This statistic shows the number of honey bee colonies in the United States from 2016 to 2023. In 2023, there were approximately 2.51 million honey bee colonies in the United States, a slight decrease from the previous year.

Bee Colony Census and Loss Data

Bee Colony Census, Survey, and Loss Data in the United States

By Brenda Griffith [source]

About this dataset

The Bee Colony Statistics dataset provides comprehensive data on bee colonies in the United States. It combines information from multiple sources, including the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Bee Informed Partnership (BIP), to present a detailed overview of bee colony surveys, censuses, and losses.

The USDA data includes three major components. The first is the Bee Colony Survey Data by State, which includes information on various metrics related to beekeeping at a state level. This dataset contains data such as the number of beekeepers exclusive to each state, percentage of colonies managed exclusively in each state, and total winter loss of colonies.

The second component is the Bee Colony Census Data by County, offering insights into specific county-level statistics. It presents a breakdown of colony numbers based on counties and also provides other relevant metrics specific to each county.

Lastly, there is the Bee Colony Census Data by State that expands upon these statistics at a more granular state level perspective. It offers a detailed breakdown of colony numbers for individual states across the country.

Additionally, this dataset incorporates valuable information from BIP—a renowned organization dedicated to studying and improving honeybee health—specifically their Bee Colony Loss data for educational purposes only. The original data ownership remains with BIP.

Important notes regarding this dataset include slight variations between reported losses in publications compared to those shown here due to additional analyses conducted. Losses reported as N/A indicate privacy protection when five or fewer beekeepers responded in a particular state; however, their losses are still included within national statistics.

To delve into more specifics about this dataset's columns: it covers factors such as year, period during which data was collected (e.g., season), geographic location down to county level using ANSI codes for identification, various measured values (e.g., number of colonies), coefficient variation representing relative variability in measurements (%CV), program or survey name from which data originated, week ending date when the data was collected, geographical level at which the data is reported (e.g., state, county), zip code of the location where data belongs, region within the United States, watershed information with corresponding code and name, commodity or product being reported (e.g., honey), specific domain or category to categorize each metric (e.g., loss), value reported for respective columns in numeric format.

Through this dataset compilation and analysis, researchers and beekeepers alike can gain insights into colony health trends and make informed decisions about preserving honeybee populations

How to use the dataset

Here is a step-by-step guide on how to utilize this dataset effectively:

• Understanding the Columns:

  • Year: The year in which the data was collected.
  • Period: The time period during which the data was collected.
  • State: The state in the United States for which the data is reported.
  • State ANSI: The ANSI code for the state.
  • Ag District: The agricultural district within the state for which the data is reported.
  • Ag District Code: The code for the agricultural district.
  • County: The county within the state for which the data is reported.
  • County ANSI: The ANSI code for the county.
  • Value/Total Winter All Loss/Beekeepers/Colonies/CV (%): Different measurements or statistics related to bee colonies and losses.

• Exploration by State: Start by analyzing specific states that are of interest to you. Filter or search based on desired states using their respective column values (e.g., State, State ANSI). This will allow you to focus on a particular region or compare multiple states.

• Investigation by County or Agricultural District: Further narrow your analysis by exploring specific counties or agricultural districts within a state using columns like County, County ANSI, Ag District, and Ag District Code. This can help identify patterns or differences between different areas.

• Understanding Survey Data: Some columns provide information about survey responses from beekeepers such as Beekeepers Exclusive to State (percentage of exclusive beekeepers) and Beekeepers (number of responding beekeepers). These can help gauge the level of participation from beekeepers in different regions.

• ...

This statistic shows the number of bee colonies in Canada from 2013 to 2024, by region. There were approximately 95,000 bee colonies in Saskatchewan in 2024, down from around 99,000 the previous year.

