This document discusses the concerns about the potential decline of bee populations in North America and the lack of a monitoring program to address this issue. It proposes developing a comprehensive monitoring plan to evaluate methods and determine the number of sites needed to detect declines in bee populations, while also considering costs and methodologies. The plan aims to create a public database and facilitate long-term monitoring and comparisons with other regions.

1. the problem.

2. the world suspects bees are decliningShrill Carder Bumblebee DistributionData from NBN, with particular thanks to BWARS.

3. We donot know if there is a crisis nor have we identified how and where to target our conservation measures because until now, there isNO NORTH AMERICAN MONITORING PROGRAM

4. the solution.

5. develop a monitoring plan Evaluate methods

6. Determine where and how many sites you would need to detect declines

7. Evaluate costmethodsIt doesn’t matter which technique you use, so go with cheap, easy and standardizable.CV = SD/Mean

8. 24 pan traps per transect 8 blue8 yellow8 whiteSample every 2 weeksAt a minimum, sample every fifth year on a rolling basismethods

9. develop a monitoring plan Evaluate methods

10. Determine how many sites you would need to detect declines

11. Evaluate costdecisions used multi-year trap studiesestimated number of samples using power analysis

12. good versus bad sampling>80% probability of detecting a change if one is occurring> 1-3% change in population per year

13. declines

14. How many sites?Detecting a decline in the number of species

15. How many sites?Detecting a decline in the abundance of bees

16. number of siteswith 100 sites, we should be able to detect even a 2% decline in both the abundance and number of species of beeswith slightly over 200 sites, we can pick up a 1% declinemany individual species can be monitoredWow

17. develop a monitoring plan Evaluate methods

18. Determine where and how many sites you would need to detect declines

19. Evaluate costproductResults in 5 yearsChange in abundanceChange in total speciesChanges in major guilds and generaChanges in common abundant speciesMaps of distributionsMaps of changePublic database of all recordsTons of specimens for collections, dna, revisions, display, etc.Web-based yearly reports

20. longer term results

21. long-term productTrends for individual speciesRegional trendsAbility to detect large scale crashes for any yearAbility to compare to Canadian systemAbility to compare to European systemAbility to compare to UN-FAO sites

22. more long-term productStandardized methodology permits comparisons among sitesPatterns of distributionPatterns of abundancePatterns of compositionPatterns of fluctuationsCommunity analysesBiogeography analyses

23. the cost.

24. cost per siteLaborCollection a few hoursProcessing1/10 of an FTE each site run only every 5 yearsSupplies and Equipment$2,200

25. other costsFull time coordinator for the length of the project

26. develop a monitoring plan Evaluate methods

27. Determine where and how many sites you would need to detect declines

28. Evaluate costa future.

29. 4 separate sampling systems National ForestsFish and Wildlife Service RefugesNational ParksCommercial Orchards or other Ag Systems

30. usfs

32. sampling – For each of the four groupsyear 1 – 50 new sitesyear 2 – 50 new sitesyear 4 – 50 new sitesyear 5 – first 50 are repeated…und so weiter

33. centralized processing2 sorting, processing, identification, and databasing centers (West and East)170,000 bees a year between the twoEfficiency of scale1 central coordinator2 FTE’s doing the specimen processing

34. New York Times reports:“Bees in North America NOT declining!”- Laurie Davies Adams, NAPPC 2015

35. mission accomplished