DOI: 10.5061/dryad.0p2ngf264
title: 2021 Minnesota bumble bee survey data

description: Mounting evidence of bumble bee declines has stimulated an interest in
 monitoring and conservation. Understanding the influence of land use on
 occupancy patterns of imperiled species is crucial to successful recovery
 planning. Using detection data from community surveys, we assessed land
 use associations for seven bumble bee species in Minnesota, U.S.A.,
 including an endangered species (Bombus affinis Cresson). We used
 multi-species occupancy models to assess the effect of three major land
 use types (developed, agricultural, and natural) within 0.5 and 1.5 km on
 occupancy of seven Bombus species, while accounting for detection
 uncertainty. Bombus affinis was positively associated with developed
 landscapes at both scales, suggesting that urban areas can provide
 conservation benefits for this species in the Midwest. Further, we show
 that B. affinis occupancy and detection are highest in developed
 landscapes and lowest in agricultural landscapes, representing an inverse
 relationship with the relative land use ratios of these landscapes in
 Minnesota. Occupancy of two bumble bee species had strong positive
 associations with natural landscapes within 1.5 km and two species had
 strong negative associations with agricultural landscapes within 1.5 km.
 Our results suggest that best practices for imperiled Bombus monitoring
 and recovery planning depends upon the surrounding major land use
 patterns. We provide recommendations for urban planning to support B.
 affinis based on conservation success in the metropolitan areas of
 Minneapolis-St. Paul. We also encourage substantial survey effort be
 employed in agricultural and natural regions of the state historically
 occupied by B. affinis to determine the current occupancy state.
description: Bumble bee surveys Each site was visited
 five times between June 14 and September 1, 2021, and we followed U.S.
 Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS 2019) recovery monitoring survey
 protocols for <em>B</em>. <em>affinis</em> in
 high-potential zones. A single observer (MLB) with previous experience
 conducting bumble bee surveys in the region completed all the bee surveys.
 At each site, the observer actively searched a 3-acre area for 1 hour.
 During active search time, the observer walked freely within the survey
 area looking for bees on flowers, while occasionally observing individuals
 perching on foliage or entering and exiting nests. They recorded the
 species/species group and sex of every bumble bee detected. They also
 recorded a checklist of all floral species on which each bumble bee
 species was observed foraging. During every survey, one individual bee of
 each species was netted and photographed for identification verification
 and to serve as a photo record. The timer was stopped when handling and
 photographing individual bumble bees. Prior to the survey season, the
 observer completed additional identification training, including an
 advanced bumble bee identification workshop led by taxonomic experts (ZP
 and E. Evans). Additional effort was spent learning to distinguish
 between <em>B. borealis</em> Kirby and <em>B.
 fervidus</em>, two species with similar color patterns, by examining
 specimens in the Native Bee Lab in the Department of Entomology at the
 University of Minnesota. The primary character used to distinguish between
 these two species in the field was the lateral prothoracic hair color,
 which is typically yellow in the <em>B. fervidus</em> color
 morph in our region and black in <em>B.
 borealis.</em>
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