Bee Fauna of National Wildlife Refuges in the Pacific Northwest, 2010-2016

Harold Ikerd1, Joe Engler2, Joe Engler3, Terry Griswold1

1 USDA-ARS, 5310 Old Main Hill, 84322, Logan, United States; 2 U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, ; 3 U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, , United States

Corresponding author(s): Harold Ikerd (Harold.Ikerd@usda.gov)Joe Engler (jdengler0259@gmail.com), Joe Engler (jdengler0259@gmail.com)

Received {date}; Revised {date}; Accepted {date}; Published {date}

Citation: Combination of authors, year of data paper publication (in parentheses), Title, Journal Name, Volume, Issue number (in parentheses), and doi of the data paper.

Resource Citation

Ikerd H, Engler J (2023). Bee Fauna of National Wildlife Refuges in the Pacific Northwest, 2010-2016. Version 1.3. USDA-ARS Pollinating Insect-Biology, Management, Systematics Research. Occurrence dataset. https://ipt.gbif.us/resource?r=usda-fws-nwr-beefauna-pacific-nw&v=1.3

Abstract

In 2010, the Pacific Region of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) initiated a native bee sampling program to document the bee fauna at 15 National Wildlife Refuges (NWR), 1 National Monument, and 1 Bureau of Land Management site in Washington, Oregon, and Idaho (hereafter referred to as Refuges or Sites).  This program was comprised of six sampling components, utilizing two methodologies depending on the available staff, site objectives, and accessibility. For purposes of data publication, these components are summarized as follows.
Component 1 (Array Sampling) was designed to collect baseline data within shrub-steppe habitats along a north-south gradient in Washington and Oregon. A secondary objective of this sampling was to determine if there were genera and/or species differences along this latitudinal gradient.  As there were no wildlife refuges in northeastern Oregon, the Bureau of Land Management’s Oregon Trail Interpretive Center (OTIC) was selected to fill this gap.  Refuges included in this project include Turnbull NWR in NE Washington, McNary NWR in central Washington, and Malheur NWR in SE Oregon; the OTIC site is located in northeastern Oregon. All sites were sampled during 2011 and 2012, using a 9-cup glycol array (see Methodology). This was the only component in this program to use glycol arrays. Sampling sites were situated in easily accessible shrub-steppe habitats typical of the specific NWR and OTIC.
Component 2 (Baseline Sampling) was designed to collect baseline data at a suite of NWRs and was the primary objective and sampling scheme used from 2011-2016. Refuges within this component used a variation of the standard 30-bowl (pan trap) transect, instead deploying 2-15 bowl transects set adjacent to different habitats to increase the prospects of increasing catch diversity and attaining a better representation of bee fauna on the refuge (see Methodology). Depending on the site, sampling occurred: for two consecutive seasons using the same transect location; 1 season of sampling only; incidental sampling for 1 or 2 seasons but without fixed locations between sampling events; and habitat-based plots to assess variability in succession.