Pollinator refuges such as wildflower strips are planted on farms with the goals of mitigating wild pollinator declines and promoting crop pollination services. It is unclear, however, whether or how these goals are impacted by managed honey bee (Apis mellifera L.) hives on farms. We examined how wildflower strips and honey bee hives and/or their interaction influence wild bee communities and the fruit count of two pollinator-dependent crops across 21 farms in the Mid-Atlantic U.S. Although wild bee species richness increased with bloom density within wildflower strips, populations did not differ significantly between farms with and without them whereas fruit counts in both crops increased on farms with wildflower strips during one of two years. By contrast, wild bee abundance decreased by 48%, species richness by 20%, and strawberry fruit count by 18% across all farm with honey bee hives regardless of wildflower strip presence, and winter squash fruit count was consistently lower on farms with wildflower strips with hives as well. This work demonstrates that honey bee hives could detrimentally affect fruit count and wild bee populations on farms, and that benefits conferred by wildflower strips might not offset these negative impacts. Keeping honey bee hives on farms with wildflower strips could reduce conservation and pollination services. Brief description of collection and processing of data: All data were collected from 21 farms located in the Eastern Shore region of Virginia and Maryland and Virginia Beach. Ten farms had wildflower meadows sown either in 2015 (N=1 farm) or 2016(N=9 farms) which were planted following NRCS guidelines for the creation of pollinator refuges. Honey bee hive presence/absence varied by farm. Please see mansucript methods and supplemental materials for more details. Strawberry and winter squash fruit count data: Fruits were collected from six strawberry plants and four winter squash plants, grown in two 50-gal containers at each farm. Strawberries were grown in the spring and winter squash in the summer of 2017 and 2018. All were grown in the same growing medium with consistent fertilizers and watered as needed. Strawberry plants were grown in a mesh cage to prevent vertebrate foraging. We quantified total strawberry and winter squash fruit produced per farm and year. Please see manuscript methods for more details. Wild bees: We trapped bees during two 48 h periods each year in UV-bright yellow, blue, and white pan traps and 3 blue vane traps at each farm. The sampling periods roughly corresponded with strawberry flowering during the spring (mid-May to early June) and winter squash flowering (early August) during the summer. Bees (Hymenoptera: Apoidea) were identified to species. We calculated the abundance, species richness, evenness, and Shannon-Wiener diversity of wild bees within traps at each farm per sampling event and year. In this version (v2) we have corrected several mistakes in the wild bee abundance, species richness, diversity, or species evenness values within the dataset. We have also added two additional variables: the total number of honey bee hives and the mean distance from the study site to honey bee hives on each farm. Resources in this dataset:Resource Title: Strawberry fruit count. File Name: strawberry_fruit_count.csvResource Description: Strawberry fruit count per farm and honey bee hive and wildflower strip presence/absence.Resource Title: Winter squash fruit count. File Name: squash_fruit_count.csvResource Description: Winter squash fruit count per farm and honey bee hive and wildflower strip presence/absence.Resource Title: Wild bee species data v2. File Name: wild_bee_species_2.0.csvResource Description: Wild bee species abundance, species richness, evenness, Shannon-Wiener diversity, and total wild bee abundance per farm and honey bee hive and wildflower strip presence/absence. Also contains bloom density (total blooms per square-meter) within wildflower strips, or un-managed field edges on control farms (lacking wildflower strips) from 2018. In this version (v2) we have corrected several mistakes in the wild bee abundance, species richness, diversity, or species evenness values within the dataset. We have also added two additional variables: the total number of honey bee hives and the mean distance from the study site to honey bee hives on each farm.Resource Title: README. File Name: README.txt

Field and Lab data regarding the effects of 4 sublethal concentrations of a neonicotinoid insecticide (Imidacloprid) on honey bees and about a dozen native bee species. Resources in this dataset:Resource Title: Weighted Tolerance Index (WTI) . File Name: WTI Calculation.docxResource Description: Calculating the weighted tolerance index (WTI) for bee species imbibing sublethal quantities of imidaclopridResource Title: Weighted tolerance index for 10 bee genera subjected to sublethal concentrations of imidacloprid insecticide (5 - 100ppb). File Name: Table 4 WTI.docxResource Description: These data show to what degree representative species of 10 bee genera were tolerant to the side-effects of imidacloprid intoxication. Higher WTI index indicates greater relative toleranceResource Title: Raw data and preliminary analyses. File Name: BEETOX RAW DATA AGCOMMONS 1.csvResource Description: These data represent the raw dataset for bioassays conducted on 12 species of bees representing 10 genera.Resource Title: Beetox raw data - data dictionary. File Name: BEETOX raw data DD.csvResource Title: Bioassay Data Beetox 2016. File Name: BIOASSAY DATA BEETOX 2016 2017 4.xlsx

