Summary

Description

This national protocol framework provides guidance for conducting surveys of native bees. This protocol framework is a standardized tool for the inventory and monitoring of the approximately 4200 species of native and nonnative bee species found on National Wildlife Refuges administered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service USFWS. Our goal is to provide stations within the National Wildlife Refuge System NWRS with techniques for developing an initial baseline inventory of what bee species are present on their lands and to provide an inexpensive, simple technique for monitoring bees continuously and for monitoring and evaluating longterm population trends and management impacts. The latter longterm monitoring technique requires a minimal time burden for the individual station, yet can provide a good statistical sample of changing populations that can be investigated at the station, regional, and national levels within the USFWS jurisdiction, and compared to other sites within the United States and Canada. This protocol framework was developed in cooperation with the United States Geological Survey USGS, the USFWS, and a worldwide network of bee researchers who have investigated the techniques and methodologies for capturing bees and tracking population changes. The protocol framework evolved from investigations at the USGS Bee Inventory and Monitoring Laboratory at the Patuxent Wildlife Research Center starting in 2002 and was refined by a large number of USFWS, academic, and state groups. It includes a Protocol Introduction and a set of 8 Standard Operating Procedures or SOPs and adheres to national standards of protocol content and organization. The Protocol Introduction describes the history and need for the protocol framework and summarizes the basic elements of objectives, sampling design, field methods, training, data management, analysis, and reporting. The SOPs provide more detail and specific instructions for implementing the protocol framework. A central database, for managing all the resulting data is under development. We welcome use of this protocol framework by our partners, as appropriate for their bee inventory and monitoring objectives.