About Native Bee Watch
We have new bee-enthusiasts on the Native Bee Watch Newsletter, so I wanted to introduce myself.
My name is Lisa Mason and I am a graduate student at Colorado State University. I am pursuing my Master's Degree in entomology (the study of insects). I am passionate about pollinator conservation and thus started my research project -- Native Bee Watch.
Native Bee Watch is a research and citizen science program that monitors bees. Currently, we are monitoring in Fort Collins, but we may expand in the future. The goal with monitoring is to determine how urban areas are impacting bee populations. In the future, we hope to make recommendations to homeowners and city planners on how to create bee biodiversity hotspots in urban areas.
This project is part of CSU's Pollination Biology Lab. You will meet many of the lab members this summer if you are bee monitoring. To learn more about our lab, visit the Pollination Biology Lab website.
I am so excited for everyone that signed up to monitor bees this summer! We are going to have a fun, educational summer.
The bees are already out! I stopped by the Gardens at Spring Creek this morning, and saw two
Halictus
sp. or striped sweat bees, four bumble bees with orange stripes (most likely
Bombus huntii
or
Bombus centralis
), and many honey bees!
We have about 30 volunteers participating in bee monitoring this summer. The training will be a valuable tool to help get you out in the field. (Details below).
Please let me know if you have any questions. I look forward to seeing you soon!
Lisa
Photo (above right): Agapostemon sp., Susan Ellis, Bugwood.org