Contemporary data (2017/2018): An open area on the north side of the ESGR (GPS coordinates: 42.461808, -84.011128) was the primary site for this study as it corresponds to the location of “Evans’ Old Field”, one of the areas historically sampled for bees. The field was described by Evans as a 7.7 ha abandoned field with a mid-successional community of plants surrounded by oak-hickory woods. It is now 1.3 ha of semi-open habitat with significant encroachment of the surrounding oak-hickory woods and invasive autumn olive (Elaeagnus umbellata Thunb.). The site was visited every other week during the summers of 2017 and 2018 to sample bees. In 2017, the first sampling day was June 1 and the final sampling day was September 25. In 2018, the first sampling day was May 8 and the final day was October 3. We expanded sampling in 2018 to include a wider diversity of bees with narrower phenological periods.During each visit we sampled bees using three methods. First, we walked to the center of the open field and randomly selected a direction to start the first 25 meter transect. Three other 25 m transects were then established based on the first one, each at a 90-degree angle from the neighboring transect for a total of 100m sampled, with each transect segment moving away from a central location. Each transect was walked for 10 minutes each, a total of 40 minutes of sampling. We used aerial insect nets to collect bees found within 1.5m of the transect, and time was stopped for specimen processing. The host plant was recorded for all specimens captured from flowers. Flowering plants were identified to the lowest taxonomic level in the field using Newcomb’s guide and the PlantNet app, usually to species. Second, we spent 20 minutes collecting bees from plants of any species in the general vicinity of the open field. Third, to most closely match the methods used by Evans (see below), we spent 30 minutes sampling bees at each of the primary blooming plant species located in the field. Total time spent conducting this final sampling method varied based on the number of primary blooming plants at each visit, with a minimum of 30-minutes if there was only one primary plant. This sampling method was always done last, and included any plants that we collected more than one bee from that day. All bees were identified to species (or lowest possible taxonomic level) using relevant keys. All specimens collected in 2017 and 2018 are currently held in the Isaacs Lab at Michigan State University (as of 2024), and will eventually be deposited at the A.J. Cook Arthropod Collection at Michigan State University for long-term inclusion in that collection.Historical data (1921-1999): The University of Michigan Museum of Zoology Insect Collection (UMMZI), Ann Arbor, MI, holds over 4,000 bee specimens from the historical collections at the ESGR, and specimens were databased as part of this study. Historical data were checked for entry errors and outdated taxonomies. Specimens with questionable species determinations were re-examined and re-identified using relevant keys (see above) where possible. Bees that could not be confidently identified to the species level were excluded from the dataset, and entries that were missing the date of collection were also removed. Excluded entries accounted for less than 1% of the specimens. There were notable gaps in records at the ESGR, as there were no focused survey efforts since Evans’ last efforts in 1989, and only occasional specimen records from 1990-1999. There were no surveys and no records for the ESGR after 1999 and prior to this study in 2017/2018. All specimens from the ESGR were included in this dataset, not only those specifically collected at the Evans’ Old Field.In addition to the 4,000 plus records from the ESGR since 1921, we also include Evans’ dataset from his 1972 and 1973 collection effort. Evans’ original dataset from 1972/1973 was available through UM records. The dataset is unique compared to the records from the museum, because Evans did not always collect observed bees if he was confident in their identification (especially Bombus spp. and oligolectic species, e.g., Andrena rudbeckiae Robertson, 1891 and Dufourea monardae (Viereck, 1924)), and these records come only from the site now called Evans’ Old Field, whereas the exact sampling locations within the ESGR of many other specimens in the collection are not known. Therefore, his original dataset provides a more complete representation of the community he encountered at the Evans’ Old Field location.Evans describes his sampling as: “records of the dates and duration of flowering were made at frequent intervals (2-3 days every week) throughout the flowering season…Observation of visitation by bees was usually made between 9:00 am and 4:00 pm and on any given day was limited to a maximum of 30-40 minutes per flower species…no orderly system of monitoring was developed. More attention was given to abundant resources when they were being heavily visited than was paid to them near the beginning or end of their flower periods or to less frequently encountered species".Please open the README file first, which has descriptions of each included data file.

