The Bumblebee Atlas Project focuses on the role of bumblebees in the broader ecosystem, helping to conserve species that are essential to pollination. Bumblebees and other pollinators help maintain the biodiversity that produces the vibrant, flourishing landscapes we all love to photograph.
Coming to you from Acacia Fike-Nelson, this fascinating video introduces the Bumblebee Atlas Project, organized by the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation. The project gathers data on bumblebee populations to better understand the health of these vital pollinators. Fike-Nelson breaks down why this data is important: without a baseline of what a healthy bumblebee population looks like, researchers can't track declines or recoveries. This is essential because nearly 25% of North American bumblebee species are threatened or near-threatened, and many others lack sufficient data. For photographers, the health of pollinators like bumblebees directly impacts the landscapes they capture.
The video also provides a field demonstration of how to safely collect bumblebees for data collection. Fike-Nelson uses simple tools like a butterfly net and plastic vials, explaining the process of cooling the bees to handle them for photography. This is where photography comes in—images of the bees contribute to scientific data collection. The goal is to capture high-quality photos of specific anatomical parts like the head, thorax, and abdomen, which help with species and sex identification. This work highlights the intersection between photography and environmental conservation, an area photographers may want to explore more deeply.
One of the most striking details Fike-Nelson shares is the staggering number of bee species. Globally, there are 20,000 species of bees, with 5,200 found in North America and over 500 in the Southeastern U.S. Bumblebees alone comprise 265 species worldwide, with 49 of those in the U.S. Fike-Nelson's volunteer work reveals that six species in the Southeast are currently threatened. This information should resonate with anyone who photographs natural settings, as the decline of pollinators would have ripple effects on plant life, including the wildflowers and other vegetation you might capture in your images.
The practical aspect of the video shows how Fike-Nelson collects data from the field, capturing bumblebees in a demonstration garden. This combination of data collection and photography shows how art and science can overlap, offering photographers a unique way to contribute to important ecological work. Check out the video above for the full rundown from Fike-Nelson.
