Bird observation can help researchers learn about wild bees that use similar habitat features
To get accurate estimates of the number of wild bee species, researchers say using observation data for completely different taxa could help. In a study published in PLOS One, scientists turned to bird observation data and land cover information to learn more about wild bees. “Our understanding of where bees occur is really hampered by insufficient data, and that limits conservation planning,” said Josée Rousseau, the lead author and postdoctoral researcher at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. As part of the study, Rousseau and his colleagues combined data from the citizen science app eBird with publicly available land cover data across the eastern and central U.S. to predict the number of wild bee species. They also analyzed 476,584 bee records, including 792 bee species. “Birds and bees often respond similarly to habitat features and alterations, though at different scales,” Rodewald said. “Birds can indicate aspects of the environment that might not be visible in satellite imagery alone, such as the presence of flowering plants or specific management practices.” Their findings revealed that bee species richness was higher along the East Coast and Appalachian Mountains. It was lower in Midwestern agricultural regions, where there was a lot of corn and alfalfa.