Monitoring animals in their natural habitat is essential for the advancement of animal behavioural studies, especially in pollination studies. We present a novel hybrid detection and tracking algorithm "HyDaT" to monitor unmarked insects outdoors. Our software can detect an insect, identify when a tracked insect becomes occluded from view and when it re-emerges, determine when an insect exits the camera field of view, and our software assembles a series of insect locations into a coherent trajectory. The insect detecting component of the software uses background subtraction and deep learning-based detection together to accurately and efficiently locate the insect.This dataset includes videos of honeybees foraging in two ground-covers Scaevola and Lamb's-ear, comprising of complex background detail, wind-blown foliage, and honeybees moving into and out of occlusion beneath leaves and among three-dimensional plant structures. Honeybee tracks and associated outputs of experiments extracted using HyDaT algorithm are included in the dataset. The dataset also contains annotated images and pre-trained YOLOv2 object detection models of honeybees.

The data provided is from a study on overwintering honey bee colonies using cold storage. Colonies were summered in two different geographic regions of the USA: South Texas and North Dakota. Colonies summered in North Dakota were placed in cold storage in either October or November of 2019. Placement in cold storage of hives summered in South Texas happened in November of 2019. A second set of colonies overwintered in south Texas. All sets of colonies were evaluated and sampled prior to and after cold storage and again after almond bloom in 2020. Colonies overwintered in South Texas were evaluated during the same periods as those in cold storage. Data are provided for frames of bees and brood pre and post cold storage as well as after almond bloom. The data included in the two files shows: bee frame counts, mite counts and brood counts. Lab data provided shows fat body weight as well as protein and lipid concentrations in worker bees pre and post cold storage /overwintering. Resources in this dataset: Resource Title: Colony Evaluations Pre and Post Cold Storage File Name: colony sizes.xlsx Resource Description: The data shows the colony evaluations including frames of brood, frames of bees, and pre treatment mite counts pre and post cold storage. Resource Title: Protein and Lipid Concentrations of Honey Bees Colonies Pre and Post Cold Storage File Name: fat body col sizes and analysis.xlsx Resource Description: The data shows the pre and post cold storage colony lipid and protein concentrations. Data also shows the average number frames of bees, brood and mite counts associated with these treatments.

The dataset contains records of daily number of exits and entrances of bees from 6 colonies per location in 2023 in the locations Avignon/France (2023-03-31 – 2023-05-15), Halle/Germany (2023-05-17 – 2023-11-15) and Gent/Belgium (2023-06-02 – 2023-11-15). It was published by Alaux CA (INRAE) on the B-GOOD Bee Health Data Portal…

Species occurrence records for native and non-native bees, wasps and other insects collected using mainly pan, malaise, and vane trapping; and insect netting methods in Canada, Mexico, the non-contiguous United States, U.S. Territories (specifically U.S. Virgin Islands), U.S. Minor Outlying Islands and other global locations with the bulk of the specimens coming from the Eastern United States often from Federal lands such as USFWS, NPS, DOD, USFS. Some records also contain notes regarding plants or substrates from which insects were collected or that were present and/or in flower at the time the insects were collected. Unless otherwise noted, taxonomic determinations (identifications) were completed by Sam Droege (USGS Eastern Ecological Science Center- EESC, Native Bee Laboratory) and Clare Maffei (USFWS, Inventory and Monitoring Branch).