Keywords: Occurrence

Project details

Project title: Bee Fauna of National Wildlife Refuges in the Pacific Northwest, 2010-2016
Personnel: Harold Ikerd, Joe Engler, Joe Engler
Funding: Funding for this project was provided by the Service’s Pacific Region (Region 1) Inventory and Monitoring Program and the Office of the Science Advisor (Arlington, VA).
Study area descriptions/descriptor: From 2010-2016, sampling occurred at 16 NWRs and the Oregon Trail Interpretive Center. These sites spanned five Bailey’s Ecoregions (citation) and encompassed a variety of habitat types and associations. These habitats ranged from shrub-steppe east of the Cascades, coniferous forest in the northern latitudes, and riparian/floodplain habitats within the Columbia River Gorge to the Pacific Coast.
Design description: Bees were sampled using one of two methodologies recommended by U.S. Geological Survey’s Native Bee Inventory and Monitoring Lab at the Patuxent Wildlife Research Center in Maryland and other entomologists.  These were selected because they passively collect bees, are less labor intensive, and require little prior entomology or sampling skills.
The Glycol Trap protocol (Array Sampling) is now established within the Service’s National Protocol Framework for the Inventory and Monitoring of Bees (Droege et al 2016) as a long-term option for monitoring changes in bee fauna over time.  This protocol uses a 9-bowl (12 ounce stadium cup) circular array which is deployed early in the season and remains open into the autumn. Cups were placed in a PVC holder to keep them upright and slightly off of the ground. Cups were arranged in a circular pattern with 1 cup in the middle and the remaining 8 cups arranged along the circle perimeter; each cup was placed approximately 5 meters apart. Cups are painted in 3 colors – fluorescent blue, fluorescent yellow, and white, with color placements alternating around the circle.  Weep holes were drilled near the top of each cup to avoid cups spilling contents during rain events. Each cup is filled ½ to ¾ full of non-toxic recreational grade propylene glycol. In preparing the propylene glycol, a small amount of bleach is added to 1 gallon of propylene glycol to remove any color (which is often pink), and a squirt of unscented Dawn dish detergent is added to break the surface tension. The value of using propylene glycol is that it evaporates slowly, slows specimen deterioration compared to water, and generally is not palatable to wildlife.  These qualities extend the amount of time that traps can be deployed without emptying the contents.
The primary bee activity season in the Pacific Northwest occurs from early April through October, though some bee activity may occur almost year-round, especially west of the Cascades.  Traps were deployed during this timeframe, though exact start and end dates depended on available staffing. Arrays captured bees continuously through the sampling period and contents were checked and emptied every 1-2 weeks to limit decomposition of the specimens. It is believed, based on expert opinion, that the adults of some bee species may persist for only 2-3 weeks, therefore it is essential to empty traps within that timeframe to capture the appropriate active season (phenology) of each species. 
Samples were collected by pouring each cup into a fine mesh aquarium net and rinsing with water to remove the propylene glycol and soap residue; all glycol solutions were retained and reused. All cups were combined to create a single sample for the 1-2 week period. Once collected, samples were placed in whirl-pak bags and 70% alcohol (either isopropyl or ethyl) was added to cover specimens.  Samples were then sent to the Service’s Branch of Refuge Biology (BRB) for processing, preliminary identification to genus and species, and disposition to species experts for final determinations. Processing includes washing, drying, pinning, positioning, and labeling each specimen.  Identifications were conducted by Joseph Engler (USFWS), Dr. Robbin Thorp (University of California-Davis), and the USDA ARS Bee Biology and Systematics Laboratory (BBSL) in Logan, Utah. Funding for this project was provided by the Service’s Pacific Region (Region 1) Inventory and Monitoring Program and the Office of the Science Advisor (Arlington, VA).
Baseline Sampling used 3.25 ounce bowls and was used on all other components of the bee program, except for Protection Island NWR where 2 blue-vane traps were also used to supplement sampling. This protocol uses a 30-bowl (3.25 ounce Solo cup) transect which is deployed early in the season and run periodically through the autumn. Most refuges divided the 30 bowls into 2-15 bowl transects and placed them in dispersed open habitats in an attempt to capture more of the bee diversity across each refuge; generally, these sampling locations were set for the season and not changed between sampling episodes, but see the component variation as described in the Introduction, as well as the Appendices. The primary bee activity season in the Pacific Northwest occurs from early April through October, though some bee activity may occur almost year-round, especially west of the Cascades.  Based on expert opinion, some bee species may complete their adult free-flying phase in 3 weeks or less, thus traps were deployed approximately every two weeks during this timeframe to maximize the number of species encountered. Exact start and end dates depend on available staffing.
Each transect consisted of 15 bee bowls which were painted in 3 colors – fluorescent blue, fluorescent yellow, and white. Bowls were placed in roughly a straight line with 5 meters between bowls, each bowl alternating in color. Bowls are filled about ¾ full with soapy water to capture bees. Each transect was deployed during daylight hours on a single target day or remained out overnight for approximately 24 hours, then the contents were collected and the bowls removed from the site. Transects were run approximately every 2 weeks at the same locations but some variability existed between sites and trapping episodes.  
Samples were collected by pouring each cup into a fine mesh brine shrimp aquarium net and rinsing with water to remove the soap residue; all soap solutions were retained and reused. All 15 cups in a transect were combined to create a single sample for the bi-weekly period. Samples were placed in whirl-pak bags and 70% alcohol (either isopropyl or ethyl) was added to cover specimens.  Samples were then sent to the BRB for processing and preliminary identification to genus and species. Processing includes washing, drying, pinning, positioning, and labeling each specimen.  Specimens that were not identified by BRB to species or required verification were sent to species experts for final determinations. Identifications were conducted by the Joseph Engler (USFWS), Dr. Robbin Thorp (University of California-Davis), and the USDA ARS Bee Biology and Systematics Laboratory (BBSL) in Logan, Utah.

Data published through GBIF: https://ipt.gbif.us/resource?r=usda-fws-nwr-beefauna-pacific-nw

Taxonomic coverage

General taxonomic coverage description: Apoidea; Latreille, 1802 (bees)
Taxonomic ranks
Superfamily: Apoidea

Spatial coverage

General spatial coverage: 15 National Wildlife Refuges (NWR), 1 National Monument, and 1 Bureau of Land Management site in Washington, Oregon, and Idaho 
Bounding: lat> 48.73240/42.64700 long> -124.06000/-111.30330
Coordinates: 42°38'49.2''N and 48°43'55.2''N Latitude; 124°3'36''W and 111°18'10.8''W Longitude 

Temporal coverage: 2010 - 2016

Natural collections description

Collection name: U.S. National Pollinating Insects Collection
Collection identifier: https://www.ars.usda.gov/pacific-west-area/logan-ut/pollinating-insect-biology-management-systematics-research/docs/us-national-pollinating-insects-collection/
Specimen preservation method: Pinned

Methods

Method step description: 4000 records are still being updated. This dataset will be updated yearly as new specimen determinations are recorded. 

When the Darwin core field Individualcount has a number greater than 1, this can represent a mating pair (male and female mounted on the same pin) or the use of a gel cap to house multiple specimens of the same sex on a single pin. Specimens with the ownerInstitutionCode other than "BBSL" have been deposited with others as a synoptic collections.
Study extent description: All sites were sampled during 2011 and 2012, using a 9-cup glycol array (see Methodology). This was the only component in this program to use glycol arrays. Sampling sites were situated in easily accessible shrub-steppe habitats typical of the specific NWR and OTIC.
Sampling description: See Project data.

Datasets

Dataset description
Object name: Darwin Core Archive Bee Fauna of National Wildlife Refuges in the Pacific Northwest, 2010-2016
Character encoding: UTF-8
Format name: Darwin Core Archive format
Format version: 1.0
Distribution: https://ipt.gbif.us/archive.do?r=usda-fws-nwr-beefauna-pacific-nw
Publication date of data: 2023-06-13
Language: English
Licences of use: Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) 4.0 License

Metadata language: English
Date of metadata creation: 2021-08-25
Hierarchy level: Dataset

References
Gonzalez V, Ikerd H (2014) AnthWest, occurrence records for wool carder bees of the genus Anthidium (Hymenoptera, Megachilidae, Anthidiini) in the Western Hemisphere. ZooKeys 408: 31-49. https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.408.5633