Communicating our results to a larger audience and seeing our science used in the real world is an important goal in our lab. Lab members frequently give public talks, run bee identification training workshops, and contribute to public knowledge by identifying bee species on Bug Guide and iNaturalist. We work with government agencies and conservation NGOs (currently,  the National Park Service, the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, and the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation) to determine the distributions and habitat requirements of native bee species, and identify species in need of protection.

Outreach publications

Bees of the eastern forests:  A short article that explains why this is such an interesting and important topic!

Monitoring Pollinators: This pdf contains instructions and a data form for use in sampling native bee communities to estimate bee biodiversity. The number of bee species in an area the size of a small back yard or garden can be estimated surprisingly well based on the number of individual bees counted during visual observation periods (which is relatively easy),  without identifying the bees to species (which is hard). The reason for this is that where there are lot of individual bees there tend to be lots of species also. These guidelines are based on rarefaction analysis of our lab’s large data sets from pollinator habitat restorations throughout New Jersey.

Restoring Pollinator Habitat: Detailed guide to restoring habitat for pollinators, including lists of New Jersey native plant species that will attract pollinators. Co-published with the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation.

New Jersey Native Bees: A simple visual guide to some of the more common bee species native to New Jersey.

Native bee benefits: An introduction to the most important native crop pollinators in New Jersey with guidelines for habitat management practices that encourage them.