The EESC Native Bee Lab currently keeps only a small synoptic collection, rare and voucher specimens are deposited in the Smithsonian National Collection (NMNH) and widely distributed to other institutions for DNA, revisions, and augmentation of existing collections. Surplus specimens are also made available to students to learn their identifications. Corrections to any of our determinations are always welcomed. Common species that are not in demand for surplus are usually destroyed and the pins recycled. Recent revisions to Lasioglossum, Ceratina, and to a much lesser extent Triepeolus and Epeolus and other small groups have rendered determinations prior to those revisions out of date for species involved in name changes and users should account for that during analyses. Current data (included information on specimen codes without identifications) are always available without charge directly from Sam Droege.

This statistic shows the total number of beehives worldwide from 2010 to 2023. In 2023, there were about 102 million beehives worldwide, increasing from around 99.85 million beehives in the previous year. Number of beehives worldwide has generally been increasing since 2010.

Dataset Card for "bees-internal"

Full length OCR of Bee material and other Lore. Documents are split into multiple chunks if they contain more than 0.5 MB of text, to avoid destroying the CPU during tokenization.

  counts

all counts are for the default config.

  tokens

GPT-4 tiktoken token count: token_count count 1384.000000 mean 32776.423410 std 33652.185553 min 215.000000 25% 3514.000000 50% 8942.000000 75% 65717.750000 max… See the full description on the dataset page: https://huggingface.co/datasets/BEE-spoke-data/bees-internal.

This statistic shows the number of beehives in leading countries worldwide in 2023 (in thousand units). India has the largest number of beehives, totaling around 12.6 million, followed by China with about 9.3 million.

Pollination services provided by the honey bee, Apis mellifera (Hymenoptera: Apidae, Linnaeus, 1758) have broad economic impacts and are necessary for production of a diversity of important crops. Hives may be transported multiple times per year to provide pollination. To test how temperature may contribute to transportation stress, temperature sensors were placed in hives in different locations and orientations on the trailer during shipping. Colony size prior to shipping significantly contributed to loss of population immediately after shipping which contributed to colony failure with smaller colonies more likely to fail and fail faster. Colony size also affects thermoregulation and temperature stress. Internal hive temperature varies significantly based on location and orientation. While colonies near the front and rear of the trailer and those oriented toward the center aisle had significantly different average internal temperatures, colony size best predicts loss of thermoregulation. Additionally, we profiled gene expression at departure, on arrival, and after a recovery period to identify transcriptional responses to transportation. Functional and enrichment analysis identified increased methylation and decreased ribosomal and protein-folding activity. Pheromone and odorant-binding transcripts were up-regulated after transportation. After recovery, transcripts associated with defense response, immune activity, and heat shock decreased, while production of antibiotic peptides increased. We conclude that hives experience considerable temperature stress possibly caused by turbulent airflow in exposed locations. Transportation stress should be considered an important component of annual colony losses which can be mitigated with improved management strategies. Supplementary Tables S1–S8 are presented. Sequence reads associated with the mRNA sequencing analysis are archived at NCBI under BioProject PRJNA495845. Resources in this dataset:Resource Title: Website pointer to Supplementary Data. File Name: Web Page, url: https://academic.oup.com/ee/article/48/3/691/5423020?login=true#supplementary-data

According to data from the US Department of Agriculture (USDA), the number of honey-producing colonies in the US decreased by 5.9% in 2023. Unusually high losses due to colony collapse disorder and unpredictable weather have strained domestic honey supplies and pollination services, pushing prices higher and creating gaps increasingly filled by low-cost imports. Stiff import competition from countries with low production costs accounted for over 60.0% of domestic demand, surging since 2021 from Argentina and India. Due to these challenges, industry revenue has been falling at a CAGR of 2.9% over the past five years and is expected to reach $721.39 million in 2024. This includes a substantial 6.7% jump in 2024 as farm demand for pollination services. The industry’s ability to adapt to these conditions has been notable, as beekeepers have capitalized on the growing need for pollination services, especially as the fruit, nut and vegetable sectors expand. With local bee shortages in major crop-producing areas, the industry has pivoted from relying on traditional honey sales to embracing service-oriented models, helping them stay afloat amid volatile market conditions. Producers have also diversified their offerings with new honey-based products, like honey-infused cosmetics and health supplements, to meet changing consumer preferences. The rise of the wellness market has provided beekeepers access to a lucrative niche. Due to rising costs, industry profit has slowly dipped but remains steady above 4.0%.
Beekeeping revenue is expected to decline at a CAGR of 1.5% over the next five years, reaching an estimated $715.43 million in 2029. The industry will face hardships as agriculture prices are forecast to fall and consumer demand for honey stabilizes. Beekeepers must be prepared to mitigate losses due to colony collapse disorder, unpredictable weather, and disease outbreaks. Crop farmers' demand for pollination services will likely drive industry performance, supported by product development creating access to new lucrative wellness markets.

