Today’s episode is all about getting the public involved in surveying and identifying different species of bees. Dr Elaine Evans is our guest. She’s the new Extensions Educator working on bee conservation at University of Minnesota.
Dr. Evans has been working on education and advocacy for native pollinators for a long time, and is the lead on a fascinating project called the Minnesota Bumblebee Survey.
Listen in to this episode to understand how you can get involved in some important citizen science initiatives.
You can Subscribe and Listen to PolliNation on Apple Podcasts.
And be sure to leave us a Rating and Review!
“We have really good evidence of decline in bumble bees. There are some bee species that seem to be stable though.” – Dr. Elaine Evans
Show Notes:
- Why the University of Minnesota’s Extension decided to focus on pollinators this year
- Getting citizens involved in monitoring bees
- How Dr. Evans became interested in bees
- About the book she wrote on bumblebees
- How she started the Bumblebee Watch program
- What’s going on with the decline of bumblebees in North America
- How Citizen Science works in Minnesota to track bees
- Ways that the Bumblebee Watch program uses pictures to identify bees
- How to teach people to tell different bee species apart
- How the program uses volunteers to track cavity nesting bees
“The Bee Squad is looking at using honey bees as a gateway to other pollinators.” – Dr. Elaine Evans