield
Senior Conservation Biologist, Bumble Bee Conservation Lead - The Xerces Society
Rich Hatfield is a senior endangered species conservation biologist, and leads Xerces' bumble bee conservation program. He has a master's degree in conservation biology, with a focus on the ecology and habitat needs of bumble bees. Rich has authored several publications on bumble bee conservation and taught bumble bee management and identification courses throughout North America. Rich helped develop and launch the community science website Bumble Bee Watch (www.BumbleBeeWatch.org), which has attracted over 30,000 users throughout North America, and gathered over 80,000 photo observations of North American bumble bees since 2014. He also serves as the coordinator for both the Pacific Northwest and California Bumble Bee Atlas projects. In addition to his work with bumble bees, Rich has investigated native bee pollination in agricultural systems in the Central Valley of California, and studied endangered butterflies in the San Juan Mountains of Colorado and throughout the Pacific Northwest.
Laurie Hamon
Endangered Species Conservation Biologist - The Xerces Society
Laurie is the project manager for the Southeast Bumble Bee Atlas, a community science project to track and conserve bumble bees in North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Tennessee. She earned her PhD at North Carolina State University, where she conducted her thesis on the pollination ecology of Venus flytraps. She has conducted survey work for multiple rare insect species and investigated insect communities in urban pollinator gardens. Laurie has previous experience coordinating a community science project to monitor butterflies at a biological reserve in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. When the work day ends, Laurie enjoys making art and spending time outdoors.
Katie Lamke
Endangered Species Conservation Biologist - The Xerces Society
Based in the Midwest, Katie’s main role is to coordinate and engage people in community science projects in the region that help track and conserve bumble bees. Katie has both a skillset and passion for identifying wild bees that has been professionally developed for species in the Northern Plains. She is enthusiastic about pollinator ecology and is committed to raising awareness about the conservation of wild bees.
Leif Richardson
Conservation Biologist, California Bumble Bee Atlas - The Xerces Society
Leif Richardson is an ecologist whose work focuses on North American bumble bees, including their natural history, taxonomy, and conservation needs. He has master’s and doctoral degrees in ecology and evolutionary biology, both obtained following extensive field and lab research on the ecology of pollination interactions between bees and plants. He recently joined the Xerces Society as a conservation biologist, and is running the California Bumble Bee Atlas. Leif previously worked as an environmental consultant, conducting regulatory studies on risk of pesticide exposure to bumblebees, and as an ecologist with the Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department. Leif is the author of numerous publications on bees, as well as co-author of Bumble Bees of North America: an Identification Guide (2014), the standard reference manual on this group of invertebrate wildlife in California and beyond. Leif is an expert in the inventory and identification of bumble bees, and has extensive experience training others to collect bumble bee distribution data in the field.