This dataset result from the first large-scale, standardized survey of colony losses of managed honey bees and stingless bees across Latin America. Overall, 1736 beekeepers and 165 meliponiculturists participated to the two-year survey (2016-2017 and 2017-2018). On average, 30.4% of honey bee colonies and 39.6% of stingless bees colonies were lost per year across the region, suggesting similar difficulties for both beekeepers and meliponiculturists in Latin America. Colony loss increased with operation size during summer but not during winter in both honey bees and stingless bees. Summer loss was higher than winter loss in stingless bees (33.6% and 20.1%, respectively) but not in honey bees (19.6% and 20.0%, respectively). Colony loss differed significantly between countries and across years in both honey bees and stingless bees. Winter loss of honey bee colonies in Latin America places between the United States (40.4%) and Europe (12.5%) trends. These results highlight the magnitude of bee colony loss occurring in Latin America, and the need to understand the drivers of colony loss in order to support beekeepers and meliponiculturists in the region. The data are related to the scientific paper "Requier, F., et al. (under review) First large-scale study reveals important colony losses of honey bees and stingless bees in Latin America. Scientific Reports".Data are available as a csv file titled "Requier et al._data colony loss in LA.csv".# METADATA#'data.frame': 1901 obs. of 13 variables:# $ ID : Factor variable ; a unique identity for the reponse to the survey# $ Year : Factor variable ; two factors are available, representing the year when the response was collected, with "2017" for the first year of the survey (2016-2017 survey) and "2018" for the second year of the survey (2017-2018 survey)# $ Country : Factor variable ; 11 factors are available (Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Uruguay, Mexico, Colombia, Bolivia, Peru, Cuba, Puerto Rico, Panama), reprensenting the country name were the response was collected# $ Bee_type : Factor variable ; two factors are available, representing the bee type of the response (i.e. Honey bee and Stingless bee)# $ Operation_type : Factor variable ; three factors are available, representing the operation type of the beekeeper/meliponiculturist (i.e. Semi-professional, Hobbyist, and Professional)# $ Operation_size : Numeric variable ; representing the number of colonies of the respondent# $ Operation_Size_Log10: Numeric variable ; representing the number of colonies of the respondent with Log10 transformation # $ N_dead_summer : Numeric variable ; representing the number of colonies dead during the summer of the surveyed year# $ N_alive_summer : Numeric variable ; representing the number of colonies alive during the summer of the surveyed year# $ N_dead_winter : Numeric variable ; representing the number of colonies dead during the winter of the surveyed year# $ N_alive_winter : Numeric variable ; representing the number of colonies alive during the winter of the surveyed year# $ N_dead_annual : Numeric variable; representing the number of colonies dead during the surveyed year# $ N_alive_annual : Numeric variable ; representing the number of colonies alive during the surveyed year

