About
About the Minnesota Bee Atlas
When most people hear the word “bee” they probably picture a honey bee. Honey bees play an important role in pollination, but they are a small fraction of the almost 20,000 bee species in the world. In contrast to honey bees and bumble bees, most bees are solitary and build their nests alone. They may live near other bees of the same species, but they do not work together to form one colony. The Minnesota bee list includes over 508 species!
The purpose of the MN Bee Atlas project is to gather baseline information about MN bee species. We need to know what species live in the state, where they live, when they are active, and what their habitat needs are in order to make good conservation decisions. The MN Bee Atlas has two phases. The first ran from 2016-2020, and the second started in 2021 and is finishing in June 2024. We hope to continue in the future, so check back for updates!
Photo courtesy of Colleen Satyshur
Phase 1 Native bee distributions in MN
The first phase of the Minnesota Bee Atlas, a four-year project funded by the Minnesota Environment and Natural Resources Trust Fund (ENRTF), was a participatory science program designed to use volunteer participants to learn about the distributions of native bees in Minnesota. The observations of public participants combined with historical records from the University of Minnesota Insect collection added 6 new bee species to the state species list, documented new locations for endangered and rare bumble bees, and expanded our knowledge of bee distributions, phenology, and habitat associations.The information we gathered on species distribution and diversity will be important to help us track if or how bee populations are changing and how those changes might affect land management decisions.
Phase 1 included three methods for learning about MN bees: observations posted to the MN Bee Atlas iNaturalist project, catch and release bumble bee surveys, and nest block surveys of stem and wood nesting bees.
Phase 2: Plants bees use for nest habitat
The second phase of the MN Bee Atlas is a three year participatory science project focused on learning about the plants that leafcutter, mason and resin bees use in their nest construction. This phase of the project started in 2021 and is finishing in June 2024.
Volunteers hung and monitored nest blocks in 2022 and 2023. While this project is not currently looking for new volunteers, outcomes will be posted on the results page soon.
Funding for this project was provided by the Minnesota Environment and Natural Resources Trust Fund as recommended by the Legislative-Citizen Commission on Minnesota Resources (LCCMR).