Recommended Citation: Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation (Xerces) and the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation Mussel Project (CTUIR). [Year Accessed]. Western Freshwater Mussel Database. Available at https://www.xerces.org/endangered-species/freshwater-mussels/database. List of contributors available at: https://xerces.org/endangered-species/freshwater-mussels/database/contributors.
Have you observed freshwater mussels in western North America? Are you looking for information on western freshwater mussel distribution or occurrence in your area? The Xerces Society and the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation have compiled a database of occurrence records to support research and conservation of freshwater mussels.
To ensure healthy ecosystems, the Xerces Society’s endangered species team conserves at-risk species and their habitats through research, advocacy, education, conservation planning, and restoration. Our team of conservation biologists holds degrees in entomology, ecology, biology, and environmental science, and has decades of experience working with rare and at-risk terrestrial and aquatic invertebrates. We share a passion for conserving invertebrates that are imperiled with extinction.
All bumble bees belong to the genus Bombus within the family Apidae. The family Apidae includes the well-known honey bees and bumble bees, as well as carpenter bees, cuckoo bees, digger bees, stingless bees, and orchid bees. Bumble bees are important pollinators of wild flowering plants and crops. As generalist foragers, they do not depend on any one flower type. However, some plants do rely on bumble bees to achieve pollination. Loss of bumble bees can have far ranging ecological impacts due to their role as pollinators.
Since the 1980s, the Xerces Society has worked to protect monarch butterflies—including the western population of monarchs that overwinters in forested groves along the California coast. We help facilitate the Western Monarch Thanksgiving and New Year’s Counts, community science projects in which volunteers track the size of the monarch population at overwintering sites annually.
Monarchs are in decline across their range in North America. Loss of milkweed host plants due to extensive herbicide use has been identified as a major contributing factor, and loss or degradation of nectar-rich habitat from other causes, natural disease and predation, climate change, and widespread insecticide use are probably also contributing to declines.