A native solitary bee to North America, the blue orchard bee (Osmia lignaria Say, Hymenoptera: Megachilidae) is a crucial pollinator for orchard crops such as apples, almonds, and cherries. Osmia lignaria is often managed commercially and sold to complement honey bee pollination services.We collected data following an accidental drop of developing immature bees inside their cocoons. These bees were part of a larger experiment performed in 2020. On June 17, 2020, bees were dropped approximately one meter onto a linoleum floor at the USDA-ARS-PWA Pollinating Insect Research Unit in Logan, Utah, USA. Developing bees were in gelatin capsules and attached to a sticky board for X-ray imaging. Using a board from the same study that had not fallen, we compared survival, life stages, and bodily injuries to document the effects of dropping immature O. lignaria a short distance.Our research highlights the risks of handling immature O. lignaria during metamorphosis. Our data provides valuable information for bee managers and researchers about the risks of physical disturbances during critical developmental stages, which could affect bee survival and pollination services in orchards.Key findings include: (1) Near-complete mortality of developing bees before the adult molt stage, (2) Insights into the vulnerability of O. lignaria during immature developmental stages, even when inside cocoons, and (3) Documentation of how mechanical injury during immature development impacts survival.The dataset provides counts of bees in different life stages and conditions, including: (1) Life status (alive or dead) at cocoon completion, pupation, and adult molt stages, (2) Sex determination for bees that reached adulthood (male or female), (3) Final life stage reached (prepupa, pupa, or adult), and (4) Body condition after the fall (malformed, melanized, no observable change, or partially melanized).Additional variables in the dataset include: (1) Sample identifiers, treatment groups, and X-ray board identifiers from the original experiment and (2) Whether the board was dropped or not.Abbreviations and acronyms in the datasetSample_ID = sample identifier (one for each individual bee)Treatment = treatment groups from the original experimentCONTROL = received a sham treatment (sterilized Ringer's Solution)VIRUS = received a virus inoculate (virus particles in Ringer's Solution)OSS10 = received organosilicon (OSS) at 10 parts per million (ppm) (diluted in Ringer's Solution)OSS100 = received OSS at 100 ppm (diluted in Ringer's Solution)OSS10V = received a virus inoculate and OSS at 10 ppmOSS100V = received a virus inoculate and OSS at 100 ppmXray_board = sticky board identifier, which stick board were samples attached to from the original experimentLifeCategory_Cocoon = life status at the time of cocoon completionLifeCategory_Pupa = life status at the time of pupationLifeCategory_Adult = life status at the time of the adult moltSex = sex determined for bees that reached the adult stageOrg_Stage = final life stage reached by beesBody_Category = body condition determined after samples were droppedBoard_Drop = whether the samples analyzed were from dropped vs. not dropped sticky boards

