Digitizing the Bee Collection of the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory

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Pollination is critical to the reproduction of flowering plants. Up to 90% of flowering plants rely on insects or other animals for pollination, making it an important ecosystem service. Although many organisms can act as pollinators, some of the most common pollinators are bees (Hymenoptera, superfamily Apoidea). Given growing concerns about bee declines worldwide, bees have been identified as an important pollinator group in need of long-term monitoring. This monitoring effort relies on bee specimens and specimen-related data that are available to the scientific community, preferably in digital format online. The goals of this Biological Research Collections grant are to digitally capture the specimens and specimen-related data of the superfamily Apoidea (hereafter, the Bee Collection) of the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory (RMBL). The collection will be available online to any viewer at www.rmbl.org. Scientists, students, and the general public will benefit from this grant. For scientists, digitally capturing the Bee Collection provides an opportunity to make this valuable collection available to a larger audience online. For students, organismal biology fascinates many students but they often don't have the opportunity to take courses in invertebrate biology. This award will provide training and employment opportunities for six students over two years. For the general public, the PIs will work with the students to develop a bee exhibit in the RMBL museum that highlights the diversity of native bees.