Online Pollinator Identification Modification #2 to Basic Agreement 04CRAG0005 between USGS-NBII and The Polistes Foundation Proposed by: John Pickering University of Georgia, Athens Administrative Contact: Kevin Weick The Polistes Foundation, Belmont, MA 25 April, 2005

Bombus pennsylvanicus, Bumble Bee Illustration by Nancy Lowe, 2002

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Introduction/Justification Pollinators are thought to be in significant decline throughout North America. The 4000 species of bees found in the United States are the primary pollinators of plants, both native and invasive, as well as many agricultural crops. In response to this situation the Department of Interior and other groups have joined together to form the North American Pollinator Protection Campaign (http://www.nappc.org/). Unfortunately, within North American there exist no replicable historic data on pollinator populations that permit statistical comparisons. Consequently, we have no idea if pollinators have declined in ways similar to those seen in European countries. Groups at Interior (Patuxent Wildlife Research Center), USDA (Logan Native Bee Laboratory), and various academic groups have completed much of the work necessary to best survey and monitor native bees (http://online.sfsu.edu/~beeplot) and are beginning to advocate the start of surveys in National Parks, Refuges, states, and other geographic areas. Unfortunately that cannot occur until an important and limiting factor is rectified. The lack of current, accurate, and usable identification keys for most native bee species. Fortunately, we have pulled together a group of scientists who are helping us consolidate 50 years of scattered taxonomic updates on these species along with a wealth of unpublished information. In turn, we are placing that information on our web site using the new, powerful online guide software created by Discover Life (http://www.discoverlife.org). Lack of such identification guides currently limits the amount and quality of both the research and monitoring aspects of native bee study. The USGS' and the scientific community's need for such web-based bee keys mates well with the NBII's role in promoting and disseminating such information. Once this information is available then we can begin truly supporting the collection of good scientific information on bees and other pollinators in the United States. Until these guides come available we are blocked from moving forward. Proposed Project Objectives We wish to finish the creation of the online keys to all of the 66 genera of bees found in the East. We will have created pilot keys for about 20 of those genera. Most of these keys ultimately will have both the words and the illustrations that go along with them. However, in this proposal we are asking only for enough support to do the difficult work of compiling, word-smithing, and testing the text component of an additional 20 guides. We are looking elsewhere for support for the remaining keys and the illustrations. Description of Proposed Project The creation of keys to each of the genera all require the same approach. A search of the obscure entomological literature for all changes, keys, references to the identification and naming of that group; a trip to the Smithsonian's collection to obtain a loan of specimens for each of these species, calling to other museums to request loans of material not found in the Smithsonian collection, defining which characters could be useful for discriminating among the species, scoring each of the specimens for the proposed characters; creating an initial spreadsheet with the characters, states, and scorings, submission of that information to the web, a review of those characters by to eliminate jargon and increase the precision of the descriptions, following those updates there are 2 rounds of evaluations and double-checking by the guide creator and biologists at Patuxent, the key then goes out for review to taxonomists who specialize in that group, and if time permits, text and pictures are added to illustrate the character states and the species. The beauty of these keys is that not only do they speed up identification because of their structure, but they can be immediately updated if name changes or information about better ways to identify them occur. These keys also create most of the framework for constructing keys for the remaining bees of the western states as the characters have already been chosen and the software developed; what remains is the simpler task of scoring the specimens. List of participating organization(s), names of personnel, and their role in supporting the project By its nature the creation of these guides is a collaborative venture among the few remaining bee taxonomists and biologists in the United States and Canada. Some groups in particular stand out. We have been and will continue to work closely with the taxonomists at the USDA's Logan Bee Laboratory. Additionally, we have been working with John Ascher at the American Museum of Natural History who has been providing us with up-to-date information about distributions and naming conventions. The Smithsonian has given us space, visiting scientist passes, and a room to work in while we use and borrow their collection. The North American Pollinator Protection Campaign has provided a network of reviewers for the project as well as their backing of our project. Many individual taxonomists have given their support already in determining specimens and working with us on issues regarding individual genera and species. We have obtained permission from the creators of the out-of-print books on the genera of the North and Central America and the 1960's 2 volume set on the Bees of the East published by the State of North Carolina to excerpt material from their books and put them up on these web sites. Progress to Date We already have produced an online guide to the identification of the genera of bees. We expect to have completed by Spring 2005 preliminary guides to all the genera within the Family Megachilidae. Major Deliverables We will publish working guides to 20 additional genera of bees in the Eastern United States that will include all the text information necessary to identify the species as well as distributional information that will help narrow down the possibilities. Timeline All guides will be completed within a year of the funding of this project. Budget (in addition to previously-proposed work for FY05) Description of deliverable Estimated delivery date Creation of 20 Online Keys Cost 4/30/2006    Salaries/Benefits $12,790    Equipment $500    Travel $2,900    Overhead $810    TOTAL $17,000