Turley NE, Biddinger DJ, Joshi NK, López-Uribe MM. 2022. Six years of wild bee monitoring shows changes in biodiversity within and across years and declines in abundance. Ecology and Evolution.
Wild bees form diverse communities that pollinate plants in both native and agricultural ecosystems making them both ecologically and economically important. The growing evidence of bee declines has sparked increased interest in monitoring bee community and population dynamics using standardized methods. Here, we studied the dynamics of bee biodiversity within and across years by monitoring wild bees adjacent to four apple orchard locations in Southern Pennsylvania, USA. We collected bees using passive Blue Vane traps continuously from April to October for six years (2014-2019) amassing over 26,000 bees representing 144 species. We quantified total abundance, richness, diversity, composition, and phylogenetic structure. There were large seasonal changes in all measures of biodiversity with month explaining an average of 72% of the variation in our models. Changes over time were less dramatic with years explaining an average of 44% of the variation in biodiversity metrics. We found declines in all measures of biodiversity especially in the last 3 years, though additional years of sampling are needed to say if changes over time are part of a larger trend. Analyses of population dynamics over time for the 40 most abundant species indicate that about one third of species showed at least some evidence for declines in abundance. Bee family explained variation in species-level seasonal patterns but we found no consistent family-level patterns in declines, though bumble bees and sweat bees were groups that declined the most. Overall, our results show that season-wide standardized sampling across multiple years can reveal nuanced patterns in bee biodiversity, phenological patterns of bees, and population trends over time of many co-occurring species. These datasets could be used to quantify the relative effects that different aspects of environmental change have on bee communities and to help identify species of conservation concern. Methods Study site Our study took place between 2014 and 2019 at the Pennsylvania State Fruit Research and Extension Center in Adams County, Pennsylvania, USA (39.935226, -77.254530) and nearby apple orchards. This site has an average yearly rainfall of 112 cm, average summer temperature ranging from 16 °C to 28 °C, and average winter temperatures of -5 °C to 5 °C (Biddinger et al., 2018). The landscape is hilly with well-drained soils and the broader area is approximately 56% broadleaf forest fragments, 25% pastureland, 9% developed areas, and 8% commercial orchards (Biddinger et al., 2018). All orchards were managed under growers’ choice conventional pest management programs that use pesticide classes including insect growth regulators, anthranilic diamide, tetramic acid, microbials, and neonicotinoid insecticides (Biddinger et al., 2018). We sampled bees at 8 locations adjacent to 4 different active apple orchards. Sampling locations were within 150 m of orchards and 250 m of a forest fragment (Figure 1), which have diverse plant and pollinator communities (Kammerer et al., 2016). Often orchards rely, in part, on managed honey bee colonies for pollination, which have the potential to negatively impact native bee populations (Mallinger et al., 2017). However, our sampling sites did not have managed honey bee hives within 2 km and growers managing the adjacent orchards had not rented honey bees for at least 15 years. Our bee monitoring traps were located within perennial wildflower strips approximately 50 m x 10 m in size that were sown between 2-3 years before the beginning of our study. Wildflower sites used in this study were established and managed using the specific planting guidelines developed by the Pennsylvania USDA-NRCS and the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation (NRCS, 2011). They were sown with 21 species of native forbs and grasses sourced from a local native seed supplier (Ernst Conservation Seed, Meadville, PA 16335). All wildflower sites were mowed once a year and received spot sprays of common selective herbicides to control non-native plants as needed. Bee collections We trapped bees continuously from April to October from 2014 to 2019 using Blue Vane traps (BanfieldBio Inc., Woodinville WA). A previous study in this region showed that Blue Vane traps collect a higher abundance and total richness of bees than colored bowl traps, also called pan traps (Joshi et al., 2015). Although the overall community composition of bees captured in Blue Vane traps was different from bowl traps, nearly all species were more likely to be captured in Blue Vane traps over bowls, except some Andrena and Lasioglossum species (Joshi et al., 2015). In our study, Blue Vane traps were filled with about 7 cm of 60% ethylene glycol (Supertech® Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., Bentonville, AR), hung from posts about 1.5 m off the ground. At each of our 8 locations, we placed 2 traps 25 m apart. Traps were left outside continuously from April to October every year and traps were replaced each year in case wear over time decreased their attractiveness. Each week, all specimens were removed and the ethylene glycol was replaced. Bee specimens were separated from other insects collected in the traps and stored in 70% alcohol until they were washed, pinned, and labeled. All bees were identified to the species level except 14 individuals that were removed from analyses because of uncertain species-level identification. For bee identification, we used published dichotomous keys (Mitchell, 1960, 1962; Michener et al., 1994, Michener, 2000) and various interactive bee identification guides available at Discover Life (http://www.discoverlife.org). Species identifications were conducted by David Biddinger (Pennsylvania State University), Robert Jean (Senior Entomologist, Environmental Solutions and Innovations, Inc.), Jason Gibbs (University of Manitoba), and Sam Droege (United States Geological Survey). All specimens from this study are stored at the Pennsylvania State Fruit Research and Extension Center, Biglerville, PA, or the Frost Insect Museum at Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA.

Data on the distribution of bees from both published and unpublished sources have been compiled into a national database on Ireland's bees. Geographic Coverage: Island of Ireland Temporal Coverage: 1884-present Species Groups recorded: insect - hymenopteran Dataset Status: This dataset is constantly being updated with new records Additional Information: http://pollinators.biodiversityireland.ie/

Pollen data from the manuscript titled: Identity and diversity of pollens collected by two managed bee species while in blueberry fields for pollination, published in Environmental Entomology. Pollen was collected from honey bee (Apis mellifera) and bumble bee (Bombus impatiens) forager returning to the colony, while in commercial highbush blueberry fields in SW Michigan for crop pollination. Pollen was identified visually using morphological features. Funding also provided by Project GREEEN award GR18-038. Project GREEEN, Michigan’s plant agriculture initiative housed at Michigan State University, is a cooperative effort by plant-based commodity groups and businesses in cooperation with Michigan State University AgBioResearch, Michigan State University Extension and the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development to advance Michigan’s economy through plant-based agriculture.